Report: Andrew Luck could have played if Colts’ game was on Sunday instead of Thursday

The Indianapolis Colts were without franchise quarterback Andrew Luck on Thursday night as he missed the game with a concussion, but a long break in-between games should help him get healthy in time for the team’s Monday night game against the Jets coming up.

In fact, it sounds like Luck has responded well and should be back soon. CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reported this morning that Luck “is on track to play in Week 13” and that the Colts expect him to be cleared to practice on Monday. In fact, La Canfora said that if the Colts had been playing on Sunday this week the team believes Luck was on track to have been cleared to play. Wrote La Canfora:

Luck was officially ruled out Wednesday when the Colts put out their final injury report, but sources said he continued to feel better Thursday and suffered no setbacks through the weekend. Had it been a normal week, he could have started in what was clearly a huge game for Indianapolis. The Colts anticipate Luck being cleared to practice Monday ahead of their game against the Jets.

Because of the Colts playing on a short week on Thursday it was always extremely unlikely that Luck would be able to play, and I think everyone realized that. But the good news is that it sounds like Luck responded well and probably could have gone today had it been a normal week, which means that he definitely should be back for next Monday’s game.

It’s unclear whether Luck will have completely cleared the concussion protocol by Monday or whether it’s just expected that he will be ready to return to practice, but the fact that he may have been able to play in a game today is an encouraging sign for the Colts. Concussions are always impossible to predict and so therefore it was impossible to tell for sure how long he would be out. But it sounds like he’s getting close to being ready to return (if he’s not there yet), so he could be back tomorrow.