INDIANAPOLIS – It was just six words said rather facetiously by Rob Chudzinski on Wednesday. The crowd Chud was speaking to was about a dozen, but the offensive coordinator could have easily been speaking for the millions of Colts fans around the globe.
"Nice to have No. 12 back," Chud said with a wry smile in opening up his weekly presser on Wednesday afternoon.
Colts fans watching, listening, following along on Twitter, were nodding in agreement, hearing Chud speak.
Life with Andrew Luck under center offers a calmness to those in Colts Nation, probably not many more than it does for Chud, who's now in a full-time coordinator role.
In Luck's first 2016 work with Chud, we saw the offense key in on high percentage throws, allowing their franchise quarterback to ease back into the flow of a game atmosphere.
"We wanted to get the ball out quick and get it out of his hand and those are some of the things we've been working on quite a bit," Chud said of Luck going 8-of-8 in his first game action since last November.
"I mentioned his decisiveness, looking, if something wasn't there and not necessarily waiting on it to open up and getting to his next progression. You really saw some good signs of that in the game."
None of Luck's eight completions versus the Ravens traveled more than 15 yards down field.
Instead, the Colts took the "profits" underneath and relied on the playmaking of guys post-catch to push the offense deep into Baltimore territory.
Allowing guys to make plays in space is going to be a staple of this offense with Luck and Chud working together.
"It will be a huge emphasis for us," Chud said on Wednesday. "I've been fortunate to have been around and have coordinated teams that were some of the best in the league in terms of doing that and there are different ways of doing it. You can get it through the air in throwing it down the field or you can get it with run after catch. At the end of the day, the drives that you're going to score on, you have to find some way to get some chunk plays on those drives so that emphasis is important for us."
What Chud also liked from Week Two of the preseason is what he saw Luck looking like within the pocket.
The common fan sees Luck's perfect completion percentage and says, 'No. 12 is back.'
Chud sees endless hours of offseason work coming to fruition.
"(Luck) can take things from the classroom to the field," Chud says of his franchise quarterback. "He's got a flare for making plays. He's got a toughness about him of obviously standing in there and delivering the throws and making the throws he needs to and delivering in clutch situations.
"All the intangibles and all those things are phenomenal with Andrew and he's getting better. That's the thing about it from a technique, fundamental standpoint we saw some things (this offseason). You see improvement in his feet every day. He really works at the things that you lay out for him and he lays out for himself. It's not an accident that he's gotten to where he's gotten."
