Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is emerging as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. After avoiding a sophomore slump with a stellar second season, Luck entered the NFL’s Most Valuable Player discussion in 2014. Although his yardage total dipped from 4,374 yards to 3,822 from year one to year two, something more important was also cut in half:
Luck threw just nine interceptions in 2013, as opposed to 18 in 2012. in 2014, his yardage increased to 4,761, and he’s thrown 40 TD passes to just 16 interceptions. Again Luck’s INT decreased.
Yesterday, CBS’ lead NFL announce team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms did a media conference call. The token is Andrew Luck elite question came up
(On whether Indianapolis QB Andrew Luck has earned a spot among elite quarterbacks)
SIMMS: “There is no question he is one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. That word “elite” has got me in trouble before, whatever it means. He’s a franchise quarterback. He’s a leader of the team. He’s one of the best there is in the league. He has one of the best arms. He’s strong. He can move.
“There really is nothing else you can add to that. He has opened up a lot of people’s eyes even more in these last two games. You can see how he has changed as a quarterback, too — more efficient, taking less hits, making decisions that are right almost every single time.”
Luck defeated his predecessor Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos on the same weekend that the Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco could not lead his team past Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
Leading us here:
oh no pic.twitter.com/xMmuTGHhCh
— PFTCommenter (@PFTCommenter) January 11, 2015
Ah yes, the Flaccometer. Is Joe Flacco elite? Is he almost elite? Could he one day be elite? We’ve all heard these phrases ad nauseam. Time to put the Flacco elite narrative to bed. Instead, embrace the Andrew Luck is elite storyline. He certainly has elite Civil War era facial hair:
Dearest Gertrude, Gen. Manning’s talents were underwhelming. We fight on. Love, Gen. A. Luck https://t.co/kpTmjLYK4b pic.twitter.com/70w7wIGXz2
— SB Nation (@SBNation) January 12, 2015
Andrew Luck may not be ready to replace the big three of NFL quarterbacks, but he is ready to cement himself as a top five quarterback in 2015. As long as Luck takes another step in the right direction, it’ll be difficult not to include him in the MVP discussion when considering the team around him and just how quickly he made people in Indianapolis not regret losing their icon.
On Sunday night, Andrew Luck has a chance to beat Brady and the Patriots when everything is on the line. Doing so will give him a head start in what will be an intriguing MVP race.
Sports Bank Contributor Ryan Pavileck and Paul M Banks collaborated on this article
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports, Yardbarker Network, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
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