Doyel: Andrew Luck is making a bad team worse

Nobody's good on this 2015 Indianapolis Colts offense – not the quarterback or the running backs or the receivers. Not the offensive line. Not the offensive coordinator, either. Let's get to Pep Hamilton before this story's done, OK?

But here's the thing. Nobody has to be good, I mean all that good, except the quarterback. He's the one player on this team, on any NFL team, who can make up for what the others lack. And for years, Andrew Luck has made up for the deficiencies around him.

For two years he made up for Trent Richardson, know what I mean? He made up for Xavier Nixon. Last season he made up for aging Reggie Wayne and fumbling Boom Herron and clueless Hakeem Nicks. That's what franchise quarterbacks do – they make everyone around them better.

This year, he's making it worse.

Andrew Luck, I mean. Andrew Luck, face of the franchise, face of the NFL, soon to be the highest-paid player in league history, is taking a bad team and making it worse. Last week in Buffalo the Colts were bad; Luck completed barely half his passes and threw two interceptions and made it worse.

Monday night against the New York Jets, the Colts were bad. Luck completed barely half his passes, threw three interceptions, lost a fumble and made it worse. A 20-7 loss. Fans rushing out with five minutes to play. Those who stayed behind, booing.

Colts coach Chuck Pagano, who nudged Luck toward the bus last week when he said "the offense" and even "the quarterback" needed to stop throwing the ball so much – "Everyone knows that," Pagano said – threw Luck under the bus after the game Monday, then backed the bus up and left tread marks all over Luck's No. 12 jersey.

Pagano noted that the Colts "can't turn the damn ball over," which is the most agitated I've seen Pagano in almost a full calendar year. When someone in the media tried to give Luck an out, asking Pagano if his quarterback is under too much pressure behind a leaky offensive line, Pagano refused to go along.

"He has been dealing with that for three years now," Pagano said, saying what I was saying earlier:

Luck has had the weight of the franchise on him since he got here. Why is he buckling so badly now?

Pagano then got cruel, noting that Zionsville High could beat the Colts with all those mistakes on offense. Then he delivered the coup de grace. Maybe it was unintentional, but this is what Pagano said about all the turnovers, about Andrew Luck's poor play:

"It's not that hard – it's not trigonometry."

Luck majored in architectural design at Stanford. That's a math-based major. Not saying Pagano was specifically mocking.

Just saying. Maybe he was.

After two games the Colts are in the same position as a year ago – 0-2, but facing a run of easy games against AFC South opposition – but understand something: Andrew Luck is not having the same year. He's worse, much worse.

After two losses last season, Luck still was completing 63.2 percent of his passes for 542 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. His passer rating was a respectable 85.5.

After two losses this season? He's completing 54.7 percent of his passes for 493 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions. His passer rating is about 57.0.

Last week Luck was outplayed by someone from Buffalo named, let me look this up … Tyrod Taylor.

Monday night, Luck was outplayed by a dude from Harvard with a big beard and a small arm and no business outplaying Andrew Luck. But that's what journeyman Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick did. He outplayed Luck.

Ryan Fitzpatrick on Monday night: 22 for 34, 244 yards, two touchdowns, one interceptions. A 93.3 passer rating.

Andrew Luck on Monday night: 21 for 37, 250 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions. A 52.8 passer rating.

Granted, Fitzpatrick was throwing against just one of the Colts' top four cornerbacks, and then against none of the top four after Vontae Davis was knocked out of the game late in the first half.

But Luck was throwing to T.Y. Hilton and Andre Johnson and Donte Moncrief. Plus first-round pick Phillip Dorsett and Coby Fleener. Luck was handing the ball to Frank Gore.

Here's where we need to point out that Luck is getting no help from lots of those players. Andre Johnson dropped a pass again, struggled to get open again, had almost no impact (seven targets, three catches, 27 yards). Gore fumbled at the goal line. Dorsett is a more athletic Hakeem Nicks, meaning, he's clueless about where to go but at least he gets wherever he's not supposed to be quickly.

And here's where we point out something that I'm pretty sure has never been said in the Indianapolis media:

Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton is not very good.

He's very popular, I get that. But for years he has been riding Luck's coattails – you ask me, it started at Stanford – and now that Luck is struggling, let's be consistent and attach Hamilton to those muddy coattails too.

Hamilton does stuff that doesn't make sense. The pass on second-and-two from the Jets' 11 to, um, reserve offensive tackle Joe Reitz. The disinclination to lean on Gore, who runs like a man with plenty of tread on his borderline Hall of Fame tires.

And then there's the whole Phillip Dorsett thing. No, Hamilton didn't draft the receiver. But Hamilton's the one who decided to work Dorsett into the offense in the preseason at every receiver position. To make him more versatile, or something. Dorsett is well-rounded, all right: He doesn't know what he's doing from any position. He and Luck aren't reading from the same page. Not sure they're reading from the same (play)book.

Luck, normally feisty after games – even after victories, he tends to look around the media room with wide eyes and a scowl, unable to turn off his competitive juices – was resigned after this one. He wasn't falling on the sword like he normally does, either. He took the blame just for one of his three interceptions, noting he was hit on one and that, on the third one, it's "going to happen" late in the game.

Luck isn't the guy he's been for three years. It's early still, but it's getting late for excuses like that. He wasn't great in the preseason, but it was preseason. He wasn't great in the opener, but it was the opener and it was on the road. He wasn't great on Monday night, but that's the second game, and it was at home, and it was against a Jets team that went 4-12 last season.

He's not very good right now. And when he's not very good, the Colts are awful.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel

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