Andrew Luck Isn't the NFL Legend You Thought He Was—He's Brett Favre 2.0

The pundits have been right, even through this dreadful season. Andrew Luck has all the tools to be an MVP.

It is just not the MVP you and they were thinking of.

Since his junior year at Stanford, Luck’s intelligence, nerdiness and personality off the field have directed all fans to today's living legends: Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.

But Luck’s style of play has never actually resembled these guys as much as another former MVP.

Here’s the checklist of the Andrew Luck package:

• Big arm
• Willingness to hold on to the ball to make plays
• Gunslinger attitude
• Fair share of boneheaded turnovers and decisions
• Penchant for fourth-quarter comebacks

If you had somehow missed the headline, bullet point No. 3 was the dead giveaway for what I’m saying. Yes, Luck is more like Brett Favre than anyone else in recent memory.

Get by Favre’s folksy persona off the field and the fact he and Stanford make about as much sense as Luck playing ball with the boys in a Wrangler ad. Yes, Luck still proudly owns a flip phone, and we unfortunately know Favre owns one smarter (well, that’s not the right word).

As different people as they are, the football similarities are uncanny. You need look no further than Luck’s performance on Monday Night Football in the fourth quarter.

There was the Favre-esque monster comeback. There were the half-dozen risky, 50-50 throws all leading to the final drive in regulation. And in that final drive, it became apparent Luck is more Favre than Brady or Rodgers. How so? Well, Luck’s situational approach and decision-making were counter to anything seen from the meticulous Rodgers and Brady.

Brady and Rodgers despise turnovers and risks, and their decisions and numbers reflect that. If given the chance to live for another down, the two almost always gladly take a reprieve. If, like Luck here, facing a prevent defense needing three points to move to overtime, the two would take any and every easy completion down the field to get into field-goal range.

Andrew Luck, like Favre, does not operate that way.

Here’s example No. 1. From his own 40 with 1:56 left, he faced 2nd-and-10. Needing to move the ball just 25 yards or so with plenty of time, Luck uncorked his first deep shot to Donte Moncrief. On 3rd-and-10, unfazed, he looked deep again to Moncrief on another low-percentage play.

Having watched Rodgers and Brady enough, I can assure you this is not something they would do. They are taking the easy play over the middle in this scenario, even if it means running off some clock and not necessarily picking up a new set of downs. It was almost as if Luck thought he was playing for a touchdown instead of a field goal. 

Finally, on 4th-and-10, Luck lowered his ambitions and threw it over the middle to Griff Whalen. The play was called a catch on the field, and stood on review. It was anything but certain Whalen actually caught the ball, and it was a difficult play to execute to begin with. In other words, it illustrated exactly the scenario Rodgers and Brady determinedly try to avoid by taking that gimme third-down completion a prevent defense will allow.

And here’s example No. 2. Now at the 48, despite just narrowly having avoided calamity with an incompletion on 4th-and-long, Luck did what Luck does. He took another deep shot. Worse, this one was against the corner playing the best ball in the league in Josh Norman.

The ball fell harmlessly incomplete after a Norman pass breakup, but it again illustrated Luck’s mentality. He’ll take his chances, and he wants the immediate home run over four singles. Bear in mind the Colts needed just one first down, essentially, to be in position to tie the game and go to overtime.

Example No. 3 takes place at the Panthers’ 26 with 48 seconds left. The Colts are within field-goal range and have a first-down play. A tie game and overtime seem inevitable, barring an interception. So what does Luck do? He throws deep, of course, and into double coverage. The phenomenon had not escaped the Internet’s notice, and the Luck YOLO throw has taken hold.

Luck was not done yet—in fact the most blatant example of all took place on his last play in regulation. After moving his team down all the way to the 6-yard line, the Colts faced 3rd-and-4 with nine seconds left. In this scenario, taking the risk of an interception is insane. The field goal from Adam Vinatieri is a 99 percent certainty.

Yet there was Luck, in example No. 4, trying to force a touchdown to Coby Fleener, who was absolutely blanketed by Luke Kuechly. Kuechly dropped what would have been the game-ending interception, but the verdict was in. This was not the heir to Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, who would have chucked the ball into the fifth row 999 out of 1,000 times on that play.

It was vintage Favre, recklessly going for the win when taking the safe play was the far better option.

All of this is not to say Luck will not have a great career. 

Favre, after all, won three League MVP awards and a Super Bowl. He had a Hall of Fame career all but a half-dozen quarterbacks in NFL history would envy. It is just to say that while Colts fans were almost assuredly clamoring for the next Rodgers or Brady, it might be time to stop worrying and love the NFL’s new gunslinger.