Cris Carter said it best, he said that you have to have a fall guy when things get shaky. Pep Hamilton was ousted as the offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts. This came to no surprise as head coach Chuck Pagano is on the hot seat due to his teams inability to perform. The main culprit is Andrew Luck. Luck has been the model of inconsistency this season. Luck leads the NFL with 12 interceptions despite missing two games due to injury. In the two games ancient backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck led the team to a 2-0 record while boasting a 95.0 quarterback rating. While Hasselbeck was in the fold, the offense moved with ease and the turnovers were at a minimum. Now, I am not crazy enough to say that Hasselbeck is better than Luck, but Pep Hamilton wasn’t a problem when Hasselbeck was in the fold.
Hamilton was brought in to Indy, due to the familiarity of coaching Luck at Stanford. Hamilton did wonders with Luck last season as Luck threw for 40 touchdowns, but he was still a turnover machine as he is today. Last season, Luck had a total of 16 interceptions, and he is closer to that number through playing six games. With the insertion of Andre Johnson to team up with T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, Coby Fleener, and Dwayne Allen it was expected that Luck would have a MVP caliber season. Luck has battled his fair share of injuries this season, but he is playing the worse football of his young career. Should Pep Hamilton be the blame for Andrew Luck’s mishaps? The answer is no. Luck has been put in position to make big plays as well as plays that will get them simple yards, but Luck has not been spot on with throwing the ball. With a 54.9% passing percentage, Luck is second to last to Cam Newton as the starting quarterbacks with the worse passing percentage in all of the NFL.
To be honest, the firing of Pep Hamilton was a panic move. Even though the Colts are 3-5, they are still at the top of the worse division in football the AFC South. Luck and Colts have enough time to turn things around. It is likely that Chuck Pagano is on his way out of ‘Nap town, and Jim Irsay will have a fire sale in the off-season. Andrew Luck isn’t going anywhere, but he has to be held more accountable for his play. Luck replaced Peyton Manning and was dubbed the next Peyton Manning by many experts. Throughout four seasons, Luck has showed flashes of being a top 5 quarterback, but he also shown flashes of being Jeff George. Turnovers are disheartening in the game of football, and Andrew Luck’s issues with turning the ball over got his offensive coordinator placed in the unemployment line. Luck will not take the brunt of the blame, due to having a fall guy that goes by the name of Pep Hamilton.
