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INDIANAPOLIS – No one could have seriously expected Andrew Luck to talk his way out of Jalen Ramsey’s comments.
That’s not Luck.
He’s not a talker. He’s a walker.
And on Sunday, Luck showed Ramsey in-person that the quarterback is actually pretty good, and not the ‘I don’t really think he’s that good’ QB that the Jaguars cornerback described No. 12 as this summer.
The most efficient stretch of Luck’s 7-year career continued on Sunday afternoon.
Luck was 21-of-29 for 285 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception (on a drop by tight end Mo Alie-Cox) in Sunday’s win. Those numbers added up to a quarterback rating of 123.5. In Luck’s last 3 games, he’s had 3 of the 9 highest rated games of his entire career.
Most of Luck’s damage on Sunday came in the first half, when the offense produced 29 points against one of the league’s best defensive units.
“We came out on fire,” Frank Reich said of his team torching the Jaguars early on. “We were humming big plays, chunk plays. Andrew was clutch all over the field.
“Andrew did a great job of getting the ball down the field, and we were good in the red zone again.”
Luck had 4 completions of at least 20 yards in Sunday’s first quarter.
The offense definitely bogged down in the second half though, producing just 2 first downs and 0 points in the second half.
And Luck addressed that on several occasions after the 29-26 victory.
ICYMI: 5 things learned from the Colts beating the Jaguars in Week 10
Without the offense shredding the Jaguars through the air in Sunday’s second half, the Colts (4-5) would currently be a 3-6 football.
But Luck was a bit torn on his complete feelings about the win, and how the game went for the offense post-halftime.
“It’s great that we won,” the quarterback began. “(But) it’s sort of like a mixed bag of emotions. “A win, excited, but also a little bit angry on the mistakes I know that I felt like I made and that our offense made.
“But it is what it is. We get to come back and work.”
When the Colts do get back to work this week in preparing for the Titans (5-4), they will do it with Luck having yet to be sacked in 185 straight pass attempts.
Last year against the Jaguars, the Colts allowed 10 sacks at Lucas Oil Stadium.
On Sunday, Luck wasn’t sacked and was hit on just two plays.
“They were pretty much rushing a four-man rush,” center Ryan Kelly said about the Jaguars in Week 10. “I think it’s kind of slap in the face to us thinking that we can’t block just four guys doing tease or rushes or whatever…”
Whereas Ramsey’s words were a slap in the face to Luck, Jacksonville’s actions on Sunday were that to Kelly.
Whenever asked about Ramsey’s comments in 2018, Luck took the high road.
And when the two met on Sunday afternoon it was Luck’s Colts besting Ramsey’s Jaguars in a critical meeting for two divisional opponents.
The win pushes the Colts to the fringe of playoff discussion.
But don’t ask Luck if he wants a run down on the current standings.
“Don’t tell me,” the quarterback said on Sunday when asked about if he knows how the AFC South looks after 10 weeks.
“I think we realize the hole we dug. I think we understand the reality of that situation, but we are not going to let ourselves play the, ‘Okay we need them to do this and them to do that.’ That doesn’t fly in this league. I’ve been there and it doesn’t work. You take care of your business. That’s all you can worry about.”
Luck did that on Sunday.
