Adam Vinatieri says he has 100% confidence Andrew Luck will start in Week 1 vs Bengals

Andrew Luck still isn’t throwing footballs and it’s unclear when he’ll be ready to take the field with his Colts teammates.

That’s relevant news for Bengals fans as Indianapolis hosts Cincinnati in Week 1 of the 2018 NFL season.

Luck hasn’t thrown a football since October when he was trying to return to the field and suffered a setback in practice that forced him to miss the entire 2017 NFL season. He initially hurt his right shoulder in Week 3 of the 2015 season, but played through it for more than a year.

While Luck can’t throw footballs due to his shoulder injury, he certainly has packed on some significant muscle. He isn’t taking part in OTAs, but is clearly hitting the weight room.

Luck’s teammate and long-time Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri was on Adam Schefter’s podcast this week and spoke about Luck’s health. Vinatieri fully believes Luck will be playing in Week 1 against the Bengals.

“We’ll see him,” Vinatieri said confidently of Luck in the Week 1 matchup. “I really, I’m not a doctor, I’m not privy to any inside information right now. He’s a tough guy. He looks great. He’s got a great attitude. He’s not a guy that looks like, he feels bad and goes, ‘I don’t know,’ I have 100% confidence that he’s going to be back and ready to go. He’s going to have a great season. He looks good. Everything about him right now tells me he’s going to be ready to go.”

Vinatieri says he thinks the Colts just aren’t pushing Luck and he believes the team’s big-time signal caller will be back for the Week 1 game against the Bengals in September.

That remains to be seen though and I’m in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” camp when it comes to Luck. It has just been too long and there has been too much false information put out by the Colts in regards to Luck’s injury.

The only other quarterbacks on the Colts’ roster are last year’s starter, Jacoby Brissett and backups Brad Kaaya and Phillip Walker. Kaaya was a sixth round draft pick by the Lions in 2017 and Walker was an undrafted free agent signed by the Colts last year. Both guys spent most of last season on NFL practice squads and it’s unlikely either of them are in a position to start in 2018. If the Colts don’t have Luck, they’d likely turn to Brissett once again.

Brissett, the former Patriots backup, threw for 3,098 yards, 13 touchdowns and 7 interceptions in 16 games last season for the Colts. He had a passer rating of 81.7. The Bengals beat Brissett and the Colts in Week 8 of the 2017 season, a close 24-23 contest in which Brissett threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. We’ll have to wait and see whether it will be Luck or Brissett who the Bengals face in the season opener on September 9, but if you ask Vinatieri it will be a rusty Luck who hasn’t played in a regular season game since January 1, 2017.