Colts Beat Vikings And Andrew Luck Picks Up His First Career Win

Week 2 in the NFL belonged to the rookies, the rookie quarterbacks specifically. Five signal callers started Sunday’s games with no prior professional experience before Week 1 and Brandon Weeden’s short-lived baseball career.

Let’s compare and contrast the top two picks for Week 2.

SB Nation’s Daily Norseman had plenty of takeaways from the game, and they were particularly upset with the play of the defense:

For more on the Vikings, be sure to visit Daily Norseman as well as SB Nation Minnesota. For more comprehensive pro football coverage, stay tuned to SB Nation’s NFL hub.

There is a lot of work to be done. The defense played well for the first three quarters, but in the fourth they looked pretty bad. The offensive line... well, they looked the worst. The coaching staff needs to improve. To win in today’s NFL takes aggressive play calling. I hope they learn from this.

But Luck, who earned the first victory of his career, threw two consecutive 20-yard passes after the Colts got the ball on their own 20-yard line. A 5-yard penalty by the Vikings moved the line of scrimmage to the Minnesota 35, and Vinatieri hit a 53-yarder with seconds remaining to take the victory

Luck was steady, if not solid in the victory, throwing for 224 yards and two touchdowns without throwing a pick.

Ponder’s ball was tipped at line and again in the end zone as a defender and the intended target both went up to get the ball. It bounced up into the air again before Burton finally managed to reel it in for the touchdown. Minnesota trails 20-13 with the pinball touchdown pass.

It didn’t take Reggie Wayne long to realize Curtis Painter wasn’t throwing him the ball anymore in Indianapolis. Andrew Luck is his new best friend, and with good reason. Wayne is being targeted at an awesomely high rate, and he’s rewarding the first overall draft pick by catching a good chunk of those. Including this one, good for a score.

[Note: nothing against Curtis Painter, I’m sure he’s a nice guy. I bet he likes cupcakes and always made french press coffee in the morning and organized Family Game Nights. He just isn’t a very good quarterback. And that’s okay. I’m not either.]

Luck is 4-for-6 so far with 68 yards and a touchdown. As an added bonus, they chewed up seven minutes of clock time on the scoring drive.

For two teams that aren’t being counted on to do much this season, the Colts and Vikings are making for a pretty good game.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the game will be televised on FOX.

OddsShark.com has the game currently at even money.

For more on the Colts, check out Stampede Blue. For more on the Vikings, head on over to Daily Norseman. Looking for more comprehensive coverage? Check out SB Nation’s NFL hub.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, and the game will be carried on FOX.

For more on the Vikings, please visit Daily Norseman. For more on the Colts, check out Stampede Blue.