The Colts came into the season with many new faces around on a team that had much familiarity with its fan base and all across the NFL family. Sadly, of late, 1st year head coach, at only 51, Chuck Pagano, had been diagnosed with a treatable type of leukemia, making this a very difficult emotional and mental battle for the players, as well as the family of Coach Pagano. And of course, best wishes and thoughts go out to him in the speediest of recoveries.

Andrew Luck has the leadership quality we all want to see in a QB for any of our teams. But he is struggling with a few severe issues that need to get cleaned up. In the 1st half of games this year he, overall has been a rookie at times, others, pretty good. But it seems the Colts tend to lose concentration after 30 minutes of football. And the game is for 60.

He is under constant pressure with a rotten offensive line protecting him. Having been sacked 13 times thus far on the season, thankfully for his ability to extend a play, as the O-line protects like a wet paper bag. Obviously being a QB in the NFL is going to bring demanding situations, but a rookie is stared at as fresh meat for a lion’s den. Keep poise and confidence and keep things under control, which he leans towards losing focus at times.

Coming out of halftime on the year, in the 3rd quarter alone, Luck comes out flat. Completing less than 49% of his passing attempts, for a disgraceful 5.2 yards/attempt average. He also needs to sustain drives, when pushing his team into opponent’s territory better. When on the opponents side of the field, between the 49 and the 20 yard lines, he is barely passing 42% as well, finding open men gets harder on a shorter field, he needs to stay insistent on getting the team moving, especially when in striking distance.

Their 2nd halves overall, have been dire at best, getting outscored 70-46 in quarters 3 and 4. If not for the strong game vs Green Bay, it would much worse. They need to keep the foot down on the pedal. And with their running problems, that only seem to get worse through the game. In the 2nd half they are rushing the ball at a measly 3.5 avg. They have never had much of a ground game for years. But it’s getting worse. The key to not getting trapped in 3rd and long, clearly is to have a running game that can move the ball well enough early in the drive.

On 3rd down overall, Luck has struggled including 42% of his picks come on the 3rd down, and passing below 45%. The Colts have gone strongly in the direction of being a pass first team, with a 62% pass selection over running the ball, and its reasonable, with the 1st pick from the draft, with all the skills he has, let him whip it around.

Not a lot is expected from a rookie QB season characteristically, but with names like with Luck and RG3 things quickly change. And truthfully, it’s not always reasonable; they are still rookies just the same. Highly talented kids with a great future ahead of them, and what makes it even that much more difficult is that Luck has to live up to high expectations in replacing a future HoF’er Peyton Manning. And those are indeed some mighty big shoes to fill.

Written by Mike Anthony for VegasTopDogs.com