Andrew Luck's Ridiculous Talent Shines in Destruction of Bengals

Andrew Luck is not yet the best quarterback in the NFL, but it's very clear when I watch him that he is the most talented. All the tools and skills to be the best are there, and when they click together, you get a glimpse of what will soon be. 

What happened on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals was the natural result of what happens when Luck's talent is allowed to flourish untouched—you can thank Cincinnati's 31st-ranked Adjusted Sack Rate for some of that—the deeper in the play Luck can read, the more dangerous he becomes. Only a handful of downfield drops (mostly from clearly not-100 percent receiver T.Y. Hilton) kept Luck from sticking an unfathomable amount of yards on the Bengals defense. 

As it was, 376 yards and a touchdown on 44 attempts is pretty ridiculous, but he played even better than that. The only thing surprising about Luck's on-the-run touchdown throw to Donte Moncrief was that he didn't pull off a mid-air somersault to escape the pocket. It was just more typical Luck witchcraft: The way he can make certain throws and amazing plays happen on such a routine basis almost makes a mockery of the league.

But the key number for Luck was the negative play count: He took just one sack, fumbled zero times and threw zero interceptions. It doesn't take a football genius to tell you that turnovers are bad. It's a staple talking point for pretty much every coach in the NFL. Ask enough baited questions and you could have Colts head coach Chuck Pagano give you a whole press conference on it.

But with Luck, the cliche really does hit close to reality. The football media doesn't often group Luck into the Brett Favre-sphere, where he's just havin' a good ol' time out there, gambling deep often. If I had to speculate on the "why" of that, it'd be because we've seen Luck complete so many ridiculous throws that we—and he—truly believe he can hit every one of them. 

I'm going to throw some statistics in a box under this paragraph. They are going to upset you if you are a Colts fan because they are unfair. They don't properly account for context. They don't account for teammates. When I reveal who Player B is, under the table, you will be upset. 

Player	Dropbacks	DYAR (Rk)	DVOA (Rk)	Interceptions	Fumbles
Luck	644	885 (10)	9.3% (12)	16	10
Player B	601	406 (16)	-0.5% (21)	15	9

Player B is Jay Cutler.   

One of the hidden tenets of NFL quarterback greatness is the unsexy ability to hang on to the football. Some of this is random noise. Every year, Football Outsiders runs a statistic called Adjusted Interceptions, which gives us a more predictive level of how turnover-prone quarterbacks really are by accounting for things like dropped picks, Hail Mary interceptions and the like. We're still dealing with a small sample size, but at least it's better compartmentalized.

The next step in Luck's development is very zen: He should try to make his own life easier. We all know and respect the fact that his arm can make every play. Now, instead of doing that, he should try to discern the right play to make on a continuous basis. 

Source: NFL Game Rewind

Above is a ridiculous throw on a third-quarter screen pass squeezed into the tightest of windows to Hilton. It would've went for a few yards had Hilton not dropped it. This isn't exactly a play that demonstrates Luck opting for a tough play, because it's apparent watching the play that offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton had no second options built into it. But it does showcase just how filthy Luck is, and how it makes even sniffed out screens seem like possible completions.

Luck often holds the ball until the last possible minute. This is an awesome ability to have. It's not quite as awesome when it's being used to fumble the ball 10 times, most among all NFL quarterbacks.

What we saw on Sunday is the kind of game Luck should be striving to create, not just the kind of game that happens in good matchups. Luck effortlessly scanned the field, took well-timed and accurate deep shots and played within the context of the defense as well as I've ever seen.  

It's always weird to poke at niggling weaknesses in great players. Let's be honest: If the Colts had built any kind of actual team around Luck, they'd be Super Bowl favorites today. I don't come down here to tear down Luck in any way, but simply to point out that this game shows us the next step is possible. 

And if Luck reaches it, quashing the only real problem point in his game, he'll be primed to replace Peyton Manning not only in name, but also in success. 

Rivers McCown is the AFC South Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Three-Cone Drill podcast. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.