INDIANAPOLIS – It's part of a plan the Colts have for Andrew Luck in 2016.
Luck (right shoulder) has been listed as a limited participant at practice the past two days.
This offseason, we've seen Luck take every first-team rep in practice, and then play seven preseason series (about normal for starting quarterbacks).
On Thursday, Ryan Grigson joined “The Dan Dakich Show” and explained how the Colts are handling Luck going into Sunday's 2016 debut.
"He's all good," Grigson said of Luck on 1070 The Fan. "The guy's thrown a zillion balls (this offseason/preseason). The media's seen it, in Anderson day in and day out throwing a ton of balls with a lot of velocity — even knocking some guys over. I guess you could sit there and look for something that's not there, but I'm just saying he's going to be ready for the game this weekend, and we have a plan that we think's best for him, and one he feels good about, and that's what we're doing.
"People don't have a league-wide perspective on how the league works a lot of times. It's no different from other quarterbacks in the league that say they're limited and they get rest just like Robert Mathis gets rest or other players. You just want guys fresh going into the season, and he's in a new chapter, really, in this organization and on this team, and you just want the guy to be fresh for Sunday."
* *Earlier this week, before Luck appeared on the injury report, Chuck Pagano spoke to when he felt like his quarterback had returned to his normal self in 2016.
"Ever since he came back (in OTAs)," Pagano said of Luck. "We had time away during the end of the offseason program and beginning of training camp. I know that he spent a lot of time in football and I know he spent time with skill positions and the receivers throwing and catching off campus. He's had a good training camp and a good preseason, small sample size and rightfully so but I like where he's at.
"I know he was excited to get his first action back on the field in the preseason when that finally came. I think if there was any anxiousness or nervousness about that it was probably taken care of already at this point. He's played a ton of football. Between myself and the rest of our staff, the owner, the general manager and all of his teammates, we're all very excited to have 12 back under center and playing quarterback for us.
"He looks great. He's in a great place mentally and physically, felt like he's had a really good training camp and preseason."
The Colts will wrap up their week of practice on Friday.
A final injury report and Pagano's update on Luck will come Friday afternoon.
Sunday's regular season opener against the Lions will kick at 4:25 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium.
