Insider: Is Andrew Luck trying too hard?

The harsh reality is that he leads the league in interceptions, sits 30th in completion percentage and is dead last in passer rating. That means he's off to a worse start than Johnny Manziel, Jameis Winston and Matt McGloin.

His early-season stumbles mirror that of his team. The Indianapolis Colts are 0-2. How much is Andrew Luck to blame?

"One hundred percent," Luck said Wednesday. "I have to improve. There are no excuses."

Sure there are, but the Colts quarterback won't play that game. He never has. He could point out that leaky offensive line of his, the one that, at this rate, is bound to get him killed one of these days. (The Colts allowed six hits on their quarterback in Week 2, worst in the league.) He could blame the running backs who keep fumbling the ball or mention the wide receivers who, collectively, look like they're driving 11 mph in a 50 mph zone. But he won't.

All that'll do is mask the most alarming development two games into this Colts season, a hard truth Luck won't hide from: He's been downright bad.

How bad? Statistically he's off to the worst start of his career. So far he's completed fewer passes for fewer yards than at this point in any of his first three seasons. His downfield proficiency – typically one of Luck's greatest strengths – has plummeted: On throws of 11 yards or more, Luck's completion percentage has dropped from 45 percent his first three seasons to 27. That includes five costly interceptions. All told, he's turned the ball over six times in two games.

Forget living up to the 40-touchdown, 4,761-yard clinic he put on last year. Forget the MVP chatter. Forget the talk of the Colts offense, with Pro Bowlers here, there, everywhere, dropping 40 points a game. Luck needs to reboot. He needs to stop throwing interceptions. He needs to hold on to the ball when he scrambles out of the pocket. And, most important, he needs to start winning games.

After all, it's not trigonometry, right?

"The fumble, the interceptions, I have direct control on what happens with the ball," he said. "As a quarterback, you do; it's in your hands. I haven't made the best decisions and missed some throws. Shoot, you work on it. You go out in practice and you work on it and see how you can do in the game."

It's a simple science in the NFL: As the starting quarterback goes, so goes the team. Behind Luck, the Colts have soared; his prodigious talents have concealed holes on this roster since the moment he stepped in the door. Thirty-three wins in three years doesn't just happen. It happens because of Andrew Luck.

All of which speaks to the burden hoisted upon Luck's 26-year-old shoulders: He carries the weight of a franchise each time he steps on the field. He must deliver, whether his offensive line is packed with Pro Bowlers or in shambles (right now it's the latter), whether his receivers are lighting up defenses or looking lost (again, the latter).

Welcome to the life of a starting quarterback. It's not exactly fair.

"He's trying so hard to make everything right," said Colts backup QB Matt Hasselbeck. "I don't know what to say other than I've seen Hall of Fame hitters in baseball have a slump and the best 3-pointer shooters in the NBA go cold. The reason is that, sometimes, they're just trying too hard."

Is Luck trying too hard? It sure seems like it. At times it looks like he's overcompensating, trying to do too much, trying to play too fast, trying to make up for too many mistakes. That's when the interceptions come, when the fumbles come.

"He's facing a lot of pressure," said tight end Dwayne Allen. "And I think he's doing the best he can in the situation he's in."

Luck's also a victim of being Andrew Luck. He's been so alarmingly good, so incredibly consistent in his three years in Indianapolis that near-perfection is expected from him every week. Any sort of stumble – his play the past two weeks counts as a stumble – is met with disbelief. What happened to Andrew Luck?

Part of what's happened to Andrew Luck: He's faced two of the best defenses in football to start the season, and they've gotten the best of him. Part of it is his offensive line, which barely gave him enough time to complete a three-step drop Monday night. Part of it's the running backs. Part of it's the receivers.

Part of it, too, is Luck, and his uncharacteristic poor play. He's 47-for-86 this year for a dismal completion percentage of 54.7. His yards per attempt is just 5.7 — 30th in the league and a direct result of the Colts' lackluster deep game. Marcus Mariota and Tyrod Taylor have thrown for more touchdowns (four) than Luck (three).

To a man, his coaches and teammates aren't expecting his slump to last long.

"I think we've all seen the level that Andrew plays at and can play at," coach Chuck Pagano said. "It's not just the quarterback, it's across the board. Every single position. Like I said, you're going to win some plays, you're going to lose some plays. Does he have to make good decisions? Absolutely. Does he have to manage the game? Absolutely. That's the role of the quarterback. It's the hardest job on the football field."

After Monday's loss to the Jets, Hasselbeck stumbled upon a clip of Luck as a high schooler. Back then his game wasn't much different – he was the muscular, dual-threat quarterback, unafraid to scramble out of the pocket and scrape for yards the hard way. On this particular play, Luck bolted upfield and leveled a punishing blow on an opposing safety to secure a first down. It was quintessential Luck: raw, instinctive, effective football.

In that play, Hasselbeck saw a solution.

"The best thing we can do is cut him loose, let him have fun, let him play football," he said. "That clip was just him playing football. We don't need him (piling into safeties), but we want the same mentality. That's just him playing ball."

Hasselbeck is right. As soon as we see the Luck of old, we'll see the Colts of old.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134. Follow him on Twitter @zkeefer.

Colts at Titans, 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS