If the Indianapolis Colts were still concerned about the state of Andrew Luck’s surgically repaired shoulder, they aren’t showing it with the amount they’re using it over the first five weeks of the season.
Luck is coming off a five-day stretch were he posted a career-high 62 passes against the Houston Texans last Sunday and had 59 more attempts against the New England Patriots on Thursday night. That’s the two highest passing attempt games of Luck’s career.
Luck has surpassed 50 attempts in three of the Colts’ five games this season. His season-low in attempts was 31 in a victory over the Washington Redskins in Week Two. He’s attempted 245 passes through five weeks, which is an average of 49 attempts a game.
Forty-nine attempts extrapolated over 16 games of an NFL season would be 784 passing attempts on the year. As a reference, there’s only been one season in NFL history with a player throwing more than 700 passes in a season, according to Pro Football Reference. Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions attempted a league record 727 passes in 2012.
Drew Bledsoe (691, NE, 1994), Peyton Manning (679, IND, 2010), Drew Brees (673, NO, 2016) and Joe Flacco (672, BAL, 2016) round out the five most aerial seasons in league history. Luck’s current pace would blow all of those seasons out of the water.
Whether Luck’s shoulder can handle that type of workload over a full four months of regular season action remains to be seen.