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The Colts know they’re only going as far as Andrew Luck takes them.

So the good news is Luck knows where he can and cannot go.

“He’s not going to take the egregious hits anymore,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said, via Tom Pelissero of USA Today. “He’s sliding. He’s perfecting that.

“Coming out of college, that was his deal: He had a linebacker mentality playing the quarterback spot, and it’s kind of how he got himself going, like everybody got themselves going when they played. They get that first hit out of the way, and then they were fine. The butterflies were gone and then you’re good. Playing that spot, you can’t do that. He’s learned a lot.”

The aggressive style was fine until he was taken down on a scramble by a pair of Broncos defenders and came away with a lacerated kidney, to go on top of shoulder and rib injuries that made last season his worst and his shortest.

Luck said he’s viewing last season as a learning opportunity, beginning with his mechanics and ball security.

But for his coach, simply being in the lineup is enough, after watching most of last season.

“He learned sitting down for nine weeks,” Pagano said. “Across the league, and history shows, to be a great quarterback, availability is key. And he’s got to be available for this team and his teammates and this organization.

“He understands now that he’s got to be smart in the decision-making category and know when to say when. There’s running the offense and all that, but then when plays break down, he’s an athletic guy and he’s big and he’s strong and he can extend plays. But then he’s got to also know [when not to] – and he understands this better than ever and he’s really working on it.”

Luck has shown he can make an incredible difference when he’s on the field, so trying to get him to be judicious about it was obviously a priority for the Colts this offseason.