At this point in time I don't believe Ballard lies. It's part of his make up to be straight with people, one of the reasons players like the guy. He also isn't going to blab everything he knows. I take him at his word that they really aren't sure when Luck will be back. I think this will be a big hit if he doesn't get back to state the obvious. If, a big if, we truly are a super bowl contenders (I'm thinking we are a playoff team but a year away to truly compete) we should be able to withstand losing Luck for a while. A huge test for the coaching staff and organization as a whole. Luck's career doesn't seem in jeopardy. This is just a huge bump in the road for us. Remember what last year at this time felt like?

I don't think Ballard lies. I think Luck has a weird body and is a slow healer (don't confuse that with being a wuss; dude is tougher than shit), and Irsay/Luck/Ballard are rarely on the same communication page.

I agree, I think Ballard tries to shoot as straight as he can in a given moment of time.

Reich just gave an interview from camp...

"Andrew Luck is a superior human, both mentally and physically, so you know whenever he comes back, you hope that's WEEKS, then you know he's going to ramp up faster than others. You hope it's a week and that's all it takes".

To me, this sounds like a group of guys in a room following this latest examp by specialist. Irsay, Ballard, Reich, chief of medical staff.

"So, this is what we found, options are do nothing intrusive and try more rehab for the the next week, if it resolves he needs "XXX" before he can take the field so the best case is "X # of weeks without him". Surgery, that's going to put him down for "X" months, so that's starting rehab here, and he's not playing until at least "X".

And it sounds to me like the three talking heads are trying to keep that optimistic time table while also setting the stage that he may be shelved for an extended period...

Y'all are losing your minds. I'll wait until week one before I lose mine.

Yep. They’ve said he can throw without pain. It’s the lateral movement in the pocket that’s the concern.

Now that they know it’s the high ankle area, they can try some other things to alleviate or stabilize.

Don't forget the team Doctors, Moe, Larry, Curley and Shep !!

Irsay and any one else is seldom on the same planet.

But that’s OK he’s pretty cool

Reich says they need to know one way or the other by the end of the 3rd preseason game. That gives them two weeks to prepare for San Diego.

The third preseason game is in 10 days, August 25th. I don’t see any way this is resolved by then.

In fact, if it’s not, I can see the Colts putting him on the PUP list. I now see that as a distinct possibility.

PUP would put him out until Week 7. That won't happen unless he goes under the knife.

He's not going on the PUP.

This is not that big of a deal IF they truly have figured out what is causing the pain.

He's been out on the field, throwing. Thats been fine. As long as they have figured out its not a danger to the ligement or tendon, the pain can be managed.

And to the comment about the Indy docs, they are pretty good. They have a high standing not only in the state but in the country.

Uhh, it’s been bothering him since April and surgery has already been ruled out as “wouldn’t help this particular injury”.

I don’t think it’s nearly as far fetched as it would seem at first. Especially if they’re truly being as careful as they claim.

Either way, time is running short if that’s a hard deadline.

When was that surgery ruled out because it wouldn't help this particular injury? Was that when it was a calf or has that been said after this most recent specialist visit, I think it was Monday? Ballard's statement of "needs to be addressed" has me wondering if we aren't on the verge of the "Andrew Luck had a minor procedure on his ailing ankle" announcement any day now...

In terms of those talking about him being able to throw. I think it was Wells that reported that his first day, looked great, but the two days he threw after that were not good, said he was off the mark and you could tell he wasn't right. Plus as they were talking about this morning, one of his greatest attributes is the quick 5-7 lateral roll that buys an extra tick or so on the clock allowing WR's to separate, from what I heard them saying his lateral movement is when he is in pain, so there goes that aspect if he's hurting...

Mort just reported that the team is optimistic that Luck is on target to start game 1. Man I hope this is the truth and not some bs to try to keep people on the bus like a couple years ago.

Something else that has been pointed out- something I really didn't comprehend until I heard it. There's a bunch of talk about how he won't be that rusty when he comes back because he did pretty much this same thing last year. Not so, I didn't realize that he was part of 13 of 16 practices last year and was part of 3 preseason games. So this downtime is more likely to cause more acclimation issues than many of us think.

ChoppedWood is going to have a stroke. My man, turn off Dakich, Doyle, and pretty much all sports radio for a while. You will do yourself a lot of good. Season tickets are already sold. Nobody knows anything. If he's hurt, he's hurt. Wait until week 1 to see what happens before you damage your health.

Dude, it's on every news channel, it's every single thread of communication in the sports world. Right now, this is the biggest story going in the NFL, well that and a nut job with chaffed feet and a spray painted helmet in Oakland.

This is an item of unique interest across the league, and there's a lot of high level media wondering just how the staff could have F'd this up this bad- and it's a legit question, and in some respect the questions go back to Luck- does he just not know how to work with the training staff, not my question, just a question I've heard a couple people talk about now.

I sure wouldn't be this neurotic about it if all the reports coming out of camp where that JB was torching people, shit there's some talk that we could be looking at Chad Kelly as our week 1 starter. JB better show up big on Sat.

Kelly is suspended first 2 games if he makes squad :cool:

NFL suspended Colts QB Chad Kelly two games for violating the league's personal conduct policy.

This stems from Kelly's arrest last fall, which prompted his release from Denver. The former Mr. Irrelevant impressed in Colts minicamp last month and should compete for third-string quarterback duties behind starter Andrew Luck and backup Jacoby Brissett. He'll be eligible to return against the Falcons in Week 3.

Source: Adam Schefter on Twitter

Man I hope JB shows up tomorrow afternoon! Need some jolt of confidence after a week that has definitely taken some air out of the balloon.

o


Kind of like Pete Best trying to avoid reading and/or hearing any news about the Beatles in the mid-to-late 1960's.


o

Mort is extremely close to the Manning family and Peyton was at practice the day that Mort tweeted that out, so it seems fairly obvious where Mort got his info.

I don’t think Peyton would feed Mort BS (he gave Mort the exclusive on his retirement announcement) and I don’t think the Colts would give Manning any BS when they seem to be trying to kiss-up to him as much as possible.

Holder tweeted out this today, which seems fairly pertinent:

https://twitter.com/holderstephen/st...231756800?s=21

Watching Luck high step in pre game work out put my mind to rest. He was moving pretty good.

Here’s the video, for reference:

https://twitter.com/indysportsone/st...351457280?s=21

Luck is about to have a Monster season.

No practice this week, Reich just announced it...

SMH... ????

It makes sense. He sits until there is no pain. If that takes him thru the first 3-4 weeks of the season, so be it. We can be competitive, especially for a short time, with Jacoby. It will be much harder to compete in the playoffs, however, without Luck. Let him heal Colts and trust that what we are actually building is a team. Do not rush him back.

This is to be expected yea? I thought the last concrete thing we said was that they would decide after the third preseason game if he would start vs Chargers, as that would be the minimum time it would take to prepare.

I'm not too optimistic.

If he can prepare for the chargers start in two weeks between the bears game and the bengals game then we have to hold him out of practice this week.

So in other words, load management before there is any load to manage?

That's what I'm hoping. We will know soon enough

I'm still waiting for week 1 before I go into doom and gloom mode. Last season had a positive affect on me as far as that goes.

I have lost mine. Luck can eat a bag-o-dicks on his way outta town. Piece of shit he turned out to be.

Yeah this thread needs to be pinned, someone should send this to Oliver Luck and ask him if he wants to write a book on raising a pansy that fucks over his team and its fans. I am struggling right now, who sucks worse, McDaniels or Luck?

That's a tough one

You expect it though from McDaniels and that cheating Shyster owner and franchise

Never expected it from Luck.

Luck screwed us over farrr worse than McDaniels (who most of us never wanted anyway). Never would have believed it but here we are.

Yeah, I am going with Luck as well. He got inside, he fucked us like an animal.