Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 8/13/19: Is it time to start worrying about Andrew Luck's injury?

Episode Date: August 14, 2019

On today's episode, a breaking news recap from the latest Andrew Luck injury update. What started off as a calf strain has now been moved to the front of his ankle. After previous misdiagnoses involving Luck, is it time to start worrying? Not yet, in my opinion, but the finger should be hovering over the panic button.Jim Irsay's comments on SiriusXM sparked a national story, but Colts GM Chris Ballard went on a conference call with local media less than 24 hours later to clarify the situation. Luck's rehab will now shift to his ankle with 3.5 weeks remaining until the Colts' season opener in Los Angeles against the Chargers. Reminder, this injury has been a daily news topic with Luck since March.In a hypothetical scenario, how would the Colts fare if Jacoby Brissett played until their bye week? Indianapolis would face the Chargers, Titans, Falcons, Raiders, and Chiefs over that span. How many wins could Brissett guide them towards? Of course Luck might still play the opener, but, if this has any chance of long-term lingering, they should play it extremely safe and allow Luck to heal up completely. Ballard didn't rule out Luck playing if he's 85-90% healthy for the opener in LA.Finally, stick around for the full audio from Chris Ballard's conference call on Tuesday evening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today, as always, I'm your host, Evan Sutter. I'm here today on a late Tuesday night because we had some breaking Colts news a couple hours ago related to Andrew Luck and an update on his injury, which we originally thought was a calf injury, but now has been upgraded from a calf to an ankle injury, which Chris Bauer went on to further explain in a conference called Local Media Today, which will be played in full in the last part of today's podcast, which will last around 15 minutes. But for the first 10 or so minutes, I wanted to go through my thoughts

and also just run through all the latest news that's happened today revolving around Andrew Luck. Over the last 24 hours, we'll start off here first with Jim Ursa. He made comments on Bill Pullian's SiriusXM radio show. He said that Andrew Luck had, quote-unquote, a small bone issue in his ankle area, which he didn't say exactly what it was. But it turned out that was incorrect because, as Chris Bauer later put it, it's the front of his ankle now and not the back, which I found really interesting. But we all thought this entire time that it was a calf strain for Andrew Luck. And that's what they told us really since March. As we've heard heard it originally happened

in March during OTAs it was a calf strain and all the way through middle of July August 1st we still heard calf strain but now today August 13th the tune has changed from calf strain to ankle injury and it's the front of the ankle which I think for me I've been the one that's really driving the train that there shouldn't be any worry about this. But at least now after today's updates, my finger is sort of hovering on top of the panic button because after five months, it shouldn't still be acting up like this. And it's unfortunate like this because you think they would have resolved this and maybe had surgery on this back in March or April.

This is actually a lingering issue like this. But I'm just glad that at this point they found the actual, hopefully found the actual evidence here of what the injury is because Chris Bauer also said it's not 100% guaranteed that this is the actual remedy. But it sounds like after visiting an orthopedic on Monday that this is indeed the issue now for Andrew Luck, which is at the front of his ankle. And it's been a lingering issue throughout Luck's career, Bauer had said.

But Ursae's comments really brought a firestorm in as far as media goes. We heard Pro Football Talk Live, Mike Flory and Chris Sims talk all about Luck's injury, ESPN's talking about Luck's injury. Definitely sparked a lot more interest in what the Colts have going on, and obviously Andrew Luck's not a guy who loves to be on social media or anything, it doesn't even exist for him, but it's bringing a lot of negative attention to the Colts just because this still isn't resolved and he's still hurt. No one really thought at this point that he would be in a position

where there's a possibility he misses games because Chris Bauer also later put it, which you'll hear at the end of today's show, there's no guarantee he plays week one. It's hopeful, obviously, that there's no guarantee right now that Andrew Luck plays week one. If he's 85% to 90% healthy, he will, but who knows where the percentage is for Andrew Luck right now. That's what leads me to my question overall, just again, why it took this

long, because the timetable, if we're following it here, in mid-March, he originally suffered the injury, which was never really explained to us out there as far as what exactly it was. They don't really want to put it out there. But Andrew Luck didn't practice anything in OTAs. He didn't do anything in training camp outside of three limited practices where he did maybe some seven-on-seven work and some individual work.

Ever since then, though, those three days from July 28th to July 30th when Andrew Luck practiced, then afterwards, it's been over two weeks now that Luck has not practiced since then. He's been working behind the scenes with quarterback guru and his assistant, longtime assistant Tom House. Reportedly, according to the Tom Pellister NFL Network, Luck is throwing the heck out of the ball

with a lot of zip on it, which is a good sign, of course. But the pocket mobility right now is a concern for Andrew Luck because as we know, when you watch Andrew Luck play, moving up in the pocket, avoiding the rush, even with a great offensive line, it's a huge asset for Andrew Luck's game, and not many quarterbacks have the pocket mobility that Andrew Luck does. Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes are a couple of those guys, but Andrew Luck is a rare breed as far as what he can do, not only his arms, but really just moving around the pocket with his legs.

It's very rare, and it's one of the key assets to Andrew Luck's game. That's where he goes from great to elite, in my opinion. He's, of course, a top-five quarterback, but 85%, 90% Andrew Luck is what I think they're going to have to need, obviously. 100% is what you prefer, but at this point, I'm convinced that this is probably going to be an issue that lasts through the season. He's going to have to deal with this. And I really want to know how he will deal with this because, of course, he actually told the media when I was there at training camp at the end of July and

early August that there's still mental scars from the shoulder injury in 2016-17. Now he still has to get over that. So how will he deal with this? We're going to have weeks until the opener in LA against the Chargers, and I'm wondering how he'll be. Will he be rusty? Of course I think he will, but how will he act as far as that game goes? Will he be maybe a statuesque in the pocket? Will he be more of a just quick throwing action like we saw earlier in the season last year when he was getting back from a shoulder injury where Frank Reich kind of eased him back in there with a lot of screen passes, a lot of short passes. I think that's what we're going to see early on, to be honest,

because I don't think they want to test Andrew Luck. If Andrew Luck is going to be like this the rest of the season, he's going to have to ease back in there, and it's going to have to be a little bit of a week or two where we're going to see some rust from him, and that shouldn't be a surprise. But what I also found intriguing was that Chris Ballard talked about today that they're confident, as far as his team goes. This is in 2017, and he's alluding to that

because when Andrew Luck was set out in 2017, the Colts were horrible. There was no great depth. There was no great real roster balance around him. But of course, over the last couple years, the incredible turnaround that Chris Ballard's done to this roster, this is one of the deepest teams in the NFL, and that's what he was alluding to.

I think if Andrew Luck ever was hurt, they had the insulation, the support, where they could go, they could maybe play a couple weeks without Andrew Luck and maybe win half or maybe more of those games because they have a great defense. I think they're going to beat an elite defense this year. And you're adding the addition of Justin Houston,

Darius Leonard growing into his second year. I think there's a lot of pieces on the table there. Have a good secondary as well. A running game, an offensive line, some playmakers too. Really all over the field, the Colts are going to have a lot of great players, but without number 12 on the field, the Colts go from a cerebral contender to I think a team who's really struggling to get in the playoffs this year. That's how important Andrew Luck is to this team

and how great of a quarterback he truly is. So I want to see not only if he's going to miss the opener, but how long he'll actually be out, because you'd hope he's not out for any games, but if Andrew Luck is 85% healthy, and there's a possibility maybe a few weeks into the season or a month, if he continues to play on this injury, if he gets hit in his ankle, it's going to get worse,

then I would rather him sit out the first four or five weeks of the season than rush back and maybe get hurt, maybe do something even worse to his ankle where he's out for the entire season or beyond. That's definitely something I want to do. And Chris Bowd reiterated to that in this press conference, on the conference call, that they're going to take the precautionary approach with Andrew Luck. It's all on his shoulders. It's all on what the doctors and the physicians are going to do to him.

Because now they've been treating a calf injury since March. And now in mid-August, they're changing the tune to an ankle rehab so now at this point it's going to be all about the ankle the front of the ankle and how they're going to respond there but I'm really curious to see how this Colts team will respond if Luck misses time Jacoby Bursette Frank Reich says is a top 20 quarterback in the NFL but so far in training camp and to be honest in the first preseason game he didn't look like a top 20 quarterback and I that has me a little worried if Luck does miss a significant amount of time because I just think going from a top five quarterback to a top 35 quarterback is such a steep drop off to where you're going to be relying an awful lot on your defense and an awful lot on

your running game and offense to line because Marlon Mack's going to have to be a star from the beginning Justin's going to be a star Darius Leonard's going to be a star etc etc there's Justin Houston's going to have to be a star. Darius Leonard's going to have to be a star, et cetera, et cetera. There's just a lot of things that have to go right for this team over the next month or so if Andrew Luck does miss a significant amount of time. But before we go into our second segment, I'm going to quickly talk more about my opinions. This is obviously a hypothetical scenario in this segment. If Andrew Luck, let's say, missed the first few weeks of the season, what would the Colts team look like and what would their record be?

This is, of course, just hypothetical, like I'm saying, because there's still a possibility Andrew Luck plays in the opener and hasn't been ruled out at all. There's a chance that Andrew Luck has a great rehab process over the next three and a half weeks and he plays in the opener and is just fine. But we're going to dive into the worst-case scenario real quick before we go into our conference call with Chris Ballard.

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Blue Chew is the better, cheaper, faster choice. We can thank them all for sponsoring today's podcast because Blue Chew is the best blue pill out there for sexual performance. All right, let's dive in now to our second portion of the show, quickly covering a hypothetical scenario that I've thought up of. If Andrew Luck has ruled out, let's say they're being super cautious here, the first five weeks of the regular season, which would put them at their bye week, and if you're wondering what those first five games are,

it's at the Chargers, at the Titans, home against the Falcons, home against the Raiders, and then at the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football on NBC. Obviously, it's a very tough schedule to start things off because you have two road games there. But I'm actually pretty confident if it came to this point, I think the Colts could be near.500 because you have the Raiders who look like a complete bleep show right now as far as the Antonio Brown situation goes. And also, I'm not really confident in their team this year. I really think that Derek Carr is not that good of a quarterback.

I think that's an easy win for the Colts. I mean, that's a little hyperbole there. But with Jacoby Brissett with a top defense and a good running game in an offensive line, I think they could beat the Raiders there. The Titans still, I'm pretty confident they could beat Marcus Mariota, Ryan Tannehill. Are they really that

much better than Jacoby Brissett? I don't think so. So I could easily see them starting off 0-1 in LA there, but start going 1-1 in Tennessee. Moving on to the Falcons, though, I think the Falcons will be one of those underrated teams this year that they can make a big run. I think they would lose that game. They fall to 1-1 in Tennessee. Moving on to the Falcons, though, I think the Falcons will be one of those underrated teams this year that they can make a big run. I think they would lose that game. They fall to 1-2, but then

bouncing back here against the Raiders, like I mentioned there, I think it would be 2-2. Then at Kansas City, I think that wouldn't be that close of a game, to be honest. If they were playing Bursette on Sunday football instead of Andrew Luck against Patrick Mahomes, yeah, that would not go well, in my opinion. I think that would put them at 2-3, which is near 500.

I mean, if you think about last season, the Colts started 1-5. If they started 2-3, I think that's, I'm really not that worried. Because if Andrew Luck comes back 100% healthy at that point, they have the top defense and top offense, all these weapons. And Andrew Luck proves right away that he's fully healthy and a top five quarterback again. I think they could really make a lot of noise. And I know it's a tough schedule after that too, but I think 10-6, 11-5 is still feasible at that point because you have a team surrounding Andrew Luck that's the best he's ever had in his career.

And that's not by mistake, of course, because Chris Bowers has done an excellent job building this roster from the ground up. And Frank Reich is obviously a great coach, as we saw last year. He's very innovative, very creative. And he actually has experience with this, because Carson Wentz, during his final season in Philadelphia, he got hurt. Nick Foles led him to the Super Bowl, a backup quarterback. So maybe it wouldn't be exactly similar to the Wentz-Foles scenario, because Foles is

a better quarterback than Jacoby Brissett. Hate to ruffle some feathers out there, but that's a true statement. But I think that you'd be similar to what we saw. It'd be a lot more scaled back offense, of course, with Bursette. I don't think they're going to be trying a lot of things they do with Andrew Luck. I think it'd be a lot of ground and pound and a lot of games where you have to win. Probably 24 points is the barrier, I think, for most games with Bursette at quarterback. You have to hold those teams, too.

I think the Colts defense is capable of that. What I do wonder about, though, is Bursette actually a top 20 quarterback. Because like I mentioned at the top of the show, he had a rough OTA. He's had an inconsistent training camp so far. He had a really bad preseason opener in Buffalo. And it's really translated so far. We've been reading all these reports out of Westfield so far at Grand Park that he's had inconsistencies even moving the ball against the Colts defense.

Which is obviously a good sign for the Colts overall if an improved defense, but Bursette, if he's a top 20 quarterback, he's got to be scoring against his defense still in practice. I know it's reading a little too much into practice there, but this is a scenario where Jacoby Bursette's actually going to be starting for the Annapolis Colts in a regular season game. He has to showcase why he is a top 20 quarterback in Frank Reich's mind. And that's a big test. If we're looking at Jacoby Bursette's 2017 season when Andrew Luck set out,

the Colts, of course, traded for him after week one from the Patriots for Phil Dorsett, which I think is a heist looking back on now because Bursette's proven he's one of the best backup quarterbacks. Obviously, starting caliber is to be determined. But in 15 games, Bursette threw for 3,098 yards, 13 touchdowns, only 7 interceptions, only a 1.5 interception percentage. But he was sacked 52 times, and that definitely wouldn't occur again when you have Costanzo, Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Mark Lewinsky, and Brian Smith up there. I think that would be way less than that. But Jacoby Brissett's pocket presence compared to Andrew Luck is not close.

I think we can all agree on that there, that it's a huge step down as far as awareness goes in the pocket. He showcased that a little bit against Buffalo too on a play where Malali Cox and Devin Funches were both open, but the pressure that really wasn't close to Bursette kind of got in his head a little bit and he threw a really bad pass there. That's what I'm worried about if their drop off there is from Luck to Bursette, how the offense would move because they've been so inconsistent with Bursette in training camp so far. He hasn't really proved that he's a starting caliber quarterback, but Reich's going to have to be proven right again, like I mentioned, because Bursette, I think, could put up numbers, but it's just tough to say. I don't really think that he's proven he's a top 20 quarterback. So the time is now really for Jacoby Bissett to showcase not only to the Colts,

but the NFL if he is a starting level quarterback because he's going to be a free agent in 2020. The Colts, if they don't keep him long term, if he doesn't want to be a backup quarterback for the rest of his career, which I don't think Brissett wants to be, the Colts are in line to get a fourth round conflict from a team that's desperate for a quarterback. But it's going to have to be seen in live action now. The talk is over. If Andrew Luck indeed does miss time,

of course that's hypothetical like I talked about. There's no timetable yet about Andrew Luck. There's still a very good possibility that Luck plays week one. There's also a good possibility Andrew Luck doesn't play week one. It's so up in the air right now. You'll hear about it more in a few minutes from Chris Bauer when I play the full conference call. What do you think, listeners? I want to hear your comments on this.

If the Colts play their first five games, just to reiterate again, the Chargers, the Titans, the Falcons, the Raiders, and the Chiefs, how many would they win? Personally, I'm going two and three, but I know a lot of listeners would probably say maybe three and two, maybe one and four. Maybe some of us out there think oh and five. It's a mixed bag with Bursette.

It's definitely a big step down, and we're going to have to definitely see how that occurs for the Colts if Andrew Luck does indeed miss time this season. But before we go on to our final semi here, playing the entire conference call from Chris Bauer this evening in full, I want to tell you about our final sponsor of today's show from the Locked On Podcast Network, and it's the Locked On NFL Show. The new Locked On NFL is on fire.

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favorite podcast provider. Alrighty guys, now let's dive in to the full 15 minute conference call from Colts GM Chris Ballard. in the ankle area. The injury wasn't getting better and he hadn't been practicing, so in the course of dealing with this calf injury, it appears that now we've got an ankle issue. Because the injury wasn't getting better, we wanted to explore the area around the lower leg that Mr. Ursae was referring to the bone. It's called the osteotronum. We thought that might have something to do with it,

but as of last night after Mr. Ursae spoke, that doesn't appear to be the issue, and we shifted our focus to another area. We tested his ankle yesterday with a specific scan. He went and saw a specialist, and it led us to the area of the front of the ankle that needs to be addressed and that was kind of, it's kind of, explaining it's kind of high ankle-ish. And that's potentially referring to the posterior pain he's getting in the posterior ankle kind

of up by the calf and why it's happening hey look it's you know we've been treating the calf treat the calf all along and even treating the lower part of this and then getting the getting the test done on the ostrogonum to make sure that wasn't the issue which we don't think it is right now, led us to the front of the ankle. I know you've got questions so far away. Does Andrew have an ostrogonum? Chris Howard, does Andrew have an ostrogonum? Does he have one?

Yes. Okay. Yes, and it's not loose, so it stays good there. Okay. Can you explain the implication of that for Andrew specifically, just so we don't get carried away with whatever that means? Yeah, well, kind of. Are you wanting to kind of give me where we're going forward with this? Well, no. This would be that particular, I can't even pronounce the word, the... Ostrigona?

Yeah. Ostrigona? Right. All right. So let me... Yeah, what's the implication? Let me walk you through a couple things. So we got an MRI done in May, I mean in March, on the calf, which definitely had a strain. And we knew that. And then in May, he was still having that pain right below the calf.

And so we said, okay, okay well let's test it so to test that you go into your specialist and they give you a numbing shot and if it if it makes you feel automatically better well then there's no doubt that's what it is well that wasn't the case um there there was a it was maybe a little relief but not a lot of relief. So we kind of at that point thought, we don't think that's what it is. We'll keep moving down, you know, after x-rays in May, we'll just keep moving down the same path. So then we get to camp and we say, okay, we're going to work in back in slowly and see how we go, like we were doing the rest of our guys. And day three, he comes to us and says, look, I'm still having pain.

My calf is in that same area, still having pain. So that's when we backed off and said, okay, well, let's back off, get it calmed down. And it wasn't until a couple days ago when we said, you know what, we need to start exploring other parts and making and eliminating. Hey, Chris, so what is the process going forward with Andrew? Is there any kind of time table? What do you guys plan on doing going forward with him? No, the process going forward, we're just going to continue to rehab.

We're going to try to continue to change some things up with his rehab and then try to get moving forward. Are you guys ready to put a timetable on how long it's going to take? Is the start of the regular season in jeopardy for Andrew? I'm not. We're three and a half weeks away of the regular season in jeopardy for Andrew? I'm not. We're three and a half weeks away from the regular season, so I'm not ready to say that, no. Chris, what is his level of pain?

Can he play with this? I mean, I know we're not there yet, but what are your thoughts on that? Well, I mean, he's not practicing right now, so there's enough pain to where he's not practicing. That's what we have to get under control. Well, I mean, he's not practicing right now, so there's enough pain to where he's not practicing. That's what we have to get under control. Once we get that under control, I think we can really move forward. I think getting the, you know, there's no question he had a calf.

And he's had a calf. But the lower part is more of an ankle issue. So that's, once we get that under control, we think we can help with the pain. There's just a big... Can I talk to you? Sorry. Jim, they talked last night, and it was referring to this bone. And you guys had a chat last last night and you said that's not the issue the ostrogono if i'm even close to pronouncing that correctly you nailed it it took

me it's just taken me a month to uh to figure out how to pronounce it so yes you're right on the ostrogono this is a ink this is a cap that's become a high ankle issue that's it's not something that needs surgery. It's just going to be a continuation of the rehab that he's been going through the time out currently. Well, Tom's not in charge of his rehab. Tom just comes in to help with his mechanics. Right.

So Tom's not a part of that. So let's get back to the – so Ms. Ursae spoke, and look, when we gave him the shot in May, and he got a little relief, but not what most patients who do it who get full relief where you just know. So there was still like, well, maybe that's what's causing the pain. It is right below his calf. But then once they went in and went to another specialist, it turned out to be one that's in the posterior ankle that we think is causing that pain. Chris, is this something that he initially did during workouts or is this something left

over from last year or do you know? I think it's acute. Honestly, I think it's a cumulative thing through the years. I mean, if you've noticed, I mean, Andrew's had some ankle issues with his left one for a while. And I think it's just kind of a cumulative thing. So does that mean it's actually not really related to the calf strain at all? Or did the calf strain somehow exacerbate the cumulative effect? I think it exacerbated the cumulative effect. Okay. Chris, is that you guys, again again when you get past Andrew and the ankle issue

you've got a team to prepare and a season to prepare for is there some point where he has to do something to where okay he's ready for the opener or at that point do you have to say it's going to be Jacoby well yeah there's I mean look

Andrew will even tell you, I think he needs to get a certain amount of practice in. But, look, I mean, you know, Andrew's a, he's pretty special as a player. All players need reps. And he knows that. And he knows he needs to get out there and get his reps. So we'll play that, you know, kind of day by day. And we've got three and get his reps. So we'll play that kind of day by day and we got three and a half weeks and we'll tell you when we think it's going to, when the shift's going to happen

if that happens. Look, this is not 2017. I've thought about this a lot because when we, when I first came in the door, I mean, one of the things we talked about was building a team. It wasn't going to be just about one guy. Look, I understand the importance of Andrew Luck. Are you kidding me? He's got one of the top five quarterbacks in the league. But we also got another quarterback that we like in Jacoby Brissett.

So, I mean, to me, that's part of building a team. You know, you've got to be able to handle when things don't go the way you plan them out to be. I think if you asked Andrew, you asked any of us, do we wish you would have gone through the spring and been proud? Yeah, absolutely. But that's just not where we're at. This is where we're at. We think we've got a handle on it, and we'll treat it, and we'll move forward,

and we'll deal with whatever we have to deal with going forward. Chris, it seems like you guys have been trying to – Let me answer Zach. Let me answer the preseason question. That's a good question. So coming into it, we were going to limit his play time in the preseason anyway. So as of right now Do you feel like you have the answers you need right now in terms of where this pain is coming from? Therefore, you can dig into this rehab and at least know how to stop the pain and so

you can move forward? Or is it still something you're trying to figure out? No, that's a really good question. It's something that we think we found it, but, you know, I mean, you hope you found what the cause is. Is there a 100% guarantee? No. But we think we have, so we'll move forward and rehab it the way we think we need to rehab it. So, Chris, is it accurate to say, so let's go back to OTAs. When we were talking to Frank, he described this, and Andrew as well, described this as a calf injury. If I understand

it correctly, and I'll listen to the recording, was there no ankle pain at the time? Was it only the calf that was bothering him at that time and the ankle developed later? Or when did the ankle become an issue, I guess? No, that's great. That's good. That's a really good question. So the calf and then right below the calf. Remember Andrew kind of referenced it when he talked to you all that he had a lower leg?

He kind of referenced it as a lower leg. Yeah, that's something that, that's why in May when we did the x-rays, we were kind of trying to figure out, okay, is this a calf? Is it a lower leg? You know, what's the issue? And we thought at that point, once we, you know, tested him for the osteotribonum, that we didn't think he was in. We weren't 100% sure, but he didn't light up on the test. So we just kept moving forward that, you know, this was a calf issue. Most of his pain is right below the calf, kind of ankle-ish, up a little bit. Remember, everybody kept focusing on the Achilles.

And it's not the Achilles. Chris, can you share a little bit about what Andrew's able to do rehab-wise from a movement standpoint here over the last few days? So the side, what the issue right now is the side to side stuff. Okay. Kind of rolling of the ankle. Anything front, you know, back and forth is pretty good. Standing there throwing is good.

It's the moving in the pocket. Those are the kind of things that we've got to get him better at. Look, if you know Andrew, I mean, y'all aren't in the building, but you, I mean, this guy works now. He freaking works. You're three and a half weeks out from the opener. Can you get him to the point to where he can play and then have to deal with this all season? Or is it realistic that you can get a grip on it in such a short time to where it's not an issue? Well, you know, we'll play that, you know, kind of week by week.

But we hope to get an issue. I mean, look, I'm not, and we won't, as an organization, put any player out there that can't perform at a high level. I mean, I'm not going to put players at risk. So if we feel comfortable, Frank and I and our staff, feel comfortable that he can play, then he'll play. One more for you guys. Chris, I mean, just a preemptive question. You know, obviously your fans are going to read these quotes,

and I think most people will probably see the notion that you don't have an exact handle on what's causing this. And obviously you know what the optics of that are. So what is your level of confidence now? Can you speak to that? Is it something you can even answer at this moment? I'll say this. I have confidence in our team and I have a confidence in the team we're going to put out there versus the Chargers. But I understand everybody wants immediate answers, and it's hard sometimes when you're dealing, you know, with injuries. Frank and I have spoke several times, and Andrew spoke a few times,

and we're giving you the information of what we have at this moment. And, you know, that's the best we can do. All right, you guys good if there's any more fire away chris you don't seem and we've gotten to know you the last couple years you don't seem to be in full panic mode even though this is something that hasn't been able to quiet down over this entire time um is that because you're confident this will get wrapped up quickly or just because you like the team and he's not ready to go and you guys will roll? That's a good answer. I think we've got a pretty good football team.

We're young, but I think we've got a good football team. We like Jacoby Brissett also. And I trust Andrew. I trust Andrew and I know he's going to do everything he can in his power to get back. And when he does, he does. I mean, look, there's all kinds of cases where teams win when the starter doesn't play every game. And you have to be able to put yourself in that position to do that. Things are not always going to go the way in the season you think they're going to go. And when you get thrown a roadblock or an obstacle, you've got to be able to overcome them. We have to be able to overcome them as an organization and team.

Chris, if Andrew is comfortable playing at, you know, 85%,90%, would you feel comfortable throwing him out there? If he can function, yes. If he can function, yes. And his pain is under control and he can protect himself and play good, yes. Do we know anything about, when we injury or anything of that nature with what he's currently dealing with or is it too early to determine that?