No player has done more with so little over his career than Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.
Since entering the league as the number one overall draft pick in 2012, Luck has virtually had no running game and below-average defenses at best. Not only did he take over a franchise from one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, but he guided the Colts to a playoff berth in his rookie season after the franchise finished 2-14 the previous season. He erased a 28-point deficit to the Chiefs in the Wild-Card round his second season under center and elevated the city to the AFC title game in 2015 (deflate gate!).
The following season was where things went down hill for the Stanford product. Brutal offensive lines led to a ton of QB hits and the injuries piled up until he decided to sit out the entire 2017 season to recover…and even then he feared that his career could possibly be over.
When Luck announced his return for the 2018 season he didn’t know the week he would be debuting in and his limited training camp provided us with a very small sample size to grade him on. I figured that he would elevate his game around Thanksgiving time or for sure by 2019, but nobody could have predicted his dominance right out of the gate. In 2018 Luck is 2nd in the NFL in TD passes (32), and ranks inside the top-10 in completion percentage, passing yards, completions and QBR.
Kansas City phenom Patrick Mahomes has taken the league by storm, but the weapons surrounding him are insane. Kareem Hunt (2017 rushing champion), Tyreek Hill (could be Usain Bolt’s cousin), Travis Kelce (best TE in the game…yes he is do not argue), Sammy Watkins and one of the best offensive minded coaches in the game, Andy Reid. I’m not saying that anybody can come in and do what he is doing, but his offense allows him to put up these video game numbers. Don’t get me wrong, his talent is unbelievable and he has a legit canon for an arm, but I would love to see what he would do as the signal caller in Indy.
Drew Brees would be my runner up at this point, and I’m still shocked that he hasn’t won an MVP award already. But like the Chiefs, his cast is unreal…on both sides of the ball. He limits his turnovers and is extremely efficient, but when your ground game is the best in the league it lets you play a lot more comfortably. Brees is without a doubt a top-5 QB in the league nobody is disputing that, but his team along with his head coach are going to walk their way to a second Super Bowl and it won’t even be close.
The Colts have had a 100-yard rusher just twice in 2018 and it has been a huge relief for Luck. In the two games that Marlon Mack has rushed north of 100 yards, Indy is 2-0, outscoring the opposition 79-33. If you give Luck just the slightest bit of a run game he is going to make you pay even though his numbers are solid when the backs don’t move the chains. He hit three different tight ends for TDs in the same game this year and has made a living off of targeting that position.
Eric Ebron leads all NFL TE’s in TD (11) and is just one catch shy of being 1st on the Colts in receptions. T.Y. Hilton has missed time due to injury in 2018 but he has been a very good WR1 and leads Indy in receptions (45). 16 different players have caught a pass from Luck this season and 12 different players have caught a TD pass.
The talent surrounding Luck on the offensive side of the ball is average and he has made use of getting the ball out quickly and hitting the open receivers. Defensively…well they have improved compared to other Luck teams. They rank between 15-20th in all defensive team categories, so not terrible, but extremely average.
Luck has dominated this season with a new head coach and has picked up where he left off in 2016. I’m by all means not discrediting Brees or Mahomes by any stretch as they have been very impressive and will likely win the award, but if we are basing the MVP honor off of the definition of MOST VALUABLE PLAYER [TO THEIR TEAM] then the answer is a thousand percent Andrew Luck.
Just look at how Indy did last year without him and look at what he is doing this season with this supporting cast. If not for a brutal fumble in Week 1 the Colts would be in a wild card slot…but hey, that’s football.
Andrew Luck is without a doubt the most valuable player to his team and if the season ended today he should be the clear favorite to win the award.