Things are starting to heat up in Indianapolis between Colts owner, Jim Irsay, and QB Andrew Luck. Luck has been put on IR due to a recurring shoulder injury, but Irsay is starting to question Luck’s head being where it needs to be for the mental toughness to play football.
Tony Dungy appeared on the Dan Patrick Show and accidentally let it slip that there’s tension between owner and QB.
During a commercial cut-in of Dan Patrick’s national radio show, guest Tony Dungy, who did not know he was on the air, told Patrick during a break that Irsay recently said he believes that what’s holding Luck back from returning to the field is more mental than it is physical.
Patrick asked Dungy about the Luck situation, and Dungy responded, “I don’t know what’s going on there. Jim Irsay made a comment about six weeks ago, ‘It’s inside his head now.'”
Patrick: “Wait, it’s inside Luck’s head?”
Dungy: “Yeah, [Irsay] said that when I was out [in Indianapolis] for Peyton’s ceremony.”
Patrick was stunned. “Wow,” he said. “I really wonder if Luck’s future is in Indianapolis. I really do.”
Dungy didn’t respond initially, then when Patrick brought up the fact that Irsay expected Luck back at the start of the season or early in the season, Dungy replied, “They obviously believed it because they did nothing to prepare for him not being there.”
This isn’t the first time Irsay has been known to question Luck’s mental toughness. These are some quotes from Irsay himself about about Luck’s injury being more mental than physical according to WHTR:
“On Aug. 13, Irsay said, “It’s been said before, all sports is played on a 4-inch field between your ears. It’s really important we continue to help Andrew emotionally, mentally, get his confidence and his endorsement, deep down his rubber stamp (in) his heart of hearts because in the end, that carries the biggest weight.”
“…You have to be able to deal with this, not only physically but mentally,” Irsay said. “I have no doubt that Andrew, the person that he is, he’s going to come out of this thing not just how he was but a better quarterback. ‘When’ is the question. That timetable is more on the football gods and Andrew’s gut feeling on how he’s feeling.”
Irsay is publicly calling Luck out, yet makes no mention of the fact that this was something that Luck complained about in 2015. Surgery to the shoulder went undone until Jan 2017. No one seems to be talking about the fact that there maybe some negligence on the part of the Colts organization when it comes to Luck’s current state.
Either way, it’s not pretty in Indy right now, and with Luck’s status still uncertain, who knows if he will even continue to play for the Colts after all the dust settles.