INDIANAPOLIS — November was quite the month for the Indianapolis Colts and quarterback Andrew Luck.
After leading the Colts to a 3-0 record over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins, Pro Football Focus named Luck their AFC Offensive Player for the Month for November.
Luck completed 74-of-95 pass attempts (77.9 percent) for 925 yards and nine touchdowns with a passer rating of 125.7. He threw three interceptions and was sacked just once. PFF had the following to say:
"Andrew Luck is back. Slotted just behind Brees, the Indianapolis Colts' wily veteran earned the second-highest grade (92.6) among qualifying offensive players in Weeks 9-12. Luck's 83.0% adjusted completion percentage ranked third among signal-callers in the month of November, and his 150.2 passer rating under pressure led all quarterbacks with 20-plus pressured dropbacks in the four-week span."
PFF is right: Luck is back, and his leadership and high level of play helped get the Colts back into the AFC playoff hunt, as they went from 3-5 to 6-5 within the month of November.
Monthly awards aren't the only thing that could be coming Luck's way. As of November 30, Luck was eighth in Pro Bowl voting among quarterbacks. He is also in the discussion as a candidate for the NFL MVP and Comeback Player of the Year.
"Yeah, absolutely," Colts head coach Frank Reich said when asked if Luck is deserving of being in the race for Most Valuable Player. "The string of games he has put together, playing a high level. Doing everything that you would think an MVP player would, winning and helping win the kind of games that we have won and just the level of consistency week in and week out."
During November, Luck was named the official AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November by the NFL. He also won the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award in Week 11 and FedEx Air Player of the Week in Week 12.
"He's always been great. He was great before I got here," Colts first-year assistant quarterbacks coach Marcus Brady said last week about getting the chance to work with Luck. "So really it was just getting the reps, getting comfortable and getting back to where he was – not just to where he was, but even better because he is still a young quarterback.
"He's going to continue to improve and he's doing that each and every week. His focus is just on the day. Each day he is just trying to get a little bit better and you can just see that each week."
