It's a shame, really. Sure, the Johnson arrest (head-butted his wife, Evelyn) came as a bit of a surprise, therefore leading to the surprise release of the veteran wideout. But why is it that we are more obsessed with discussing his future, rather than the future of the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft: Andrew Luck.
Yesterday afternoon was the long-awaited debut of former Stanford Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck, who is taking over the reins from Colt legend Peyton Manning–now a Denver Bronco.
His first ever pass? A 63-yard touchdown completion to running back Donald Brown. It was only a little dump-off to Brown, who did the rest of the work as he followed his blocking and took it to the house. Luck simply stood in there long enough for Brown to bounce off his block and took off down the field after the catch.
The rest of the game for Luck went just as smoothly, as he played a majority of the first half and left the game with a 21-3 lead over the St. Louis Rams. Luck's stat-line at the end: 10/16, 188 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT.
Luck orchestrated three near-perfect scoring drives on four total possessions, one being just the one play for 63 yards. The other two–7 plays, 53 yards and 13 plays, 80 yards–took a little bit more time off the game clock.
Throughout Indy's 13 play, 80-yard scoring drive that was capped off with a Delonte Carter one-yard TD run, Luck was in the no-huddle offense and lined his offense up in the shotgun for nine of those plays. Eight of the 10 completions went for 10+ yards (63, 10, 12, 5, 23, 9, 12, 12, 10, 32).
Luck displayed poise and had complete control over his offense. Obviously this is only the first preseason game of 2012, but if his performance against St. Louis' first team defense is any indication, Luck could have a solid rookie season.
His predecessor, Peyton, threw for a TD on his first professional pass with Indianapolis as well, so could Luck just be following in his footsteps?
No. 2 overall pick Robert Griffin III had a solid debut for the Washington Redskins this past weekend in a 7-6 victory over the Buffalo Bills, too. Griffin played a lot less than Luck did, going 4/6 for 70 yards and a touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon from 20 yards out.
It's a much smaller sample size in Washington, but either way both young guns impressed in their first couple snaps as professional players. I'm thinking there's still plenty from where that came from.
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