Quote:
Originally Posted by MeSayDayo
I am among those that believe Luck would have eventually had to face these same issues, mentally speaking, even if injuries never played into his career arc.
If he wasn't injured, no doubt it would have been the external pressure of winning a Superbowl that would have weighed heavily on him. A lot of the things that turned him into a cold drone to his wife and friends were the same, weather they impacted his rehab process or his preparation process as a healthy player. The guy didn't like who he was when he was relied upon to be the face of the franchise-who made all of the decisions and ordered food for everyone else at restaurants. This had nothing to do with rehab- the injuries and rehab simply exasperated the problem.
He would have retired early (perhaps for introverted reasons, pressure from his wife which was evident in the article) if he remained healthy. But that in itself is a long shot, as he played with heart and often took big hits. Andrew Luck was bigger than football and he eventually realized it. He was a gifted athlete with a gifted mind, and luckily for him, his mind won out on that decision. I don't think he wanted to finish his career with the cerebral aptitude of Antonio Brown. A man with the mind of Andrew Luck really didn't have any business in a Neanderthals NFL world.
Peyton had football intelligence that was off the charts- but I don't think he had a fraction of the introspective capabilities of Andrew Luck to ever even question his self worth.
In the example of Peyton vs Luck and where they vastly differed - Peyton benefitted from introspective ignorance, and the good fortune of playing for over 10 years with little to no major injuries.
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I agree with you, especially after reading the article. The injuries definitely expedited things, but it sounds like ultimately he just wasn't mentally and emotionally equipped to be the face of a franchise. And on top of that he wasn't able to maintain any sort of work life balance. I think if/when he graduates and gets out into the real world he's going to still struggle with work/life balance since he's already had to drop classes in the his first semester b/c of this.