Dallas Clark Injury: Tight End's Absence Furthers Colts' Pursuit of Andrew Luck

The Indianapolis Colts were "devastated" to see Dallas Clark leave Sunday's 31-7 loss to the Atlanta Falcons with a lower leg injury.

So "devastated," in fact, that they might have to drown their sorrows with a bit of retail therapy, by taking Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL draft.

The "Suck For Luck" sweepstakes took a distinct turn for the better/worse on Sunday as the Colts dropped to 0-9 while the Miami Dolphins picked up their first win—a shocking 31-3 drubbing of the Kansas City Chiefs—to recuse themselves from the chase for the sensational quarterback from Stanford.

For now, anyway.

Truth be told, Indy's offense won't be all that worse off without Clark because, well, it was pretty terrible even when the former All-Pro was healthy enough to play. 

Injuries are nothing new for Clark. The veteran out of Iowa has played a full 16-game schedule only once during his nine-year NFL career. He played in a career-low six games in 2010 before sustaining a season-ending wrist injury in mid-October.

The onus will now fall to backup Brody Eldridge to haul in errant throws from Curtis Painter, at least until Clark returns to action.

Chances are, the Colts won't rush him back, not with the team already buried at 0-9 and Peyton Manning unlikely to return until at least the 2012 season. If Indy has learned anything from this season, it's that its roster stinks pretty much from top to bottom and, as such, will require a serious overhaul in the offseason in some form or another.

At this point, the best way for the Colts to go about such an "Extreme Makeover," short of hiring Ty Pennington to replace Bill Polian as the general manager, is to secure that No. 1 pick and proceed with one of three feasible options:

1) Draft Luck to be their franchise star right away and trade Manning.

2) Draft Luck, but have him sit behind Manning for a couple years to hone his craft and acclimate himself to the NFL, a la Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.

3) Trade the pick away for a boatload of other picks and/or young players.

Whatever the Colts choose to do, holding Dallas Clark out of action, unintentionally or otherwise, will only bolster Indy's chances of turning things around sooner rather than later.