INDIANAPOLIS — If you really, really, really wanted an in-person look at Andrew Luck before things started to count, it was available Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium for the extraordinary sum of $3.
All you had to do was check the right secondary ticket website on the day of the Colts-Ravens preseason game and click the necessary buttons.
Those who entered at that price got Luck for less than 13 cents a play. It would be harsh to say that experience wasn't worth a lot more. But maybe not inaccurate.
Luck played a lot, relatively, in the Colts’ second preseason game. He did not exit until 7:40 remained in the second quarter, and he was on the field for five series and 24 offensive plays.
By comparison, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger did not play at all in his team’s second exhibition; same with the Saints’ Drew Brees. So fans got to see plenty of Luck, just not the version they might have hoped in his first game at home in 586 days.
It was enough to get a handle on the Colts' conundrum: As constituted, they need Luck to be exceptional to have a chance to contend in the AFC South.
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As constituted, though, there is reason to fear they may not be capable of the support Luck needs to approach the excellence that was routine, before shoulder issues wrecked and then eradicated his past two seasons.
No one who mattered was willing to concede that following the Colts’ 20-19 loss.
"Not too sharp," Luck told the media. "Certainly red-zone turnovers are a negative. Missed a couple throws that I'd like to hit. I didn't feel like we as an offense got in any semblance of a sustained rhythm.
"It's tough — when we play that way, a little sloppy — it's tough to become positive."
Coach Frank Reich insisted he wanted to offer no excuses, and he agreed Luck and the others on the first-team offense appeared disjointed. But he also mentioned that the Colts are even more circumspect about how much of their playbook they’ll show in preseason, because he believes that’s an advantage for a first-time head coach.
"My experience tells me protection at times was not great," Reich said. "I felt there were maybe 1-2 throws that were not his best throws. But usually, it’s overall not as bad as you think or as good as you think.
"I still have a lot of confidence in the direction we're headed offensively."
Luck wasn't terrible. He wasn't Luck, though, finishing only 6-of-13 for 50 yards. It wasn't just that he declined to play with the abandon that once defined him; that was the wise move given the youth of his comeback and the absence of consequence regarding the result.
It was more that he was neither sharp nor commanding. There had been the expectation his second game back would present the opportunity to try out more deep passes. That never developed.
A fair amount of that was the fault of receivers who struggled to get open (star T.Y. Hilton missed the game with an injury) and linemen who failed to block the Ravens’ pass rush (both starting tackles were out, too).
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When Luck scrambled on a third-and-7 play from the Baltimore 11-yard line, having gained glorious field position after a failed first series because of a fumbled punt return by the Ravens’ Tim White, there was no one else to blame for his wildly errant pass toward, ostensibly, tight end Jack Doyle.
The throw was far to the inside of Doyle as he hugged the sideline, and Luck did not see safety Anthony Levine covering back Christine Michael a few yards in front.
When Luck tried a back-shoulder throw to new receiver Ryan Grant on the Colts' next possession, the bail sailed and was uncatchable. When he threw for Doyle on the subsequent play, the coverage was too tight, and the pass was knocked clear. When he tried to baby a throw to Grant on a crossing pattern, the pass was dropped.
That left Indianapolis with its most salient highlight of the evening, a 57-yard field goal from 57-year-old kicker Adam Vinatieri. (Just kidding. He’s “only” 45).
Luck was sacked twice in the second quarter, once on each of his two series. The first of those was particularly unnerving, with Hall of Fame-bound linebacker Terrell Suggs covering nearly the width of the field to bring down Luck from behind as he rolled gently to the right.
It seemed Suggs could have run all the way to Canton in the time Luck held the ball in search of an open receiver.
"We knew it was blitz; they showed their hand, and we had a great play-call on — a certain combination versus that specific look they present," Luck told Sporting News. "And … to get the home run, you have to sort of hold it. That was the risk we were willing to take in that situation. And when you have Terrell Suggs on the edge, that happens sometimes.
"I told someone after the game, I was sorta happy to be sacked by Suggs — a legit sack. I was like, 'Oh, I landed on my right elbow, sort of reminiscent of how I injured my shoulder a couple years ago. I didn't feel anything, didn't give it a second thought."
It has been long enough since Luck was great that the breadth of his brilliance is easy to forget. He was chosen for the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons, and he led the Colts to the playoffs in each of those years, including all the way to the 2014 AFC championship game. He passed for 4,761 yards and 40 touchdowns that year.
Not long afterward, the injuries began, the coaching staff wilted, the bad drafts mounted and the GM reportedly alienated too many in the organization.
It all went to heck at once, but it began when Luck absorbed a severe hit in a 2015 victory against Denver that left him with a lacerated kidney and kept him out for all but the final games of that season.
He hasn't been the great Andrew Luck for nearly three full years.
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He was smiling after this, though, because he didn't feel at all like the luckless quarterback who endured those frustrating seasons.
"I’m very, very encouraged — for one, by how I feel. I feel great," Luck said. "I was excited to play. Monday Night Football is cool. Someone told me it was our only Monday night game. It was, 'Alright, make the most of it.' We did not."
He didn't leave triumphant, but he left smiling. It was only a preseason game, and he finished it in good health.
At this point, that can be considered priceless.
