With the first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Andrew Luck the star quarterback from Stanford University is guaranteed to hear his name called. One of the biggest decisions that often leads to numerous “experts” each supply his/her own candidate to be selected has amazingly all ready become a foregone conclusion. Andrew Luck, Stanford University’s heralded quarterback, has been discussed, diagnosed, and thoroughly examined, and the resulting answer is that the man posses no flaw.
He has the stereotypical quarterback body type; tall, muscular, amazing arm strength, etc. He possesses the lineage; his father Oliver Luck is a former NFL quarterback and now the Athletic Director at West Virginia University. Furthermore, he can make any throw in the game. Short, long, to the left, to the right, under pressure, under center, from the shotgun formation, around three defenders, you name it and Andrew Luck can make it. But even among these traits exist some similar competitors. However what makes Andrew Luck a tier above, are his intangibles. His ability to simply perform better under pressure, the ease and beauty at which he performs his duties as a quarterback and his love of the game that brought him back to college for another year despite the guarantee that he would be selected first overall in the 2011 Draft. Luck makes everyone around him that much better, deflects all attention and praises his teammates at every opportunity he gets. The last quarterback to possess all of these above mentioned traits? Peyton Manning.
Now that we know who will be selected first, the rest of the current NFL season can be called the Andrew Luck sweepstakes as teams strategically try and position themselves for the first pick in the draft. Since this isn’t the NBA with its lottery, one simply must just finish with the worst record to have this divine right. Let’s look at the competitors.
1. Indianapolis Colts – With Peyton Manning out for the season, this season has practically been a lost cause for the Colts since the beginning of the season. When the team signed Kerry Collins in the offseason they practically threw in the towel. This season has shown the amazing ability of Peyton Manning who had he been with the Colts this season, they very well may have been 5-0 instead of 0-5. If I had a vote for this season’s MVP award winner, Manning would already have my vote because of the incredible ability one person has on the winning of one team. Even without LeBron James, Cleveland weren’t as bad as the Colts are without Manning. There is a high likelihood that the Colts could lose every game this season, which is down right appalling. Regardless of who starts at QB, Collins or Curtis Painter, they have both proven that they are a disaster. The defense has done as much as humanly possible but with itself practically always on the field, there is only so much they can do. The offense has practically no running game because defenders can crowd the box and they laugh at the Colts’ QB’s begging them to throw. Unfortunately for Colts’ fans, this season could very well get worse then better without any wins in the near future. However, picture this; Andrew Luck on the same team as Peyton Manning. The last player to be as highly hyped out of college as Luck was indeed Manning and he could have the ability to sit for a few years behind Manning and then seamlessly take over and lead the colts to the super bowl for the next decade. If I were the Colts I would do anything humanly possible to make this happen and would start a 7- year old kid at QB if that’s what it took to lose for the rest of the season. 2. Miami Dolphins- Miami has surprisingly been a mess this year and they too do not seem to be getting better any time soon. With the news that their starting QB, Chad Henne, who was shaky at best, is out for a long period of time, I don’t see their fortunes getting any better anytime soon. The Dolphins had a lackluster passing game to begin with, and Henne seemed think it was smart to constantly throw into triple coverage where he would unsurprisingly be intercepted. However, Henne was the best QB on the roster and without him, you might as well kiss behind the passing attack. The running game has been minimal at best with Daniel Thomas and Reggie Bush yet to make much any notice. However, now without any passing game, defenses will crowd the box, putting any kibosh on the running game. The Dolphins may have to turn to special teams to have any hopes of putting any points on the board. The Dolphins will be tough competitors of the Colts for the coveted man known as Luck, and will may not have an outcome until the end of the season. 3. Minnesota Vikings- The Vikings have been down right awful so far this season, but they do have one victory, over the almost as awful Cardinals. The Vikings’ fatal flaw was signing Donovan McNabb in the offseason, a perennial underperformer who has done nothing to shed that claim in Minnesota. However, Minnesota does have Christian Ponder on its roster, the QB from Florida State who has shown plenty of promise and is designated as the QB of the future. So it seems unlikely that the Vikings would draft Luck, the year after spending their first round pick on another QB. However, Luck is that coveted, that the Vikings could do just that. But the chance of the Vikings beating out the Colts or Dolphins is very slim. The Vikings posses Adrian Peterson, perhaps the best running back in the league, and he only should be able to win four more games this season. Far too many in my opinion to win the sweepstakes, and the Vikings chances of winning the sweepstakes will take a lot of “Luck.”
Overall, we are still early in the sweepstakes with plenty of football to still be played. However, it looks to be a two-team race with a third outsider who in reality has little chance of winning. Look for the Colts to hold out Manning even he becomes healthy later in the season and the Dolphins to trade away their entire offensive line, just kidding (but that would work)
Anyways we will check up on these teams in a few months, in the mean time
Boomtho out