At a time when it’s important to assess preseason games for what they are (i.e., glorified practices with little or no game planning), it’s critical that the players keeps the non-game games in perspective.
Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said Tuesday that, in the first practice after his new team shellacked the Rams, 38-3, the players were a little too smitten with the outcome of Sunday’s exhibition.
“I thought we were very lackluster in practice today, especially the rookies,” Arians said, in comments distributed by the team. “I think they read the paper, fiddled-farted around out here, had a really poor practice. Eventually, I thought they came out and practiced real well. But mostly, the rookies, especially the receivers had a very poor day. We can’t be up and down with those guys. You’ve got to come out and practice every single day and not live on your laurels. You won’t have laurels very long.”
One player who likely won’t be fiddle-farting is quarterback Andrew Luck. Arians raved about Luck’s performance in his preseason debut.
“His poise, his excitement for the game,” Arians said regarding the things that impressed him about Luck. “He was great on the sideline. Nothing surprises me about him anymore. I kind of expect it now and I think it surprised other people. I would have anticipated anything else from him, not a touchdown on the first play.”
Luck gets his next chance to lead the offense to a first-play touchdown on Sunday night in Pittsburgh, when Arians returns to face the team that fired him in January and claimed that he retired. Arians says he hasn’t thought about returning to Pittsburgh, which likely means that he’s been thinking about it constantly.