Now that the 2017 regular season is over and 12 teams are vying for an opportunity to hoist the Lombardi, it’s time to look back at the year that was around the NFL.
The Philadelphia Eagles found themselves a true franchise quarterback before seeing him go down with a torn ACL late in the season. What’s the biggest takeaway for a team that heads into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the NFC?
Over in the AFC, Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers overcame early-season struggles to also earn a first-round playoff bye. But is Big Ben still the face of one of the proudest franchises in sports?
When looking at teams that didn’t make the postseason, two bottom-feeders headed in vastly different directions during the regular year. By virtue of their loss to Pittsburgh in Week 17, the Cleveland Browns became just the second team to lose out during a 16-game regular season.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers ended the year hot with Jimmy Garoppolo winning all five of his starts with the team following a trade from New England.
These are among the top regular season takeaways for each NFL team.
Philadelphia Eagles: Finding the franchise
This season may not end with Philadelphia winning the Super Bowl due to the injury Carson Wentz suffered back in Week 14. But the team surely has found its franchise quarterback. In 13 games a sophomore, Wentz put up 3,296 yards with 33 touchdowns compared to just seven interceptions. He also led Philadelphia to an 11-2 mark in those 13 games putting up the third-most points in the NFL in the process.
Wentz seemingly made everyone around him better with the likes of Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor and Zach Ertz each putting up eight-plus touchdowns. It’s this type of performance that has fans in Philadelphia thinking they have a franchise quarterback to call their own.
Dallas Cowboys: Shaking things up
It’s pretty clear that Dallas now needs to focus on shaking things up on both sides of the ball following a disappointing 9-7 season. Sure Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott will remain the faces of the franchise. After that, it’s pretty much anyone’s guess as to what will happen here.
Will the Cowboys move on from Dez Bryant after two consecutive down seasons for the now aging receiver? If so, who might the team replace him with? Texas native Michael Crabtree is said to be on the very of being cut in Oakland. Maybe he’s a possibility. And on the defensive side of the ball, it’s clear that this secondary needs a major overhaul. There are nice pieces in place, but the team could use someone of, say, Earl Thomas’ ilk to improve this unit.
In any event, 2017 showed us that Dallas is more of a fraud than the contending team it seemed the prior year. That should lead to some dramatic roster changes this upcoming spring.
Washington Redskins: Captain Kirk
Kirk Cousins might have concluded the 2017 campaign by throwing three interceptions in an ugly loss to the New York Giants. That’s fine. It happens. But it could have also been Cousins’ final game as a member of the team. Short of Washington placing the franchise tag on him for a third consecutive year — guaranteeing the quarterback north of $35 million next season — he’ll become a free agent in March.
Fresh off the third consecutive 4,000-plus yard season of his career, Cousins doesn’t seem to want to re-sign with Washington. It started with rumors of him considering joining former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. While the 49ers’ trade for Jimmy Garoppolo squashes that idea, other squads such as the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals will surely show interest. And if Cousins decides to leave the Redskins, they’d then have to likely look quarterback in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
New York Giants: The misery in Jersey
It’s rather simple. The Giants had to wake up on Monday thankful that the 2017 calendar year had come to a conclusion. It was a downright disaster for a team that won three games and didn’t do right by future Hall of Fame quarterback Eli Manning.
January of 2018 brings new beginnings for the Giants. They’ll add another head coach here soon. The Odell Beckham Jr. contract situation could potentially come to a culmination as well. Eli Manning’s future in Jersey will be decided by both himself and new GM Dave Gettleman. Even then, it’s going to take some time for the Giants to wash the stink of 2017 from their bodies.
Kansas City Chiefs: Alex Smith’s value
As the Chiefs look to get over the AFC Playoff hump and make their way to the team’s first Super Bowl since 1970, the backdrop here has to be what was an absolutely brilliant season from much-maligned veteran quarterback Alex Smith. The former San Francisco 49ers No. 1 overall pick finished the 2017 campaign having completed 68 percent of his passes for 4,042 yards with 26 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He now boasts a 50-26 record as Kansas City’s starter.
This comes with the Chiefs having traded up for Patrick Mahomes in the first round of last year’s draft. Alex sees the writing on the wall. And as much as this might be more of a storyline than a takeaway, Smith’s performance during the 2017 season clearly ups his value in a potential trade this upcoming March.
Los Angeles Chargers: Growing core
The Chargers’ first season in Los Angeles was defined by three storylines. First off, it was the less-than-stellar response the team received in its new city. Then, it was an 0-4 start to the season that was marred by three losses of three points or less. But since that ungodly start to the season, the Chargers more than proved that they have a strong young core. The team won nine of its final 12 games, missing out on the playoffs by virtue of tiebreakers in Week 17.
Despite not playing meaningful January football for the fourth consecutive season, there’s a whole heck of a lot to like here. Philip Rivers laid claim to being an MVP candidate under center, tossing 28 touchdowns compared to 10 interceptions. Melvin Gordon put up 1,581 total yards at running back. And Keenan Allen turned in the healthiest season of his career, tallying 102 receptions for 1,393 yards.
On defense, pass rushers Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram combined for 23 sacks while cornerback Casey Hayward proved to be among the game’s best players at his position. All this led to a unit that yielded the third-fewest points in the NFL. And it has the future looking bright for this squad.
Oakland Raiders: Regression in Northern California
That’s the story here. And it led to the firing of Jack Del Rio in a situation that couldn’t have possibly been handled more poorly by the Raiders’ brass. Now as the team looks to the future with Jon Gruden potentially manning the sideline, we’re forced to look back at what was a downright disastrous 2017 season.
Relying on some questionable tendencies, the recently-extended Derek Carr turned in the worst season of his career. Sure a back injury didn’t help matters here, but the former Pro Bowler tallied just 22 touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions en route to leading an offense that fell from seventh in scoring back in 2016 to 23rd this past regular season. He struggled connecting with Amari Cooper (50 percent catch rate) and just wasn’t the same quarterback.
On defense, general manager Reggie McKenzie exhausted his first two picks on cornerback Gareon Conley and safety Obi Melifonwu. The two played a combined seven games and made no real impact on a unit that ranked in the bottom third of the NFL in points allowed.
Denver Broncos: John Elway’s mistake
The fact that Elway even considered firing Vance Joseph after just one season as the Broncos’ head coach tells us everything we need to know about this recently-extended general manager. No matter what he says publicly, nothing that happened during a five-win 2017 campaign was his fault in his own mind. Given how he’s handled the quarterback situation, that’s utterly ridiculous.
It started with the decision to trade up for Paxton Lynch in the 2016 NFL Draft. A decision that continues to mar the Broncos to this day due to the quarterback proving himself to be nothing more than an injury-plagued backup-caliber player. It continued with Denver relying on another backup caliber quarterback in Trevor Siemian to start the season under center.
Then, in one of the most-depressing turns of the season, it came to a culmination with Denver starting former Houston Texans free agent bust Brock Osweiler. All of this led to a quarterback position that threw 19 touchdowns compared to 22 interceptions. This is on Elway. And it must change in order for the Broncos to return to relevance next season.
New England Patriots: Much of the same
There’s not one golden takeaway from the defending champ’s regular season. Tom Brady and Co. did what most of us figured they’d do…dominate. New England finished with a 13-3 record and as the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They did so with Brady himself leading the MVP charge and Rob Gronkowski dominating as his top receiver.
Though, the biggest key for New England was what seemed to be a bad defense early in the season. After yielding an average of 32 points in the first four games, the Patriots’ defense improved leaps and bounds as the season progressed, giving up a league-best average of 14 points in the final 12 games. If this is any indicator of what we’ll see in the postseason, the expectation here has to be that the Pats will win their second consecutive Super Bowl and their sixth title of the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era.
Buffalo Bills: Good for them
The objective football fan can appreciate what we saw from Buffalo this season. Sure head coach Sean McDermott made the dumbest in-season decision around the NFL, benching Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Peterman in what would ultimately be a 54-24 loss to the Chargers back in Week 11. If it wasn’t for the heroics of one Andy Dalton in Cincinnati this past Sunday, that would have cost Buffalo a playoff spot.
But alas, it didn’t. By virtue of their win and Cincinnati’s victory over Baltimore, the Bills will be playing postseason football for the first time since Bill Clinton was in the White House back in 1999. It’s a great story. Generations of fans in Western New York have not seen their team play meaningful January football. And while the Bills are nothing more than a mediocre team, it has to feel great for said fans to experience this. We stand with them.
Miami Dolphins: Mediocrity
After a one-year hiatus, the Dolphins took back their rightful place in the NFL’s hall of irrelevance once again in 2017. Losing quarterback Ryan Tannehill to a second torn ACL in mere months this past summer didn’t help matters too much. Then again, the team’s handling of his first injury left a lot to be desired. More than that, the decision to bring Jay Cutler out of retirement rather than sign Colin Kaepernick to replace Tannehill doomed the Dolphins from the get.
Following Sunday’s ugly loss to the Buffalo Bills, Miami heads into the offseason with no real hope of contention over the short term. Here’s a six-win team that will be returning a quarterback from two ACL injuries and might very well lose top receiver Jarvis Landry in free agency. New England might stand above the rest in the AFC East, but it’s also pretty clear that both the Jets and Bills are in the midst of being more relevant than Miami in the division. Such is the nature of the beast for a team that has not won a playoff game since 2000.
New York Jets: Progression with youngsters
The 2017 season might have ended with a thud against New England, but there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic here. Following an offseason in which the Jets completely cleaned house, most figured they’d challenge Cleveland as the worst team in the NFL. Sure five wins isn’t anything to write home about, but this squad was much more competitive than most imagined.
It started one defense with the emergence of rookie defensive backs Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye, both of whom look to be Pro Bowl caliber players. And on offense, the combination of Robby Anderson and Elijah McGuire looked better than most of us thought was possible. New York will enter the offseason having to add to what is still a talent-stricken roster, especially at quarterback. In no way does this mean 2017 was a failure. It was the first step in what promises to be a long-term rebuild under recently extended head coach Todd Bowles.
Los Angeles Rams: Shock and awe
If you had the Rams pegged as Super Bowl contenders heading into the season, please sell us that beachfront estate you have in Kansas. We understand full well that Jeff Fisher was a bad head coach and one of the primary reasons Los Angeles finished the 2016 campaign with the league’s worst offense. In no way did we think first-year head coach Sean McVay would be able to turn it around this quickly.
Not only did the Rams finish with an 11-5 record and earn the NFC West title, it ranked No. 1 overall in the NFL in scoring at 29.9 points per game. That’s the greatest turnaround in league history. After looking completely lost during his rookie season, Jared Goff responded by putting up north of 3,800 yards with 28 touchdowns and just seven picks. Meanwhile, talented young running back Todd Gurley tallied 2,093 total yards in 19 touchdowns in an MVP-caliber performance.
Los Angeles might be a rung below the likes of Minnesota, Pittsburgh and New England in terms of Super Bowl contenders. But the future in Southern California is brighter than almost any other team in the league.
Seattle Seahawks: End of an era
For the first time since Pete Carroll’s second season as a head coach in Seattle back in 2011, the Seahawks will not be playing postseason football. And it could very well lead to this variation of the Hawks coming to a crashing halt.
Rumors persisted ahead of Week 17’s loss to Arizona that Carroll might retire. And while he’s since denied said rumors, Carroll has a history of leaving programs when things are not going according to plan. Just ask USC.
On the field itself, we expect the Legion of Boom to be broken up. That could include both Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman being traded, especially with Thomas’ late-season antics. Meanwhile, former Pro Bowl defenders Cliff Avril and Kam Chancellor could be on the verge of calling it quits. In turn, this could lead to a complete rebuild for a Seahawks team that’s simply too reliant on the studly Russell Wilson under center.
Arizona Cardinals: The AARP team
Arizona will likely get younger at head coach following the retirements of Bruce Arians. The same can be said for quarterback, where Carson Palmer also called it quits. But in 2017, this was still one of the oldest teams in the league. At 38 years old, Carson Palmer missed all but seven games to injury. The 34-year-old Larry Fitzgerald is coming off yet another 100-plus catch season and just recently signed an extension.
All the while, the Cardinals have remained optimistic that the aging Adrian Peterson will be back with the team again next season. That’s 105 years of earthly experience for this trio. And it led to Arizona missing out on the playoffs for a second consecutive season. One has to wonder if this squad is just going to blow it up and start a rebuild. Because, at this point, the status quo isn’t working.
San Francisco 49ers: Jimmy eats world
Prior to Jimmy Garoppolo getting his first start as a member for he 49ers back in Week 13, this team had won five of its past 34 games and was averaging 17.8 points during that span. Following Sunday’s blowout win over the Rams, this 49ers squad is 5-0 and is averaging nearly 30 points per game in the Garoppolo era. This represents the greatest in-season turnaround in NFL history. Remember, San Francisco finished at 6-10 after starting the campaign 0-9.
For his part, Garoppolo continues to remain the talk of the NFL. He averaged 300 passing yards in his first five starts with San Francisco. And despite throwing five interceptions during that span, the former New England Patriots’ second-round pick has a gunslinger mentality unlike anything we’ve seen since Brett Favre was tossing the rock around Lambeau.
All of this has the 49ers on the brink of contention under soon-to-be second-year head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch. Yes, the rebuild process in San Francisco already appears to be over. Now, it’s all about actually getting Gucci Garoppolo locked up long-term, which should happen here soon.
New Orleans Saints: Finally, some balance
It took the team to actually expend some draft capital on defense for this to come to fruition, but the Saints are coming off their most balanced regular season of the Drew Brees-Sean Payton era. Led by young defensive backs Marshon Lattimore, Ken Crawley, Marcus Williams and Vonn Bell, the Saints yielded the 10th-fewest points in the NFL. Add in the presence of a dominating Cameron Jordan along the defensive line, and Dennis Allen’s unit was on fire for a majority of the regular season.
This has New Orleans thinking Super Bowl following an 11-5 regular season. It’s also a performance that saw the Saints rebound from three consecutive seven-win campaigns. Sure Brees and his offense, aided by youngsters Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas will get a lot of credit. But the Saints would not be Super Bowl contenders if these defensive components all didn’t take that next step in 2017.
Carolina Panthers: Jerry Richardson scandal
An otherwise tremendous season for the Panthers was clouded by a ginormous scandal surrounding founder and owner Jerry Richardson, who will now sell his team after allegations of sexual misconduct.
One of the biggest power players in the NFL world and one of only two founding owners in the league, Richardson’s exit from football will be the biggest story regarding Carolina in the offseason. Unfortunately, this comes with Carolina set to take on New Orleans in the wildcard round of the playoffs. It’s this type of off-field drama that has come to define the Panthers over the past several seasons.
Atlanta Falcons: Maybe, Kyle Shanahan was important
Atlanta inched into the playoffs by virtue of a win over a mistake-filled Panthers team in Week 17. But there’s most definitely a different aura surrounding this team compared to the squad that won the NFC title in 2016. Primarily, Atlanta’s offense regressed in a major way after Shanahan left to become the 49ers’ head coach.
Replacing Shanahan as offensive coordinator, Steve Sarkisian simply didn’t find the right mix. Atlanta finished the regular season in the middle of the pack in scoring offense a season after placing first overall at nearly 34 points per game. Star receiver Julio Jones caught a grand total of three touchdowns. Meanwhile, reigning NFL MVP Matt Ryan didn’t take a liking to this new offense, ultimately finishing with just 20 touchdowns compared to 12 interceptions.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: No final determination on Jameis Winston
This season was expected to represent a turning point in Winston’s career. He had dealt with inconsistency and some major turnover issues in his first two NFL seasons. Unfortunately, that never came to fruition. Dealing with more off-field concerns, Winston put up the worst performance of his career en route to leading the Buccaneers to a disastrous 5-11 record.
All said, Winston put up just 19 touchdowns compared to 11 interceptions in a season that was capped off by a three-pick performance against New Orleans in Week 17. At this point, the jury is still out on whether Winston is the Buccaneers’ franchise quarterback. And with a decision to make on Winston’s fifth-year rookie option, the time is now for Tampa Bay to come to a conclusion about the not-so-young quarterback.
Pittsburgh Steelers: No longer Big Ben’s team
Ben Roethlisberger has performed well since that five-interception performance against Jacksonville back in October. But it’s readily apparent that he is no longer the face of a Steelers team that has as good of a chance as any to win the Super Bowl.
Instead, those honors go to running back Le’Veon Bell and star receiver Antonio Brown. And it’s been that way for a while now. An impending free agent, Bell recorded 1,946 total yards and 11 touchdowns in 15 games during the regular season. He’s now put up nearly 8,000 total yards in five seasons. That’s just absurd.
Speaking of absurd, Brown was in the midst of a potentially history-breaking season prior to going down with a calf injury back in Week 15. He ended the season having recorded 101 receptions for 1,533 yards in just 14 games. These are the faces of a Steelers of a Steelers team that will look to unseat New England in the playoffs.
Baltimore Ravens: Tough sledding for ole Joe
It might now be at the point where Baltimore has to look at a potential heir-apparent to Joe Flacco. More than even injuries or a lackluster receiver group, Flacco’s 2017 performance was the primary reason the Ravens missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season. He threw 18 touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions while throwing for just a hair over 3,100 yards in 16 starts. That’s not going to get it done in today’s NFL.
The issue here is that Baltimore’s defense is still among the best in the business. It yielded the sixth-fewest points and forced north of two turnovers per game. If Flacco can’t ride that coattail to a playoff appearance, his time as a legit starting quarterback might very well be over.
Cincinnati Bengals: Not the end of an era
It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that head coach Marvin Lewis and the Bengals would part ways at the end of the 2017 season. And it couldn’t have come soon enough for fans in Cincinnati. The story has already been written, and we’re in the final chapter. Lewis’ Bengals just finished up a 7-9 season, missing out on the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
But more than that, it just seems that Lewis lost his team this past season. There continued to be major on-field and character issues surrounding the team. Lewis himself seemed to also lose out on the fundamental understanding of what it means to be a coach in today’s NFL.
Unfortunately for Bengals fans the world over, that didn’t happen. Lewis signed a two-year extension with the Bengals mere days after the season. It’s simply the definition of doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.
We understand full well that the Bengals’ brass is among the most loyal in the business. And that’s fine. But at some point it will come back to bite you in the back end. Retaining Lewis beyond the 2017 season seems to be a manifestation of this for the Bengals.
Cleveland Browns: Mistake by the lake
One win in their past 32 games. Just the second team to finish without a single victory during a 16-game regular season slate. To say that the Browns are the laughingstock of the sports world would be an understatement. This came out in droves during Hue Jackson’s second season as the team’s head coach.
From Jackson’s handling of rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer to the team’s inability to close out games against other lackluster squads, it was a dumpster fire of epic proportions for Cleveland. It led to what seemed to be a power struggle between Jackson and the team’s former front office, led by the recently fired Sashi Brown. And despite this, Jackson himself is going to be back for the 2018 campaign. That doesn’t instill confidence in the idea that things will be better in 2018.
Minnesota Vikings: Case’s story
This might have been the most surprising story of the regular season. Having to replace an injured Sam Bradford early in the season, no one really knew what to expect from Case Keenum. Here’s a guy that struggled to do anything of substance for the Jeff Fisher-led Rams back in 2016 and entered his first season with the Vikings having posted a 9-15 record with 24 touchdowns in as many career starts.
What followed was nothing short of amazing. Keenum would ultimately go on to lead Minnesota to 11 wins in 14 starts, helping the team earn a first-round playoff bye. A career backup, he also threw 22 touchdowns compared to seven interceptions en route to leading the league’s 10th-best scoring offense.
We don’t know what the playoffs will bring for Keenum and his Vikings. But we do know that his regular season performance will make the 29-year-old journeyman a coveted free agent option for many NFL teams, the Vikings themselves included.
Green Bay Packers: Placing blame where it belongs
Some Packers apologists want to blame Aaron Rodgers’ broken collarbone for the team missing the playoffs at 7-9 this season. Sure him missing nearly two months of action hurt big time. But the issues in Green Bay are much more vast than that. The inability of this team’s front office to put quality players around Rodgers came back to haunt Green Bay in 2017. Simply put, this is a talent-deprived roster outside of Rodgers himself.
Immediately after the season came to a conclusion, Green Bay’s brass recognized this. Long-time defensive coordinator Dom Capers was fired, as were multiple other assistants on Mike McCarthy’s staff. Then, on New Year’s Day, it was reported that general manager Ted Thompson would not remain in the same role moving forward. This is a good start. But the 2017 season told us a story of a team that needs to add talent on both sides of the ball to be taken seriously as Super Bowl contenders moving forward.
Detroit Lions: No real trajectory
This became readily apparent when the Lions fired head coach Jim Caldwell less than a calendar year after extending him. Detroit had no real trajectory in 2017. Recently crowned the NFL’s richest player, Matthew Stafford wasn’t the problem here. He put up north of 4,400 yards with 29 touchdowns and just 10 picks en route to leading the league’s seventh-best scoring offense.
Instead, it was the regression on defense and no real running game on offense that doomed the Lions in 2017. The team ranked in the bottom 12 of the NFL in points allowed and finished dead last in rushing offense. These two things will have to change under a new head coach in 2018 if the Lions are to have any real playoff aspirations.
Chicago Bears: A fox on the run
To the surprise of pretty much no one, Chicago fired John Fox mere hours after closing up shop on a 5-11 season. Fox’s game management and inability to oversee any real progression with first-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky led to his downfall in the Windy City.
The issue for Chicago wasn’t much more than Fox’s coaching in 2017. Sure the team lacked enough talent to compete with Minnesota in the division. But there’s still some nice pieces in place here, primarily Pro Bowl running back Jordan Howard and the electric Tarik Cohen in the backfield. Moving forward, it will be all about this team actually getting an innovative offensive mind in there to help Trubisky overcome what was a lost rookie season for the signal caller.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Legion of Boom 2.0
Minus a Week 16 hiccup against San Francisco, this Jaguars defense was historically good in 2017. It finished the regular season yielding the second-fewest points per game (16.8) and ranked No. 1 against the pass and No. 2 in overall defense. In fact, opposing quarterbacks put up a horrendous 68.5 passer rating against this unit.
Led by Calais Campbell and his 14.5 sacks, Jacksonville’s defense also ranked No. 2 overall with 55 sacks. Add in Pro Bowlers A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey in the secondary, and this was by far the best defense in the NFL this past season.
Not only did this help Jacksonville earn its first playoff appearance since 2007, it has the team thinking Super Bowl. That’s absolutely shocking given that Blake Bortles still exists under center in Duval.
Tennessee Titans: Mediocre Marcus
Sure the Titans will be playing playoff football for the first time in Marcus Mariota’s three-year career. But in reality, he’s in no way a major reason why. Much like with fellow 2015 first-round pick Jameis Winston in Tampa Bay, Super Mario failed to take that next step this past regular season.
The former Heisman winner put up just 3,232 yards with 13 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in as many starts during the 2017 regular season. In the process, he led the Titans to a mediocre 20.9 points per game.
This will lead to questions about whether Mariota will ever be more than a marginal signal caller in the NFL. Just off the top of our head, we can name nearly two dozen quarterbacks that performed better than him in 2017. That’s just not going to get it done, Marcus.
Houston Texans: Deshaun’s team
Even after a small sample size during his rookie season, it’s readily apparent that Deshaun Watson is a franchise quarterback. What he did in seven games (six starts) prior to suffering a season-ending torn ACL is nothing short of amazing.
The former Clemson standout tallied 1,968 total yards to go with 21 total touchdowns in those seven games. Houston went 3-3 in his six starts and averaged 31.3 points. In the team’s other 10 games, it posted a 1-9 record and averaged 15 points per game.
After rumors swirled that Bill O’Brien might be fired as the Texans’ coach, it appears he’ll return for the 2018 season. If that’s the case, the self-proclaimed quarterback guru will have a franchise to help lead his team under center. O’Brien couldn’t ask for much more than that.
Indianapolis Colts: Failing Andrew Luck
No matter what Colts owner Jim Irsay might have us believe, the team’s 2017 season was defined by a downright failure of their franchise quarterback. After undergoing shoulder surgery back in January of last year, Luck missed the entire season. This came after the Colts had noted that Luck would return in time to play in September. It also came after multiple setbacks in an attempt to throw following said surgery.
The sad reality of the situation is that Indianapolis let Luck play for too long when in fact he should have undergone surgery long before last January. In fact, this is an injury the franchise quarterback suffered early during the 2015 season. Despite this, he played the entire 2015 and 2016 campaigns.
Fresh off a four-win season, Indianapolis fired head coach Chuck Pagano…a year too late. That’s not going to dramatically alter the team’s performance in the field should Luck fail to return at 100 percent. And after watching him fall right on to their laps No. 1 overall back in 2012, it’s possible the Colts’ could have derailed Luck’s once-promising career. Shame.