DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Andrew Luck Retires

I don't assume anything. Your team mates are counting on you. You don't wait until two weeks before the season opener to abandon your team mates. Maybe you've never played team sports. I don't know.

But that's just something you don't do. Everyone, yes even you, know that once you get past the draft, as the starting QB, you've made a commitment.

You keep making this about management. That's not what the concept of team is about. It's about the other 52 players on your roster. They're your family. They're who stand beside you on the field. All of those guys have hopes and aspirations.

Let me explain something to you. Art Modell is a person I despised. Paul Brown was the most loved man in Cleveland. Modell fired Paul Brown. According to your logic, I should be a Bengals fan. Yet I'm not. Why? Because my fandom relies on the concept of team, not management.

I've played on several teams in different sports. Maybe Luck would not have been able to play at all this season. But he owed it to his team mates to try once it got to this point. A team has no "me" in it.

It "maybe" a lot of things. But if you think that waiting just two weeks before the season to announce your retirement is the way to go about doing business, we very much disagree. The Colts should have known before the draft to have a chance to replace him or at least attempt to address the position. And no, I don't think they knew then.

Like I said, if he was a player who most believe had questionable character, the exact same fans would be slaying him. But he's one of the golden boys so he gets a free pass.

Now that the smoke is clearing on the decision, I'm hearing takes from different angles. I'm hearing the "his timing was crap" and "He's Andrew Luck, good guy, respect his decision and don't question it at all."

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. He did quit on his team, but if he couldn't play for 2 months, they were going to have to start the season without him anyway (apparently there was talk he'd be out for the first half of the season due to his ankle). Why couldn't he try one more go after rehab this season? Or go on the IR, take the year off to heal and then see where his is in February (keep going or retire then)? Or maybe he already did that last year?

I think it's fair to ask questions of him (not boo the man of course). This is a business, right?. We say that when a player is cut, when a player is traded, when a player is holding out and when there is CBA talks. So when your QB, which is the most important position is all of sports, retires two weeks before the season, why can't we then talk business after a decision like this? I think it's okay to talk about having a potential losing season, missing the playoffs, the cost and time of looking for a new franchise QB, how this decision is unfair to the team/fans and so on. I'm seeing people being shouted down for asking those questions ("How dare you? Andrew was our QB. His retirement is bigger than the season and our playoff hopes. Support him or you're not a real Colts fan!").

Yes, it's his decision and his life, but he is putting the franchise in a very tough spot. Ultimately, he doesn't enjoy playing with pain. Others before him did it and wore that on their sleeve with pride (and we fans honored and expected it too). Maybe he has a low tolerance to pain. Or he has a exceptional high tolerance to pain but he has more pain than most guys in the NFL and the very fact he made it this long was amazing. I don't know, but is it in poor taste to ask?

It's cool the Colts are letting him keep the bonus money, but maybe he should be trying to give it back.

I'm not supporting the team and those booing fans and I'm not supporting the comforting fans that want to paint Luck as a victim. Again, it's somewhere in the middle and I think all sides should be allowed to be discussed.

j/c:

A few things:

--I think Luck's character should count for something when we are evaluation this situation. This guy has been as far removed as a "me" player as any guy in the league. Yet, some want to dismiss that and trash him for making his decision.

--I think his teammates, coaches, and management were aware of the situation and he Luck just didn't drop this on them the other night.

--I think he was talked into trying to gut it out to see if things got better. He tried and his body did not heal.

--I think teams cut players all the time for business reasons. They don't care if hurts the player, his wife, his kids, his parents, his siblings, etc. That's okay, but when a player acts in his own best interests, let's vilify him.

Bingo.

You've played team sports. I think you know better.

I'm not trying to paint him as a villain. But he's not Mr. Innocent in all of this either.

He's neither. He's just a person that is making a decision that is best for him.

Agreed. There is a whole mess of behind the scenes that we don't know about.

For all we know, he could have been getting pressured into things by staff/ownership and this was his only real trump card to protect himself.

I've heard people say that about suicide. It's what happens when someone looks at things in a bubble without considering everyone else close to them in their life that it impacts.

Except Luck did consider those closest to him. He mentioned spending more time with his wife as one of the reasons for retiring.

Ah, but then there's the other 52.

I read somewhere that he made this decision weeks ago, but the front office told him to hold off, to see if maybe he would change his mind once things got rolling.

I agree with you 100% on this take.

Thanks. I just wish I would have proof read it before I posted it because the syntax is atrocious.

Unless he's sleeping with them, too, they don't count anywhere near as much as actual Family.

At some point, these guys are giving their futures and mental capacity to a large extent for these franchises. Franchises that will cut them, trade them, and not think twice about them unless they can still make a buck from them after they retire. Its sad, but that's a hard truth. Its a business. We hear it everyday from fans.

And it is, but for players like Luck in this scenario, its more than business - its the quality of life moving forward.

He doesn't owe anyone anything, other than his wife, and his family.

j/c

Yeah, just as I expected. He gets a free pass for crapping on his team mates.

You’ve referenced the importance of the team concept.

Complete commitment is the foundation of that concept. And, after weeks of deliberation, Andrew Luck, as a thoughtful individual, concluded that he couldn’t match the commitment of his teammates.

At that point, he’s not all-in.

In that case, his mere presence isn’t a benefit to his teammates. His teammates deserve someone that’s prepared for the punishing grind of an NFL campaign. That level of preparation is something that cannot be faked.

If I’m in that locker room, I have more respect for someone that stands and says “I can’t do this anymore” than someone that says “I’m ready” when they’re really not.

That is a decision to be made when your team still has the draft ahead of them. At a time when your team has a chance to find your replacement.

When the season is only two weeks away, that's the time you suck it up and do what's right. He abandoned his team mates.

What if JT had ditched us 2 weeks before the season starts?

There would be riots.

Its not like these injuries were new to Luck. He had YEARS to think about it.

jc....



More clues emerge regarding when Colts knew Andrew Luck may retire

Posted by Mike Florio on August 25, 2019, 10:37 PM EDT
link

In the immediate aftermath of Saturday night’s stunning news that Colts quarterback Andrew Luck had retired from football, mixed messages emerged regarding when the team knew it could happen. Rumors flew that they knew since March; the team privately insisted that they found out only this week.

Looking back at the information that emerged in the aftermath of the announcement, there’s reason to believe that the team had known, at least for a little while.

Asked whether he tried to talk Luck out of retiring, Irsay provided an explanation that strongly hints at this not being a bolt from the blue.

“I again tried to be the best sounding board I could for him,” Irsay told reporters. “As a father of children that are older than him, you know, life has its spiritual journey, people. I mean this is, you know, this stuff is kind of a ‘bigger than all of us’ sort of issue. And I would never try to talk someone out of something that their heart truly wasn’t into. And so I was there to aboslutely support him and counsel him. Big decisions, you hold off on it. As long as you can, hold off on them. And then when you have to make them, then you make them.” (Emphasis added.)

This clearly implies that Irsay initially told Luck to take some time. Which also implies that it didn’t first come up on a Monday, with a final decision made five days later.

Indeed, Irsay’s explanation meshes with the idea that Irsay, at a minimum, knew that Luck was wrestling with a decision that didn’t absolutely, positively have to be made until the team commenced full and final preparations for the regular-season opener.

Likewise, consider these August 14 quotes from coach Frank Reich, which were made when everyone believed that Luck’s calf/bone/high-ankle issue were the impediment and not angst regarding whether to continue to play at all: “By the end of the third preseason game, you have to know something. You have to be able to make a call and move from there in whether we’re full speed with Andrew after that third preseason game or if at that point we’re going with Jacoby. We’ll make that decision with that when the time comes.”

Maybe that’s when the Colts wanted Luck to provide his final decision. Regardless, that’s when he did.

Even if the Colts didn’t know before this week, former Colts assistant coach Clyde Christensen had an inkling.

“I stay in touch with him and kind of knew that he was contemplating it,” Christensen told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.

If Christensen knew, others knew. And someone with the Colts surely knew.

But why make it known until Luck makes a final decision? In hindsight, it’s amazing no one blabbed while Luck was simply trying to make a decision.

Regardless, it sure seems like this one was percolating for a while. The question will now be, for the next four or five years perhaps, whether a decision to return is percolating.

It's CYA time!

Ideally, yes. But the most recent injury occurred in late May. After free agency and the draft.

I think it’s entirely plausible that Luck intended to rehabilitate the injury, but as weeks turned into months without signs of progress, his desire to do so waned.

And I don’t think it’s possible to just “suck it up” and remain a productive NFL quarterback. The dedication and focus required of a quarterback from September to February is insane. If the prospect of football is truly making you miserable, you aren’t summoning that kind of dedication and focus through force of will.

As per usual, more excuses for abandoning your team mates.

Everyone talks about accountability. Until it comes to someone they see as a golden boy. Then there is no accountability.

It's not about management. I don't think you should be a Bengals fan.

I think Luck should do what's best for Luck and his health and his quality of life for the next 50 years. At any point in time. Period. One week before the season one day before the season or one hour before the season.

There's a TON of back info and discussions that you have no clue about between ownership and Luck and there is a ton that Luck is going through that you have no clue about. Period. Clearly Luck went to ownership some time ago and they talked him into delaying his decision ... when, where, what, how beyond this ... no-one knows.

Luck owes the Colts nothing. He gave his all for however many years he played - that was what he owed and that's what he gave. At this point - he only needs to make the best choice for himself. Sorry that you think that a game and fans are more important than his health his future well being.

Just heard this, Luck got a $12M roster bonus ~2 weeks ago.

In Luck's press conference, I heard he said he only thought about retiring 2 weeks ago.

Is that a coincidence he only thought about retiring AFTER a $12M deposit hit his bank account?

I guess he technically owes the Colts another ~$12M from the signing bonus which the Colts said he could keep, which I wouldn't have done. He earned $97M in his career, but about 25% of it should be returned IMO.

So, anyone have an opinion on the money? If you're on either side of the discussion, let me know.

I don't think doctors clear you to play, nor should you play if you aren't healed. I think when you've committed to your team mates to play the most important position in the NFL, you do owe it to them to stick around for the season to see of you can play.

If I put my coworkers before my wife, I don't deserve to be her husband.

"Suck it up and do what's right."

Playing while injured and not mentally invested is what's right?

Hilarious.

Sad to see him go. He's 3x the QB Tim Couch ever was but he has received a similar beating..

I fully understand the fans booing him, that's just emotion because they just watched this season (and possibly the next few) go up in flames..

Just a really good human being. He'll be successful at whatever he chooses to do next.

In the end, quality of life is more important than any job... ANY JOB... and if he is in that much pain and that tired of rehabbing, then I hope he finds some relief..

Go enjoy life young man.

The guy was always in pain I'm glad he found his peace.

I agree with all that.

j/c:

People will believe what they want to believe and that is fine.

I do want to say that Andrew Luck was one of the toughest guys who ever graced the NFL. He didn't duck in the face of hits. He took hits full on in order to attempt a pass. He never complained about the horrendous OL in front of him. He told guys "nice hit" and "that's football" after they creamed him. He was as tough as tough can be.

I am not buying this "golden boy" rhetoric that paints him as some soft, media darling who only cares about himself.

Andrew Luck earned my respect and the respect of his peers for his toughness and being a good guy. You never saw Luck bragging. You never saw him not standing tall in the pocket. You never saw him throw others under the bus or call anyone out.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but mine isn't changing because some folks are hell-bent on painting him as some selfish golden boy who abandoned his teammates.

RG3 was a disaster pick after seeming like a perennial all-star after rookie year.

Luck was good but hampered by injury never being the true hero of his franchise.

All of a sudden I'm not so sad about that year's draft!

Also I feel bad for Luck since obviously this isn't what he set out to achieve, but on the other hand he's worth $100MM+, so he should have a fine life and the finances to do whatever work endeavor he tackles next.

j/c

I just listened to Peter King talk about Luck’s retirement. He said he was surprised, but not totally shocked given Luck’s proclivity for “other” interests. He’s just a very well-rounded and self-aware dude ... and the Colts tried to convince him to go on IR at least to see if he’d change his mind, but he refused.

So the guy, at best, would come in mid-year but most likely would be out for the season in 2019.

The guys body was breaking down.

I think he could have done this earlier, but it sounds like people were trying to talk him out of it, so he gave it shot but in the end it just wasn't going work.

I doubt his team mates are upset or think of him as a quitter..