If one were to stereotype a Colts loss in the Andrew Luck era, their drubbing at the hands of the Raiders last weekend would fit perfectly. Oakland jumped out to a 12-point halftime lead before extending it to 26 points midway through the third quarter. Luck led them back, but didn’t have quite enough to overcome being under pressure on 56.3 percent of his dropbacks as they lost 33-25.

It highlights multiple issues that have been unwavering the past five seasons. The first is a defense that has finished above average in points against only once in the past five years. The second is an offensive line – and offensive philosophy in general – that brings an exorbitant amount of pressure on the quarterback. The last is that Luck can only do so much. He went 12-13 for 174 yards and a touchdown on plays he wasn’t pressured last weekend. The fact is, Luck is now finishing up his best season of his career despite what the win total says.

PFF grades for Luck have never quite matched up to the public perception of the heir apparent of the “next great NFL quarterback” mantle. The message was always the same though, if Luck can clean up his bad habit of forcing the ball into dangerous situations he’ll be one of the elite. In 2016 he did just that. Below is his rate of turnover-worthy throws over his career.

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Year TWT Rate Rank 2012 5.32 33rd 2013 3.33 14th 2014 4.31 28th 2015 7.08 35th 2016 2.24 7th

It wasn’t the only area Luck improved though. Almost every single rate stat for Luck this season is a career best. His 112.1 quarterback rating in a clean pocket was better than ever, but it didn’t matter much when pressure got home and it got home more than ever this season.

The success of an offensive line in pass protection is inextricably linked to how much you ask out of them. Take a three-step drop with max protection and a quarterback likely gets the ball out unfazed. Take a seven step drop with long-developing route combinations and no help and there’s likely to be someone in the quarterback’s face. The latter has been the norm under Chuck Pagano. Precisely 40.2 percent of Luck’s dropbacks this season have been nine yards deep in the backfield or more (as deep as you’ll realistically see a quarterback go). Deeper drops means more time the line must pass protect, which leads to more pressure and the Colts quarterback being sacked 37 times this season despite him converting pressures to sacks at the 10th lowest rate in the NFL.

Luck has been under pressure on a ridiculous 44.5 percent of his dropbacks this season, the highest rate in the NFL and the highest of his career. Not so coincidentally he has the second most dropbacks lasting 2.6 seconds or more of any quarterback in the league and over his career he’s never finished outside the top-five in that statistic over a full season. Luck’s not the only quarterback in the league in an offense that takes a lot of deep drops and holds the ball a long time, but he’s the only one that does it with a terrible offensive line. Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton and Tyrod Taylor all have similar splits in the above statistics, but all have competent offensive lines. Luck on the other hand had a tackle (Joe Reitz) and guard (Joe Haeg) with the lowest pass-blocking efficiency scores at their respective positions in the NFL.

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Ryan Grigson’s philosophy of signing aging veterans on value contracts has backfired more often than not, but one could argue it was because of the positions he chose to sign. Losing a step is far more impactful to a cornerback or pass rusher than it is to a left guard. Indy would benefit greatly from a proven commodity at either tackle or guard because forcing another draft choice to play before he’s ready has had disastrous results for them in the past. The Colts currently have the eighth most cap space for 2017 and linemen like Reilly Reiff (Lions), Ricky Wagner (Ravens), T.J. Lang (Packers), Andrew Norwell (Panthers), Larry Warford (Lions) and Kevin Zeitler (Bengals) would all be massive upgrades in free agency.

While the offensive line obviously needs an infusion of talent, literally every level of the defense does as well. Their biggest deficiency is once again along the line though. The Colts are dead last in the NFL in pressuring opposing quarterbacks. They’ve gotten pressure on only 25.3 percent of dropbacks (league average is 34.5 percent) despite blitzing at a rate slightly above the league average. Trent Cole (age 34) and Robert Mathis (35) are not even close to the players they used to be. Neither are likely to be around next year, as their contracts expire at the end of the season. Luckily for the Colts, this is about as good a draft as there’s been in recent memory for pass-rushers. Four edge players are listed among PFF’s top 15 players in this upcoming draft after only having two a season ago.

Indianapolis is about to enter arguably it’s most important offseason since it first drafted Luck in 2012. Since then the personnel philosophy has been unwavering as they’ve been in “win now” mode for five straight seasons. With the current talent level on the roster, that seems silly at this point.

The Colts could keep kicking the can and hope for lightning in a bottle or they could finally emphasize building a young core around one of the best quarterbacks in the league.