Ravens vs. Colts 2016 live stream: Start time, TV schedule and how to watch online

Both the Ravens and Colts are relying on bounce-back seasons from their quarterbacks.

Aug 20, 2016, 12:00 PM UTC

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

The Indianapolis Colts didn’t play the Hall of Fame Game and Andrew Luck was held out of action against the Buffalo Bills, but the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback looks to finally make his return to the field on Saturday night against the Baltimore Ravens.

Luck was the betting favorite to win the NFL MVP award for the 2015 season, but it ended up being the worst year of his young career. First it was a shoulder injury, then Luck suffered a lacerated kidney and torn cartilage on his ribs. He played in just seven games and wasn’t himself on the field either, finishing the season with 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

In many ways, Luck’s rough season mirrored the disaster that the Ravens trudged through in 2015.

Baltimore was a darkhorse pick to win the Super Bowl, but instead finished 5-11 — the first losing season in the John Harbaugh era.

Just about everything that could’ve gone wrong for the Ravens did go wrong, including season-ending injuries for Joe Flacco, Terrell Suggs, Breshad Perriman and Steve Smith.

The hopes for a bounce-back season in 2016 for the Ravens rest on the shoulders of Flacco — or maybe more appropriately, his knee. While the ninth-year quarterback hasn’t missed a rep in practice, he said his knee still isn’t 100 percent.

Just like the Ravens’ hopes rest on Flacco, the Colts need Luck to reemerge as one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. His passer rating climbed from 76.5 as a rookie to 87.0 in 2013 and 96.5 in 2014.

His progression went off the rails a bit during his injury-riddled 2015 campaign, but if he can return to his 2014 form — when he led the NFL with 40 touchdown passes — the Colts will likely be immediately back in the mix as an AFC contender.

With so much of the hopes of the Colts and Ravens resting on the play of their quarterbacks after injury-filled 2015 seasons, there’s not a lot of reason for Luck and Flacco to risk injury on Saturday night.

If Luck didn’t play, it would be a surprise — especially after Colts owner Jim Irsay essentially promised fans on Twitter that they would get to see the quarterback in action against the Ravens.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Flacco sat out for another week, though.

“You’ve got to assess it,” Flacco told BaltimoreRavens.com on Tuesday. “Is one series or two series really going to make a difference, because that’s all you really play in the first two preseason games? Does missing out on that really make a difference?”

In the first week of preseason, the Ravens gave the Carolina Panthers a healthy dose of Ryan Mallett and the Colts should likely expect the same.