Jim Irsay says Andrew Luck would have been ready for playoffs

It's a moot point now that the Colts' season has ended and they are out of the playoffs, but last week a number of people were asking why the Colts were keeping quarterback Andrew Luck on the active roster despite the fact that he wouldn't play that weekend.  The answer was simple: the Colts weren't placing him on injured reserve just in case they made the playoffs, in which case Luck might have been able to come back.

In his press conference on Monday night announcing head coach Chuck Pagano's four-year extension, owner Jim Irsay said that Luck would indeed have been ready for the playoffs - either the wild card or the divisional round.

Talking about how the Colts stayed competitive and nearly made the playoffs without Luck, Irsay noted that, "Andrew was going to pass that kidney test, you know, maybe this Friday or certainly the next one.  He would have been back for the divisional round I'm pretty sure and maybe the wild card round, so we would have loved to have that chance."

Of course, Irsay had previously said that he expected Luck to be back for the team's week 15 game against the Texans or the week 16 game against the Dolphins, neither of which happened.  So the injury situation is fluid as the Colts were waiting for Luck to get to 100%, but we do know that Luck was getting close.  He had returned to practice and the reason Chuck Pagano gave for Luck not playing in the regular season finale was that he wouldn't get enough reps in, so that would have been an encouraging sign moving forward had the Colts been able to make the postseason.

If Luck had been able to return for the wild card game, anything could have happened.  It wouldn't have guaranteed a Colts win or anything close to it (especially against a very hot Chiefs team), but it would have given the Colts a fighting chance.  If he couldn't have returned for that game, however, but only for the divisional round game, it's very unlikely the Colts could have even gotten to that point without their franchise quarterback.

Regardless, the Colts will be watching the playoffs from home, so we won't see them on the field again until August.  So what's the point of talking about this?  Simply that it sounds as if Andrew Luck is close to being healthy and that he should be able to put in the necessary work this offseason toward getting better, and he definitely should be ready to go when it comes time for the 2016 season.