Report: Colts’ Andrew Luck playing with multiple fractured ribs
The Indianapolis Colts have sworn that, despite what we are seeing, quarterback Andrew Luck has been dealing only with a shoulder injury.
According to Fox’s Jay Glazer, Luck also has been playing through multiple fractured ribs since Week 3. Luck is among the league’s lowest-rated passers and hasn’t looked himself during the Colts’ 3-4 start. Now we have our suspicion as to why.
“The Colts say the shoulder is better,” Glazer said on the Fox pregame show. “Obviously there’s been something else that’s been wrong with him. I’m told actually some of his teammates didn’t even know about these injuries.”
That speaks to Luck’s toughness. He missed Weeks 4 and 5 after suffering the injury — believed all along to be just a shoulder — against the Tennessee Titans in Week 3. That was the game the Colts faced a 27-14 fourth-quarter deficit, and Luck helped bring them back. Backup Matt Hasselbeck, himself less than 100 percent health, led the Colts to back-to-back wins in Luck’s place.
The Colts are likely to hear from the league office after this report. At no point this season have the Colts reported Luck to have a rib injury.
Failing to report injuries is considered serious business in the league — a competitive-balance thing, if you will — even though many teams secretly mock the whole system and find other ways to conceal health matters. The Denver Broncos were accused of fudging the injury report last season when Peyton Manning, reportedly failing to mention his quadriceps injury, but were not penalized for it.
New England Patriots fans have to be laughing. The Colts, of course, reported the Patriots on “integrity” issues for their assumed role in the deflate-gate scandal, and it launched a six-month saga between the league and Tom Brady and the Patriots that dominated the offseason NFL talk.
Colts GM Ryan Grigson appeared to deny the report via this tweet from WTJR.com’s Bob Kravitz:
We highly doubt this issue will attract as much attention, even if the Patriots cry foul.
Luck and the Colts are set to face off against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte on Monday night.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
