Indianapolis Colts backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has been through pretty much everything during his 15-year NFL career. He was the young guy sitting behind a future Hall of Famer, took his team to the Super Bowl as a veteran and was pushed out of a starting role later in his Seattle Seahawks career.
He knows full well about what type of expectations and responsibilities come with being a quarterback in the NFL. So when Hasselbeck talks about current Colts’ starter Andrew Luck and what is being asked of the third-year pro, you listen.
Hasselbeck did just that in an recent interview with Eric Edholm of Yahoo!
The danger, in my opinion, is that people put too much on a guy that they don’t put on him in their first and second years when he had restraints on him,” Hasselbeck told Shutdown Corner. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, that was great!’ and ‘That was great!’ and just keep piling it on his plate, and that’s not good. If it’s your 10th year or your third year, that’s never a good thing.
Edholm went on to indicate that the context of Hasselbeck’s statement didn’t necessarily focus on the Colts organization. Rather, it seemed to be more of a generalization. But it’s important to note that more is asked of Luck than any quarterback in the NFL not named Peyton Manning or Drew Brees.
Over the course of Luck’s first two seasons with the Colts, he has accounted for three quarters of their touchdowns on the offensive side of the ball. For comparison’s sake, Manning represented 79 percent of the Broncos touchdowns on offense last season. This goes to show you how much the Colts have relied on Luck over the course of his two-year career.
Hasselbeck continued…
He craves it, he wants more,” Hasselbeck said of Luck. “He probably can handle it more than most people, but I am just not a fan of that. Tom Brady, Brett Favre, whoever it is … I just think you can overburden a guy.
Now that Indianapolis has gone from a wildcard team to a division winner, expectations are much higher heading into the 2014 campaign. It needs to go deep into the playoffs and challenge for a conference championship if this season is going to be considered a success. While that burden seems to rest on the right shoulder of one Andrew Luck, he seems more than capable of handling it. It’s now up to the rest of the Colts roster to pick up their game in order to help Luck out.
Photo: USA Today