Colts Andrew Luck Update: No Practice This Week and Target Date Now Likely Week 12 at Earliest

To say that the 2017 NFL season has been a disaster for the Indianapolis Colts would be an understatement. The last time Colts fans felt this helpless was 2011, the year Peyton Manning missed the whole season recovering from neck surgery. While there is some hope that quarterback Andrew Luck will return to play this season, every new update puts that likelihood into greater doubt.

Since it was announced that Luck suffered a bit of a setback due to some soreness and inflammation, his timetable has continued to get pushed back. Any chance of Luck’s return resulting in a potential turnaround for the season and landing Indianapolis in the playoffs slips further away as his return timeline gets longer.

We have known for sometime now that it will take at least two or three weeks of legitimate practice — meaning throwing regularly to his receivers and running with the first team offense — until there would be a legitimate chance for Luck to take the field for his first game this year. As a result, missing practice last week pushed the most optimistic of expectations to some time after the team passed the halfway point.

Today, we have learned that Luck will lose another week. Ian Rapaport reported that Luck won’t practice again this week.

If we start the clock back at where Luck was before the setback, he would need at least two weeks of practice throwing to his teammates before he would potentially start. This takes Week 9 and Week 10 off of the table. The Colts have their bye on Week 11, making Week 12’s home match-up against the Titans as the earliest legitimate target date. This is assuming no additional setbacks and that Luck won’t need an extra week or two to get back to his previous form.

Earlier today, CBS Sports “Insider” Jason LaCanfora also shared a report from “a source with knowledge of the situation” that Luck’s setback has pushed any potential return back to December “most likely.” This isn’t all too surprising, given what we already knew, but it could push back the return date to the Colts road game against the Jaguars on December 3rd.

Anyway you slice it, it will be weeks until Colts fans have a chance to see Luck back under center. Another three or four games will have been played at that point. It will take some miraculous changes, and improvements from a young and now even more injured group if the final five or six weeks will have any playoff implications. Without the likelihood of any playoff chances, the chants to sit Luck out for the rest of the year will only grow louder.