The Colts travel to New England to take on the Patriots, live on Sky Sports Action and Main Event from 12.30am on Friday morning
Thursday 4 October 2018 13:30, UK
'Suck for Luck'.
That was the catchy campaign name that surrounded Andrew Luck's entry into the NFL draft in 2012, such was the confidence he would be the No 1 overall pick - reserved for the team with the worst record the previous season - and the high regard in which he was held in by NFL executives, coaches and fans.
Luck, coming out of Stanford, was widely considered to be the greatest talent at quarterback in a generation, "the most NFL-ready" and "the best since Peyton Manning", who entered the league in 1998, drafted by the Indianapolis Colts and the man, ironically, Luck would replace.
Luck has not quite lived up to the hype since entering the league. The Colts QB is still without a Super Bowl, a league MVP award and has yet to post a triple-digit single-season passer rating. This keeps Luck on the outside looking in on the elite quarterback club of Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, against who all great quarterbacks - certainly of the modern era - are measured.
That is by no means to say Luck's NFL career thus far has been a failure. Far from it. Luck has topped 4,000 yards passing in three of his four full seasons in Indianapolis, throwing for 40 touchdowns in 2014 - his best year yet.
Plus, while Rodgers has been a freak almost immediately since entering the NFL, Manning and Brady did not register a 100-plus passer rating till their seventh seasons, the exact year Luck is entering into, and they did not win their first league MVP awards till their sixth and seventh years, respectively.
Luck's was denied his sixth season, kept out for all of 2017 following shoulder surgery, as his time spent playing behind a porous Colts offensive line finally caught up with him.
Luck was sacked a barbaric 41 times as a rookie, with that number replicated through 15 games of the 2016 season, leading to his appointment with a surgeon. It's also no surprise Luck's best passing numbers came in 2014 when he was taken down only 27 times by comparison.
That year Luck took Indianapolis all the way to the AFC Championship game - the closest his Colts have come to the Super Bowl and lifting the Vince Lombardi trophy during his tenure - but came unstuck against, yes, you guessed it, the New England Patriots.
The Colts were handily beaten 45-7 in the game that would come to be known as 'Deflategate', as subsequently claims emerged the Patriots had used under-inflated footballs, said to be easier to grip, throw, and catch in cold, rainy conditions like in New England in January. The Patriots, and Brady, were punished by the league, but they still went on to win the Super Bowl.
The two teams met again in a revenge match the following season, in which Luck impressed - throwing for 312 yards and three touchdowns - but again the Patriots got the better of him. Deflategate has hung heavy round the neck of Brady since but, as a result, Luck is often overlooked. The loss was a devastating blow, the closest he has come to Super Bowl success and vindication as an elite QB.
Questions have since been raised over whether Luck can get back to that level four years ago following his shoulder surgery. Does he still have the raw talent? The arm strength? The desire?
The hunger is certainly still there. Following their Week-Two win over the Washington Redskins - the Colts' only success so far this season - Luck told Sky Sports: "I certainly have a different perspective on things. When the game is taken away from you, you come back and learn to appreciate the fun parts about it and the more enjoyable parts about it.
"I'm having a blast. I'm improving, the team is improving. We're young and we're hungry.
"I feel great. I feel like I've gone through every throw I need to make on the football field."
That said, alarm bells were raised when in the Week Three defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles, Luck was replaced by back-up Jacoby Brissett to attempt a Hail Mary pass deep down the field to try and win the game in the dying seconds.
"The Colts are going to downplay what happened at the end of their game with Brissett coming in to throw the Hail Mary, but this doesn't happen to any other quarterback in the NFL," Around the NFL's Chris Wesseling told Sky Sports.
"And the worries go beyond that. Luck had about 70 yards entering that final drive - he wasn't moving the ball and, even in the one-minute drill, he was settling for check-downs and not trying to riddle the middle of the field with passes.
"He has the lowest average depth of target among quarterbacks through three weeks and his arm does not look right."
The numbers certainly seemed to back that up, with Luck throwing for an average of only 220 yards per game through three weeks, only for him to then explode into life in Week Four!
The Colts slipped to another defeat against AFC South divisional rivals Houston Texans, but it was Luck's career-best 464 yards passing, and four TDs, that helped at least send the game to overtime, before head coach Frank Reich's gutsy - or brainless, depending on your point of view - call to go for it on fourth down inside their own half that handed Houston the win.
Regardless of the result, Luck's display went a long way to dispelling the doubters and now, heading into Week Five, he takes his Colts into Foxborough for the first time since their 2014 AFC Championship defeat.
While it's not yet 100 per cent clear whether this is the same Luck as pre-shoulder surgery, this is also not the same New England juggernaut of four years ago, despite their Week-Four hammering of the Miami Dolphins that got their stuttering season back on track somewhat.
Regardless, it's undoubtedly Luck's greatest challenge so far on his comeback trail, fitting that comes at the scene of his biggest heartbreak, with victory sure to taste that even sweeter.
Watch the Indianapolis Colts @ New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football, live on Sky Sports Action and Main Event from 12.30am on Friday morning.
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