http://www.wthr.com/story/30084271/kravitz-as-luck-declines-so-do-the-reeling-winless-clueless-colts
By Bob Kravitz, WTHR Sports
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INDIANAPOLIS - Until now,
Andrew Luck has been untouchable, unless, of course, he’s playing behind that porous
Colts offensive line. Even when he’s thrown the ball to the other team, and he’s done that 21 times since 2014 – with seven fumbles – he’s been Teflon. All we’ve heard, and yes, I’ve been guilty of this, too, is that he doesn’t have enough help, that his revolving-door offensive line has not protected him the way a franchise quarterback should be protected.
All of that is true, to a point, and there’s no question Luck spent most of Monday night’s moribund 20-7 loss to the Jets either on his back or with a defender attached to his sternum. But he doesn’t escape responsibility for this one. Or the one a week ago in Buffalo.
Stated simply, Luck has stunk in 2015.
He walked on the field in Buffalo and walked off as the game’s second-best quarterback to somebody named Tyrod Taylor.
He walked on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium and walked off as the game’s second-best quarterback to a journeyman named Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has played with four different teams in the last four years.
The numbers he’s putting up? They’re Geno Smith numbers. I’m not making this up.
Since those charmed first two seasons, Luck has become a turnover machine, and he knows it. A lot of times, he takes responsibility for mistakes his teammates make. Shoot, he takes responsibility for global warming and all of Donald Trump’s verbal gaffes. This night, it was time for him to take responsibility for a dreadful performance that coincided with the general awfulness of his offensive teammates. This time, when he referred to making a bonehead mistake, he meant it.
I asked, “What are the primary issues now with this offense?’’
He answered: “My play -- turning the ball over, fumbles, interceptions… pretty glaring issue. I don’t want to take anything away from the Jets, but we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers. If we don’t clean those up, it’s hard to win.’’
I gave him something of an out, asking if he’s felt sped up, like the internal clock in his head is moving too fast because he’s uniformly under siege from attacking defenders.
He looked off into the distance. “No,’’ he said simply.
(Let’s be honest: Luck may be here 15 years, and you’re never going to hear him say, “Well, we had some protection problems.’’)
The most compelling portion of the night came after most of you had gone to bed, which actually might have happened late in the third quarter of a game that was less watchable than “Best Time Ever.’’ It happened when
Chuck Pagano, seething like we’ve never seen him before, came to the post-game press conference and darned near went Jim Mora on us.
Everybody remembers the Mora “Playoffs? PLAYOFFS!!?’’ soliloquy, but all of that was inspired by a particular set of circumstances. Mora and Mora’s hand-picked defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, had been under the critical eye of then-GM Bill Polian. Meanwhile, the Golden Child, Peyton Manning, was forever being verbally bailed out by Polian, who didn’t believe Manning could do any wrong.
KRAVITZ: Colts should either extend Pagano or fire him - now
On that night, the defense played well against San Francisco, but Manning threw a couple of pick-sixes and generally left a noxious odor in the RCA Dome. And Mora wasn’t having any of it.
So he blasted Manning for consistently throwing the ball to the wrong team.
Rats are beginning to jump ship. More at link.