Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano don’t just think they got themselves a good player when they chose Andrew Luck with the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft. They think they got an all-time great player.
Albert Breer of NFL Network talked to Grigson and Pagano after Luck led the Colts to a dramatic 45-44 comeback win over the Chiefs, and suffice to say the G.M. and coach love their young franchise quarterback.
“There’s been some great ones,” Pagano said. “But [Luck is] gonna go down as probably one of the best, if not the best, ever to play this game when everything is all said and done. We’re very, very fortunate to have No. 12 on our side.”
Grigson said the way Luck elevates his game in the biggest moment isn’t reminiscent of any football player so much as it’s reminiscent of Michael Jordan.
“He’s always been a different animal in the fourth quarter, his whole life,” Grigson said. “And just even hearing the story from his uncle [and agent, Will Wilson]. He relishes those moments. It’s like Jordan when he’d take that last shot — he wants the ball. This guy, we’re so blessed, he wants the ball in those situations. Other guys don’t want the ball; they want to hand it off. They don’t really want it — they’re gonna be half-stepping it. This kid is gonna rear back and throw a bomb when he has all the pressure on him. And that’s a thing of beauty. You’re born with that.”
Luck is only in his second season, and we should probably wait until he wins more than one playoff game (especially a game in which he threw three interceptions and made some significant mistakes) before we anoint him one of the all-time greats. But it’s easy to see why Grigson and Pagano are giddy about their quarterback.
Michael David Smith for ProFootballTalk
