Andrew Luck not satisfied with his 354-yard passing performance
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.: Andrew Luck threw for four touchdowns and 354 yards Monday night as he led his Colts (6-3) to a 40-24 trouncing of the Giants (3-5). It was a completely lopsided win – but don’t tell Luck he had a good game.
“There’s some plays I messed up. I missed some throws,” he said afterwards. “I don’t think I played very well.”
He did almost get picked twice, including once in the end zone, but the Giants failed to convert either opportunity. New York also blitzed often early on, putting enough pressure on Luck to force a handful of incompletions. But once Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara went down with a torn biceps tendon (most likely a season-ending injury), Luck had all the time he needed to find his targets.
He was 25 for 46 overall, with 354 yards passing.
The performance brought his season total to a league-leading 3,085 passing yards. Only Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning have reached the 3,000-yard milestone so quickly in a season, and only Manning has had more after nine games. Luck is on pace to throw 5,484 this year, which would break Manning’s single-season record of 5,477.
[Join FanDuel.com’s $3M Week 10 fantasy league: $25 to enter; top 26,405 teams paid]
Monday night was Luck’s fifth straight road game with at least 350 yards – he’s the first NFL quarterback to ever hit that mark – and his franchise-record seventh-straight game with 300-plus yards.
Regardless, tight end Dwayne Allen agreed that it wasn’t the team’s best night. “I don’t think collectively we played well at all. We didn’t do a great job protecting him. He got hit a couple of times, and in my mind that’s a couple of times too many.”
“It was a good night but far less than we’re capable of,” he said. Even still, they had “good luck.” Or was it good Luck? Laughing at his own joke, he added the requisite, “No pun intended.”
Rookie tackle Jack Mewhort noted that the offensive line needs to tighten up and give Luck more time “to do what he prepares to do.”
When he has enough time, it’s fun to watch. The longest touchdown pass of the night went to Reggie Wayne, who now has 14,070 career yards receiving in 14 NFL seasons. That puts him eighth on the all-time list, just ahead of James Lofton.
“I’m just blessed to be out there, Wayne said. “It was a prime-time game and an opportunity to turn things around a little bit.” It was a confidence boost after last week’s embarrasing 51-34 loss to the Steelers.
“It was a big win,” Ahmad Bradshaw added. “That’s what we needed going into the bye week.”
Check out more NFL coverage from Yahoo Sports:
——-
Danielle Elliot is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter!
