Andrew Luck's Accuracy Is Costing the Indianapolis Colts Offense

Criticism of Andrew Luck does not go over well in Indianapolis. 

It's understandable. 

After all, the fourth-year quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts bears a burden unlike most other quarterbacks. He has a team with a subpar supporting cast and coaching inconsistencies that often put him in undesirable situations. 

There are far bigger problems with Indianapolis than Andrew Luck. 

The Colts defense lacks talent, and it has routinely looked out of sorts against offenses with decent quarterbacks. Luck's ability to orchestrate improbable comebacks has artificially inflated the team's record, especially during the first two years of his career, as his defenses have routinely dug the team into a hole. 

Offensive talent around him throughout the years has been inconsistent at best, with an offensive line that isn't the worst in the league, but it is definitely below average. The receivers and tight ends have been decent (and have steadily improved), but nobody else on the offense is an elite weapon. The run game has always been poor, although the addition of running back Frank Gore has helped in 2015. 

Coaching has been inconsistent at best, as Sunday night's game painfully reminded us. 

To put it bluntly, the Colts live and die with Luck, and he's often forced into incredibly difficult tasks. 

But so far in 2014, Luck has not been his usual self, and it's been a big blow to an offense that was supposed to be one of the league's best. 

There are a number of issues that are contributing to the problem. The offensive line's talent and the overall offensive style didn't mesh over the first few games of the season, which capped the team's efficiency. Andre Johnson has been a big disappointment, and wide receiver separation has been inconsistent. Luck and the offensive line have not done a great job of picking up on opposing defenses blitzes pre-snap, and the team has often been taken by surprise on key downs. 

But the biggest problem we're talking about today is Luck's accuracy, which has been wildly erratic over his first four games of the season. 

One of the key reasons Luck has been so impressive to start his career is because he often goes through stretches where he has precise control over his throws. He'll go through stretches where he sprays the ball, especially floating them high, but those used to be the unusual games, not the norm. 

But to start this season, Luck has been consistently inconsistent with his ball placement. Against the Patriots, it was a key reason the offense slowed in the second half. 

Is this his injury? Is it something more?

It's hard to say, since that accuracy has plagued Luck all season. 

Short-arming a couple of deep passes to T.Y. Hilton in the season-opener led to interceptions and a loss in Buffalo. In this game, Luck had a couple of inaccurate throws early on as well, when fatigue shouldn't have been much of a factor on his shoulder. 

For example, on the second drive of the game, Luck had Frank Gore open going across the middle into space on second down, but threw the ball high and behind Gore for an incomplete pass. After an Andre Johnson false start on the next play, the Colts were set up for 3rd and 12, and fell just short of making the first down. 

NFL Game Rewind

Later in the first half, Luck missed Hilton with plenty of space down the right sideline, again throwing too short and making Hilton slow down, reminiscent of Luck's first interception of the year at Buffalo, when his deep throw to Hilton was short. 

Luck did make up for it with a touchdown pass later in the drive, but this was a missed opportunity early in the game. 

In the second half, it was sailing throws, throwing high on tosses down the middle of the field to Moncrief, Hilton and Johnson each. These were throws that killed drives, either indirectly by putting them in a tough situation or directly on third or fourth down. 

Again, this isn't to say everything is Luck's fault. It's not. 

In this particular game, his receivers didn't give him much help, either by getting separation, gaining extra yards after the catch or making tough catches. 

Phillip Dorsett was one of the better receivers on the field at getting separation, but he slowed down too early on a crossing pattern in the fourth quarter, leading to what looked like a bad throw from Luck, but was actually a poorly-executed route.

T.Y. Hilton went out of bounds early on a couple of occasions, costing the Colts first downs. Johnson struggled to make contested catches and continues to be a liability on vertical routes. Moncrief made a couple of big plays but also struggled to get separation at times. 

On the other hand, there is no excuse for one-hopping throws to open comeback routes on the sideline, outside of an injury. 

Maybe it's the injury. Maybe it's an injury that was never reported but has been lingering all season. Maybe it's just a slump. 

Whatever it is, Luck and the Colts must figure it out. The rest of the team's talent isn't changing anytime soon. Luck is going to continue to carry a large burden. 

Is he up for the challenge, or will the Colts offense continue to underwhelm?