At this point in his career, Andrew Luck always seems to be dealing with some sort of injury. The Indianapolis Colts’ star signal caller is one of the NFL’s best when he’s able to take the field, but even though he played 16 games last year, Luck is known for either missing time due to or playing through some type of serious knock, like when he missed the entire 2017 campaign due to shoulder surgery.
The latest ailment that struck Luck has been a calf injury that he suffered back in April. While Colts coach Frank Reich said the team wanted to let him rest during minicamp back in May, the belief at the time was that Luck could have been ready to play in the event they had a game that Sunday. Fast forward to Tuesday — skipping over Luck missing the rest of minicamp and some less-than-ideal training camp performances (this write-up by Zak Keefer of The Athletic will bring you up to speed) — where we got this remarkably revealing quote from Colts owner Jim Irsay.
Jim Irsay was on @SiriusXMNFL yesterday.
FWIW, Irsay said Andrew Luck is dealing with a ‘small little bone’ issue. Nothing to do with the Achilles tendon.
Irsay: “But I really feel very confident that he’s going to find his way through this thing.” https://t.co/mY0TTVTPtg
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) August 13, 2019
The assumption here is that Luck’s injury has either turned into something else or that he’s dealing with both calf and ankle issues, neither of which would be ideal. The injury was also addressed by Colts general manager Chris Ballard, who broke down how the injury has gone from a calf issue into an ankle problem.
From Colts GM Chris Ballard this evening: QB Andrew Luck's calf strain has slowly become an ankle issue. Specifically, a high-ankle issue.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) August 13, 2019
Mysterious evolving injuries aren’t exactly normally reasons for optimism, but if there is some good news amid this entire situation, it’s that Ballard says the team is confident Luck will be OK, even if it’s not clear whether he’ll be able to take the field when Indianapolis begins its regular season on Sept. 8 against the Chargers.
Colts now say QB Andrew Luck is likely to sit out the preseason with his ankle injury.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 14, 2019
Colts aren't ready to determine whether Andrew Luck will or won't be ready for a Week 1 start; plan right now is to calm the ankle pain down.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) August 13, 2019
Chris Ballard: "This is not 2017."
Luck will likely not play in the preseason, but Colts believe they've finally found the source of the pain in Luck's calf and ankle. Next steps: rehab. Not shutting him down or anything like that. But we'll remain skeptical.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) August 14, 2019
» MRI in March reveals calf strain
» Luck starts camp. Pain spreads to ankle, specifically up front.
» Colts believe it's Os Trigonum (which led to Irsay's bone comment). Learned later Monday night it's not.
» Team *believes* they've found source of pain.
» No surgery. Rehab.— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) August 14, 2019
It is unclear exactly why the team was unable to identify the source of Luck’s pain prior to this, but you can never address an issue until you know what it is, so perhaps this will lead to some type of progress.
