Andrew Luck: Shades of a Young Tom Brady?
Tell me if you’ve heard this before: a mid-20s quarterback in his third year as a starter leads his team into a Pats-Colts showdown at Gillette Stadium, against a highly-touted opponent, with the AFC Championship on the line.
Sound familiar?
No, it’s not January 2004, when a 26-year-old Tom Brady was at the helm of the Patriots, prepared to face off against co-MVP Peyton Manning and the Colts, trying to prove that the Pats’ Super Bowl victory two years prior wasn’t a fluke.
Eleven years later, it’s Andrew Luck and a Colts team, fresh off their upset of Manning and the Denver Broncos, that will come into Foxborough this Sunday, hoping to knock of the Patriots and earn a berth in Super Bowl XLIX, the first of Luck’s career and the first for Indianapolis since their loss to the New Orleans Saints five years ago.
As the young Colts quarterback comes into his own in the NFL, the easy comparison to make is to Manning, who ran the huddle in Indianapolis for 14 years. But a very interesting one, especially with this week’s matchup, is how he stacks up against Brady, who in his third season led the Patriots to their second Super Bowl title in three seasons.
The path to the NFL couldn’t have been more night and day for Brady and Luck. The former was a college afterthought who didn’t start until his junior year at Michigan and wasn’t taken in the NFL Draft until the Patriots grabbed him in the sixth round with the 199th overall pick in 2000. Luck was one of the most hyped college quarterbacks of the new millennium, with the only question going into the 2012 draft being which team would take him No. 1.
Luck’s no stranger to the playoffs, as his Colts have never failed to qualify since he took over the reins of the offense in 2012. But he’s 3-2 in five playoff games going into this weekend, a far cry from the 5-0 mark Brady held over his first five playoff starts. Luck does have the advantage in some statistical categories, as his 340.6 yards per game dwarf Brady’s 202 YPG through their first five playoff starts.
But their touchdown-interception numbers tell a less stats-driven story. While the Patriots were able to succeed with low totals from Brady (three TDs, two INTs), the Colts have relied on the arm of Luck to win them games. That has – more often than not – come back to bite Indy, with Luck’s nine touchdowns negated by a ghastly 10 interceptions, including four in their divisional round loss to the Patriots last season.
Through his first three seasons as a starter, Brady threw for 10,227 total yards with a 1.81-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio and a completion percentage of 61.9. Luck over that span? Just under 13,000 total yards passing; 2-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio; and a completion percentage of 58.6.
Off the field, young Tom Brady was much more reserved than Andrew Luck. In this interview from his rookie season, Brady appears cool, calm, and collected, happy to be holding a clipboard behind Drew Bledsoe, just doing whatever he can to make sure when his number is called, he’s ready.
Luck, on the other hand, has been a reporter’s dream; he’s a great quote, never shies from the spotlight, and feels quite at home in front of the camera ever since he came into the league. He sometimes gives off the impression of a goofy kid, one you wouldn’t imagine is also one of the best passers and more complete players in the highest level of football.
But his work ethic, his drive to get better, and his quest to do whatever it takes to help his team win is what makes him more like New England’s No. 12 than anything else. Andrew Luck may not get to the Super Bowl this year – not if Brady and the Patriots have anything to say about it – but his upside is the highest of any young quarterback since Aaron Rodgers.
In his third year starting in New England, Brady was leading the Patriots to their second of three Super Bowl titles in four seasons and beginning to construct the resume that will one day land him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
There may never be another quite like Tom Brady, but if there’s a young gun in the league that could realistically pass for Brady’s shadow, it’s Andrew Luck.
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