Battling back from injuries are a major part of playing the game of football, especially in the NFL. There comes a point when constantly battling injuries just to get an opportunity to play again becomes too much. That was the case for the star quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts, whose latest injury hurdle became just to big in his mind to overcome and decided that he had enough.
On Saturday night after the Colts 27-17 loss in their preseason tilt versus the Chicago Bears, perennial Pro Bowl quarterback Andrew Luck announced his retirement from the NFL just seven seasons of action, saying constantly battling back from one injury after another took away his love for playing football.
Luck, who will turn 30 years old on Sept. 12 had a meeting with team owner Jim Irsay, and presumably head coach Frank Reich and General Manager Chris Ballard earlier on Saturday to inform him of his decision right before the Colts third preseason game versus the Bears, where he left three years on his $140 million contract, with $58 million guaranteed.
“This certainly is not isn’t how I envisioned this or planned this. But I am going to retire,” Luck, the No. 1 overall pick out of Stanford by the Colts in 2012 said after the game. “This is not an easy decision. Honestly, this is the hardest decision of my life. But it is the right decision for me.”
“For the last four years or so, I’ve been in the cycle of injury, pain, rehab, injury, pain, rehab, and it’s been unceasing, unrelenting, both in-season and offseason, and I felt stuck in it, and the only way I see out is to no longer play football. It’s taken my joy out of this game away.”
Luck was ruled out of the contest due to a lingering left calf/ankle injury that has kept out of all but three training camp practices.
He was walking the Colts’ sidelines during the game though looking nothing like a guy that was done with football, joking, and conversed with his teammates.
Then at around 9:30 p.m. eastern standard time on Saturday night, ESPN’s NFL Insider Adam Schefter tweeted (@AdamSchefter) the shocking news, “Filed to ESPN: Andrew Luck has informed the Colts he is retiring from the NFL, per source.
Not even four minutes after Schefter broke the news that a fan wearing a Luck’s No. 12 jersey in the stands of Lucas Oil Stadium jersey visibly upset just sat in his seat and puts his head into his left forearm.
Another fan at 10:01 p.m. eastern, another fan wearing a jersey with Luck’s number just simply took it off.
Then in perhaps in his final time at Lucas Oil Stadium as a member of the Colts, Luck walked off to the dressing room surrounded by security guards at game’s end to a chorus of boos from the fans left in attendance at 10:02 p.m.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I heard the reaction,” Luck said of being booed as he walked off the field adding, “Yeah, it hurt. I’ll be honest. It hurt.”
“Unacceptable,” is how WPIX 11’s weekend sports anchor Andy Adler said of the Colts’ fans reaction to the sudden retirement of Luck.
WABC 7 Eyewitness anchor Sade Baderinwa concurred by saying of the fans reaction “I just don’t agree with the booing. This was a medical decision.”
Luck had planned to make the announcement of his retirement on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. to tell his teammates that he was retiring. But once the news broke during the game, he changed course and gave an impromptu 25-minute conference with the press to announce his retirement at the tender age of 29.
To bring into context the kind of injuries that Luck has battled through the past four years, in 2015 it was an injury to his throwing shoulder that shelved him for two games and then a kidney injury that had him out for seven games that same season. He only missed one game the next year because of a concussion. Luck missed all of 2017 because of continuing issues with his right shoulder, that required surgery.
When Luck did play, he battled through a torn abdomen, lacerated kidney, and torn cartilage in his ribs.
Luck in total has missed 26 games of a possible 112 regular season games since 2015 with those aforementioned injuries and had yet to play in the preseason because of a left calf/ankle issue that he felt was too big of a hurdle for him to be at the level that he expects to play at.
“It had essentially sucked the passion, joy, the fun out of football,” is how Coach Reich described the kind of toll the pain and rehab Luck endured dealing with said injuries the past four years on Monday. “And so, Andrew did the right thing.”
The four-time Pro Bowler came back from shoulder surgery last season in a big way throwing for a career-highs of 67.3 completion percentage and 4,593 yards passing, with 39 passing touchdowns to just 15 interceptions, on route to be named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year for that season. The Colts went 10-6 that season making it to the AFC Divisional Round where they lost at the Kansas City Chiefs.
This latest injury to his ankle and calf however did not even allow him to even play in the preseason and it got to a point where he just had enough, and to make a tough decision.
“It’s very difficult. I love this team. I love my teammates. The folks in our building. The fans, the game of football,” Luck, who played in all 16 games in his first three seasons with the Colts also said during his retirement presser. “And it’s—as a part of this team, as a member of this team, and because of how I feel I know I’m unable to pour my heart and soul into this position, which would not only sell myself short, but the team in the end as well.”
He added, “I’m in pain. I’m still in pain. I’ve been in this cycle, which feels like—I mean its been four years of this injury, pain, rehab cycle and for me to move forward in my life the way I want to doesn’t involve football.”
This is about as tough and heartbreaking a way for a player with such talent, humbleness, and work ethic.
When the Colts drafted Luck out of Stanford as mentioned No. 1 overall in 2012, they felt they found the right man to replace the best quarterback next to the late great Johnny Unitas in Peyton Manning, who was going to lead them to more Super Bowl wins.
Luck got them close to that goal in 2014, when the Colts made it to the AFC Championship Game but lost at the eventual Super Bowl XLIX champion New England Patriots 45-7.
It was the first of four playoff appearances that Luck would lead the Colts to in his first six seasons under center. The Colts in Luck’s eight playoff starts went 4-4.
Individually, Luck ends his career ranking third on the Colts all-time list in completions (2,000), passing yards (23, 671), passing touchdowns (171) and quarterback wins with 55, compiling a 53-33 record in his 86 starts.
Only Hall of Famer Dan Marino (196) and signal caller of the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers (174) have more touchdown passes through their first 86 career games than the 171 of Luck, who is in front of Hall of Famer Brett Favre (157), Manning (150) and Unitas (148).
He did all of that while playing through those injuries, a bad offensive line and not having the complimentary parts in terms of a strong wide receiver core and a great running back, which led to him taking hit, after hit, after hit at times and that led to those said injuries.
It is those injuries that not only took as Luck said the joy out of playing football, but his fight to get back on the field as evidenced by his Saturday night presser.
When you saw Luck on the field, he had that fire and desire when he talked with his teammates. How he made offensive play calls with determined vibrato and confidence. How he slapped defenders on their head when they sacked him.
This news was not only shocking as evidenced by the Colts fans in Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night, so were many in the NFL circle like 13-year safety of the NFL with the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and Pittsburgh Steelers, now ESPN analyst Ryan Clark.
He thought it was a bad joke when he first heard the news as he, John Anderson and Kenny Mayne were getting ready to tape the Sunday morning, 12 a.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter.”
“And that’s how you feel. You know he has so much talent, so much left,” Clark said. “Came into this league with so much promise and was actually living up to it. For Andrew Luck to be retiring you have to understand what it takes to make that decision.”
“For this guy to be 29, so much life ahead of him. So much football life ahead of him, and have to give it up, you knew what type of wrestle and battle he was having with those injuries.”
Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson said of Luck’s sudden retirement, “mind-blowing.”
Super Bowl winning quarterback of the New Orleans Saints Drew Brees said he was “surprised and stunned.”
“I’m praying for him, praying that he stays encouraged,” were the thoughts by fellow Super Bowl winning signal caller of the Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson for Luck.
Clark added that he remembers making that decision with his wife and family back in 2015. That decision came nearly eight years earlier when after a game in 2007 with the Steelers at the Denver Broncos when he suffered a splenic infarction due to a sickle cell trait that he has suffered since his childhood. That led to his spleen and gall bladder being removed and ending his season.
“Your fighting each and every day to get back to that point,” Clark said. “And eventually it comes a point where the fight, the battle to get an opportunity to play is not worth the reward.”
Luck reached that point and decided that the risk of battling back from this latest injury was not worth the reward.
You would think that most people would be congratulating him on making the choice to step away if his heart was not into playing the game of football anymore.
But instead the possibly last memory Luck will have of the stadium he authored many great moments for fans to take in booed him as he walked into the locker room.
“Chasing News” anchor Bill Spadea on the Monday edition of his show chastised Luck for retiring at age 29 with north of $80 million in the bank, while a lot of cops, firefighters, and military veterans who took a lot of pain and injury into their careers and their not retiring.
Like Luck and those first responders chose their profession, and in both situations the risk that came with it. Luck knew when it became too much to handle he made the choice to retire, and unlike a lot of professional athletes whose careers conclude suddenly is financially secure and can live a life where he can still function and not struggle to do the simplest of things like bend over to tie his own shoe or play with his kids pain free.
The job of leading the Colts offensive attack now lands on understudy Jacoby Brissett, who was acquired from the Patriots in 2017.
The 26-year-old started 15 games for the Colts in 2017 threw for 3,098 yards, 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions in place of Luck. The Colts were just 4-11 in those starts by Brissett, where his completion percentage was ranked 30th of the 32 qualified signal callers at 58.8 percent and was ranked 27th out of the 30 starting quarterbacks in the NFL that season in total quarterback rating at 43.3.
The silver lining in that is that was a incomplete football team where the talent is not to the level it is now and the hope is things will work out better this time around as the Colts move on from Luck with Brissett as the lead and Chad Kelly as his backup for now.
“I just wish he could have done it his way. So, that sucked as a teammate, to see that and feel the reaction that we got from the fans for him” Brissett said on Monday.
One of the best reactions came from the likes of from Jeopardy champion James Holzhauer, who tweeted @James_Holzhauer, “I hoped to be as brave as Andrew Luck one day. Imaging reaching the pinnacle of the only job you’ve ever trained for, finding no joy in it, and having the guts to do the right thing for yourself even though millions of fans will hate you for it.”
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the reigning NFL MVP echoed those same thoughts by saying, “Knowing Andrew, he’s a great football player, but he’s also a great human being. I haven’t seen the full [scope] of the news, but I know he’s going to make the right decision for himself and his family.”
Wilson said that Luck, “demonstrated class the whole time through everything. Being the No. 1 overall pick and everything else, there’s a lot of pressure on him, and I think that he handled it with grace, and he handled it really well and had a tremendous career for how long he played.
Brees, who said that he exchanges text messages with Luck from time to time said that he will reach out to check on him soon.
On Saturday night, the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck said goodbye to the NFL way too soon as no longer could grind through another injury to have a chance to play a game that he has loved since childhood.
His last moment on the field in front of fans that he gave so many great memories booed him as he left for the locker room.
Some people, like his NFL peers praised Luck for how he walked away from the game that he literally and figuratively gave his heart, soul, and body to.
There were also others who like the fans in Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night and like Mr. Spadea who saw how Andrew Luck just walked out on his team and millions of dollars.
At the end of the day Andrew Luck made this decision himself. He made a choice where he felt it was not worth the risk to get back on the field and have a great season now and risk not being able to walk years from now.
This was his decision and his alone, and no matter how we all feel about his choice, he made it and he will be missed, but the game will go on, and you can guarantee we will all be watching, especially when the 2019 NFL season kicks off in a couple of weeks.
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 8/24/19 https://www.espn.com story, “Luck Retires, Calls Decision ‘Hardest of My Life,’” by Mike Wells 8/25/19 12 a.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter” with Kenny Mayne and John Anderson, with reports from NFL Insider Adam Schefter and NFL studio analyst Ryan Clark; 8/25/19 10:45 p.m. edition of WPIX’s “One on One” with Andy Adler, presented by Spectrum; 8/26/19 5 p.m. edition of WABC 7 “Eyewitness News at 5,” with David Navarro and Sade Baderinwa, with report from sports anchor Ryan Field; 8/26/19 11 p.m. edition of “Chasing News” on WWOR-TV My 9 with Bill Spadea; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Luck; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Clark_(American_football).
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