6 interceptions in two playoff games

[CR91]

2 of the first 3 tonight were his fault.  He was very inconsistent with his reads and decision making tonight and was staring down his receivers quite a bit.  These are things he will improve on with time.  He's still a young QB.  

 

All this means is that a lot of people need to keep their expectations realistic.  Sure, Luck may be one of the best Qb prospects in a long time and yada yada, but he's not the best QB in the league right now and I'm not even sure if he should legitimately considered in the top 10. 

 

That's not a knock on him at all.  It simply means that he lacks NFL experience which he will gain in time and in that time I have no doubt that he will continue to improve and correct those mistakes.

 

the first one brazil didnt get to the outside where he was suppose to be. the second havlil dropped it and it landed in a pats hand

[ricker182]

I wouldn't look to much into it. Had to force throws being down. Luck has been really great. This team is so close to the monster.

[Bleedin Blue]

Andrew needs to learn to be patient and go through his progressions. In the playoffs hitting the guy for 6 yards is not a bad play!

[#12]

Two of the picks were unforced. He made really bad reads and really bad decisions.

 

He did, but what's the alternative?  Going back to trying to play like the Seahawks and 49ers?  We tried that and were falling behind by 2 TDs every game.  We were losing to the Rams and Cards by 5 TDs.

 

Bottom line - until you build a better squad, it's all on Luck, and the fact he's gotten this far with these teams is highly commendable, especially in the manner he's done it. 

[Douzer]

Like I said...http://forums.colts.com/topic/25455-keys-to-a-victory-on-saturday/?p=707910

 

Luck must run when receivers are tackled and held by DB's....

[jmac_48]

Does anyone else see that Luck had 7 interceptions in two playoff games as an issue? I'm not saying he is horrible but does this make you think differently of him or agree with the Bayless article a little more?  I know that not all of them were Luck's fault but still 7 interceptions in two games in the postseason is kind of significant.

Growing Pains!

 

I still believe in #12

[No 1 Manning Fan]

He did, but what's the alternative? Going back to trying to play like the Seahawks and 49ers? We tried that and were falling behind by 2 TDs every game. We were losing to the Rams and Cards by 5 TDs.

Bottom line - until you build a better squad, it's all on Luck, and the fact he's gotten this far with these teams is highly commendable, especially in the manner he's done it.

I have no idea what you're trying to say.

Luck played poorly tonight, but he also had moments is brilliance. We were in the game because of him some of the time and he deserves credit for that. But he also deserves the lion's share, if not all, of the blame for the two costly picks (I'm not even counting the one in garbage time).

He had no business making those throws. Sometimes you've got to throw away, go through your progression, or even eat a sack. But those two balls should never have been throw.

[coltsfanatic24]

Luck was bad today especially vs 6 man blitz. He was good when they rushed 4 but he has to hit the hot read when they blitz. There were times T.Y and Whalen were open but he didn't see him. 7 INT's in 2 games is unacceptable we can't win a SB like that. He'll get better from this but this is the same thing Peyton had to go through.

[B-B]

He's a 2nd year Quarterback, I won't hold it against him, he's been better this season than I could've asked for a second year quarterback

[Jason_]

the first one brazil didnt get to the outside where he was suppose to be. the second havlil dropped it and it landed in a pats hand

 

I said 2 of the first 3. I was not including the one to Havili because that's the only one that Luck had no fault in.  Whether Brazill didn't get to where he was supposed to be or not Luck still chose to try to force the ball downfield instead of hitting an open outlet receiver.

[Jules]

He's great and will only get better. But, you saw tonight I feel like much more was on his shoulders then should have been but that's how we have often played the last few years. Still building.......and trying to win a lot of games with miracles.

 

 

 

I swear I did see Ty Law get one of those picks? Okay bad joke.....

[CR91]

I said 2 of the first 3. I was not including the one to Havili because that's the only one that Luck had no fault in.  Whether Brazill didn't get to where he was supposed to be or not Luck still chose to try to force the ball downfield instead of hitting an open outlet receiver.

 

downfield? it was a 5 yard out route

[love the shoe]

Tough, tough game for Luck. Pats took TY out as we knew Bill would and roughed him up and he was forced to hold the ball. Still, I really like Luck a lot and his grit. He will come back next year even hungrier.

ty got his 100 yards  not bad since he was targeted all game   

[#12]

I have no idea what you're trying to say.

Luck played poorly tonight, but he also had moments is brilliance. We were in the game because of him some of the time and he deserves credit for that. But he also deserves the lion's share, if not all, of the blame for the two costly picks (I'm not even counting the one in garbage time).

He had no business making those throws. Sometimes you've got to throw away, go through your progression, or even eat a sack. But those two balls should never have been throw.

 

What I'm trying to say is you have to live and die by your second year QB, because you have no other options.  Expecting your second year QB to be perfect under these circumstances for 16 games and 4 playoff games is unreasonable.   I wish he could hand the ball off, wait for his defense to force turnovers, wait for big special teams plays. etc., but he can't.  We've seen what happened when they tried to play that game. 

 

It's the same story we've seen for 15 years, but under this regime it's only been 2 years, so hopefully, Luck eventually has more help. 

[Girlzarefanstoo]

Luck is a second year qb with incredible talent, physical strength and brains - and not enough experience yet.  He has overperformed in his first two years and I wouldn't be surprised to see some struggles in the next two.  AND it wouldn't mean anything except he's still learning the ropes in the NFL.  Most really good QBs take about 4-5 years to really get consistently solid. 

 

He's not looking off the defense, he's staring down receivers and playoff level defenses capitalize on that.  You just can't make mistakes at this level of competition and advance. 

 

That was a tough game and nothing to be ashamed of even though it stings.  Especially to the Patriots - there's no love for that team in any of our hearts.  Our household was rooting hard for the Colts

[Dr. T]

7 in two games. Horrible,

And Luck would be the first one to agree with you.

[Jason_]

downfield? it was a 5 yard out route

 

yeah that was my bad.  I was thinking of several other plays.  On that play, the CB had great coverage and Luck was staring down Brazill.  He shouldn't have thrown the ball to Brazill imo.  There were several other times when Luck missed open guys trying to force the ball downfield.  

 

Luck tried to force the ball to Rogers deep in the middle of the field even though there was a lot of tight coverage but Fleener was wide open for at least a 7-8 yard gain and he probably would have gotten a first down.  That's one specific example I can think of right off but there were several other times he missed Whalen or the RBs because he was trying to force the ball down the field.

[mintor]

guy second year qb on sucky o,line with no time , rookie and second year wr,s and te  and rb . in nfl exp is a must luck semi green still so is almost all wr's , te  and rb . he did great a second year , seen 5 year players play worst at qb.

[Jules]

He had some issues......no denying it. And he would be the first to tell you this. Will it get better? Absolutely.

 

Would also help if along with the turnovers we also stopped the run and could run the ball better too at times.

 

It's like deja vu at times.....is this 2003 or something?

[Jules]

Also if we had Reggie I think the turnovers would have been down. Despite how many good teams this team has beaten this year and how often they have wowed us this offense is still VERY young.......

[creek]

Andrew in amazing,Y'all need some D. Gonna be fine(:..Good season~!

[GoColts8818]

Time to cut this Luck kid and get Painter back before it's too late then INTs in the playoffs wont be an issue at all.

[kam0327]

I'm dissapointed for sure, but I also couldn't help but notice some fantastic passes.  The one that most caught my eye was when he was running forward and threw a bullet about 35 - 40 yards to TY. 

[Narcosys]

only one was his fault

Are you serious? When he is throwing behind his receivers...that's his fault. Even the havili one was behind him. There's no reason it should have hit his back shoulder. Then the Brazill one was his fault to. That play most likely has 2 routes. Back shoulder if the defender stays with him, or fly if he beats his man. Brazill beat his man way before luck threw the ball, he threw it to the wrong spot. I've been saying all year he has a problem with throwing behind his receivers. He's been lucky he hasn't had more interceptions.

[Narcosys]

Andrew needs to learn to be patient and go through his progressions. In the playoffs hitting the guy for 6 yards is not a bad play!

Exactly. He had Whalen and Trent open quite a few times and didn't throw it to them. I'm pretty sure he had dump off guys open on 3 of his int's.

[SilentHill]

Luck is still having a hard time trusting receivers, countless times have I seen Luck wait until after the receivers makes his break to unload the ball. He needs to gel with this receivers, and we need to get another good route runner. When Luck finally gets the trust he needs in the WR core the picks will come down even more. Last year he wasn't hitting WR in stride much on the deep ball, this year he was, this year he was waiting to long to throw it, next year I think he'll be making the throws as the WR are coming out of their break.

[Drewbacca]

No cause for concern, especially when Brazill is running soft slant routes. Yeah, Luck may have telegraphed it but all of the drops/bad routes it's bound to happen. 

 

He has a bit of Kurt Warner in him, trusting his WR's too much...which isn't a bad thing.

[colts_100nascar17fan]

Sounds like peyton playoff stats

[The Old Crow]

In fairness to Luck , your defense had problems stopping anyone. When you fall behind by 28 and 21 points, you have to pass, and you become predictable. Corners and linebackers jump routes, which leads to more interceptions . The defense has to improve. You can't keep getting into those holes and expect Luck to bail the team out with a comeback every time.

[Dustin]

Sounds like peyton playoff stats

 

No it doesn't. Peyton has 21 INTs in 20 games.

[Dustin]

15, 21, 21, 14, 9, 14, 21.

 

Those are the deficits at the time Luck threw his INTs. Situation dictates risky throws. It happens. 

[coltfaninnewyork]

Not worried about luck,no running game  and poor protection at times.Now next year we get Thomas,wayne, and allen back.Thats gonna really strengthen us.Luck will be a star heck he already is.

[mahagga73]

In fairness to Luck , your defense had problems stopping anyone. When you fall behind by 28 and 21 points, you have to pass, and you become predictable. Corners and linebackers jump routes, which leads to more interceptions . The defense has to improve. You can't keep getting into those holes and expect Luck to bail the team out with a comeback every time.

Exactly.

[Restored]

In fairness to Luck , your defense had problems stopping anyone. When you fall behind by 28 and 21 points, you have to pass, and you become predictable. Corners and linebackers jump routes, which leads to more interceptions . The defense has to improve. You can't keep getting into those holes and expect Luck to bail the team out with a comeback every time.

Agreed.

People need to realize a couple things here;

-Luck is in his 2nd season. And as others have pointed out, he tried to do too much instead of taking the check down. Guys like Peyton and Brady will tell you that one of the biggest things, although one of the simplest, they did was learn to take the check down and take what the defense gave them. It will take time.

-The lack of talent on the offensive line hurt at various points throughout the season. Mostly along the interior specifically. Donald Thomas getting hurt really put a damper on a running attack that actually was solid in the early goings of the season. Satele and McGlynn have to go. The team played SO much better on the line hen Satele was out. A QB getting pressure right up the middle is arguably the worst place to have it from. You can't step up or really naviagte the pocket too effectively.

-The secondary severely lacks depth and has since Toler went down. I still believe that Vontae was playing at less than 100% but played simply because its the playoffs and even him at 75% or whatever is better than anyone else available. Gordy looks lost in coverage. Butler is a solid slot CB but nothing more. Vaughn is about the same as Butler in covering the slot but that's about it.

-I honestly didn't see the defensive play calling as the main issue. A lot of the play calling was centered around stopping the run and a lot of times it was an ideal call. Players simply didnt make the play. Manusky did have some good games this year (Denver, 49ers). Give him one more year IMO.

-Grigson has his work cut out for him. He's made his bread and butter so far off of later round/undrafted guys. And without a 1st rounder this year, that will be extremely vital. The pressure is on.

-I believe that they should try to keep Donald Brown. The team is one bad injury away from being back where they were this season. Trent may improve in the off-season but its fair to say we have seen his ceiling already, which is about as high as a kids playhouse.

-Getting guys like Allen and Reggie back next season will be a boost. DaRick will get a big chance to be the number 1 guy and needs to be. An off-season with Luck will be big.

Overall, this team is ahead of schedule right now. Here's to a bright future.

[deedub75]

The INTs do concern me a little though I think Luck will only get better.  Luck stares down receivers too much.  He had several bad throws throughout the regular season that should have been INTs but the defenders dropped them or the intended receiver knocked it away. 

 

I'm beginning to wonder if the Luck's low of 9 regular season INTs was an aberration and more due to the team trying to run the ball more. 

 

He played more like Andy Dalton than Andrew Luck in the playoffs. 

[Turftoe]

Let's see what he does with (if ever) he has a competent OL and receivers that can get open and catch the ball.  Sure he makes too many forced passes, but I think a good number of them are because a) OL affords little time, b) running game is abysmal, c) receivers can't get any separation.  We're still suffering from the empty cupboard on the OL that the genius Bill Polian left behind - it's a big need for Grigson to fix.

[Modern]

I just don't see how he can be called a great quarterback and get away with throwing 7 interceptions. Can we at least all agree that he isn't anywhere near a Brady or Manning level and definitely not a top 5 or 10?

You should go back and look at Manning's numbers in the playoffs the year they won the Superbowl. He was choking the same as always, he just had a defense to carry him that season.

[Coltsman1788]

I hate how some Colts fans always want to make excuses whenever our quarterbacks litter the field with interceptions.  They did it with Manning and I see them now doing the same thing with Luck.  "He threw 7 but 2 weren't his fault blah, blah, blah."  No one cares because the stat sheet shows 7 picks in 2 playoff games at the end of the day. 

 

He is a young quarterback who is still learning and hopefully he will grow from this.  He is good but not great...yet.  I don't know of any one who had greatness just given to him...much less in only 2 years in the league.  Greatness must be earned so lets give him some time to earn it. Slow the hype express because Luck still has MUCH to learn and improve upon before he can be considered an elite QB.  Right now his stats probably put him somewhere around the Romo level but his intangibles and knack for winning is much better and causes people to perceive him higher than his QBR suggests.   I still believe in Luck but lets just chill out on treating him as if he has already arrived and respect the maturation process.

[mattceinicram]

He's a young guy getting used to this huge stage.  Give him another go at the playoffs next year, and he'll be even better.

[Draztik]

One thing I was happy with was that he looked comfortable in the rain.

His interceptions were either bad reads or bouncing off a player.

He never had a ball just slip and be a horrible throw, in the cold wet weather his throws still had great velocity and looked good.