SEATTLE (AP) — Andrew Luck could feel the pressure building as he prepared for his first game action with Indianapolis since the final week of the 2016
season.
When he let go of trying to contain his excitement
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“I really enjoyed it. I didn’t quite know I’d have this much fun getting practice again. I didn’t know I’d have this much fun even playing football,”
Luck said. “It’s a preseason game, I’m not going to blow anything out of
proportion, but it’s still a game, a chance to go up against another color
jersey. It was a fun step along the way.”
Luck was back under center, leading Indianapolis on a pair of field-goal drives in just over a quarter in the Colts’ 19-17 victory over the Seattle
Seahawks on Thursday night.
The reintroduction of Luck as the Colts’ leader started with a 17-yard swing pass to Marlon Mack on the first play. It concluded early in the second quarter
when his pass intended for T.Y. Hilton was broken up. In between, Luck was
bear-hugged by Seattle All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner on a scramble run, sacked
by Rasheem Green, and also showed flashes his surgically repaired right shoulder
is ready to allow him to again be a premier quarterback.
Luck completed 6 of 9 passes for 64 yards, most of that coming on the opening drive when he hit 5 of 7. Luck completed passes to five receivers and threw from
a clean pocket on most of his dropbacks, even with starting left tackle Anthony
Castonzo not playing.
It had been nearly 600 days since Luck was last on the field
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form.
“He just kept saying how excited he was and right before he went out he said ‘There’s a lot of emotions right now let’s see if I can control them,'”
Indianapolis coach Frank Reich said. “It was almost like he was saying, ‘I’m
going to need to control how I’m feeling, because I’m pretty jacked up.’ And he
came out in the first drive and handled it like we expected.”
Adam Vinatieri made field goals of 33, 51 and 45 yards in the first half, and Michael Badgley’s 34-yarder late in the third quarter gave Indianapolis a 12-10
lead. Phillip Walker added a 10-yard TD pass to Darrell Daniels early in the
fourth quarter.
Luck’s counterpart from the 2012 draft, Russell Wilson, played one series for Seattle. Wilson was 4 of 5 for 43 yards and capped his only drive with a 5-yard
touchdown pass to tight end Nick Vannett. It was Wilson’s first action playing
in the offense of new coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, which will be heavily
tilted toward the run. Second-year running back Chris Carson averaged 6.5 yards
per carry in limited action.
Seattle’s defense scored with 3:15 left when an errant snap was recovered by Joey Ivie for a touchdown.
NATIONAL ANTHEM
Three Seattle players ran into the team’s locker room prior to the national anthem.
Defensive linemen Branden Jackson and Quinton Jefferson
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sideline immediately after it concluded. All three were among a group of Seattle
players that sat during the anthem last season.
Brown and Jefferson said they intend to continue the action all season.
“The team was aware of everyone’s emotions and feelings going forward and we’re all supportive of each other,” Brown said.
There were no other actions by either Seattle or Indianapolis players during the performance of the anthem.
EJECTION
shoot it over KD right there. … I tried to bring it out and get enough space to
maybe get a shot off. I looked over at LeBron and he looked like he was trying
to get a timeout. So I stopped
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James said he didn’t know what Smith was thinking and walked out of the postgame news conference after growing tired of repeated questioning about
whether Smith knew the score.
”I don’t know what J.R. was thinking,” James said, refusing to speculate on Smith’s thought process. ”I don’t know the question you’re trying to ask.”
The Cavaliers were not able to recover from Smith’s blunder.
The Warriors scored on their first possession of overtime when Durant drew a foul from Hill that upset James once again and never looked back, outscoring
Cleveland 17-7 in the extra session.
The game ended with James jawing with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and then teammate Tristan Thompson getting ejected for a flagrant foul after he got
upset when Shaun Livingston attempted a shot when the game was already in hand
instead of taking a shot-clock violation.
There were several calls down the stretch that angered James, with the biggest coming after James drove past Stephen Curry for a three-point play that
put Cleveland up 104-102 with 50 seconds left.
James appeared to draw a charge on Durant. But officials went to the replay to see if James was in the restricted area which would make it a block. While
James was clearly outside the restricted area, officials also had the chance to
review whether James was in legal guarding position and changed the call to a
block.
”I thought I read that play just as well as I read any play in my career, defensively,” James said. ”I saw the drive, I was outside the charge line, I
stepped in, took the contact. It’s a huge play. It’s a huge play.”
James answered with an impressive drive
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followed by Smith’s miscue.
The opener of the fourth straight finals between these teams followed a familiar script with the deeper Warriors overcoming a sensational individually
effort by James the way they did in winning the past two titles.
James had his highest-scoring playoff game ever, tied Jerry West for the most 40-point games in a single postseason with eight and almost single-handedly led
the Cavs to the win.
He made 19 of 32 shots, added eight rebounds and eight assists and played nearly 48 minutes for a third straight game.
But the lasting image of this game will be of James calling for the ball behind the 3-point line as Smith dribbled out the clock in a play reminiscent of
one made by Dallas’ Derek Harper in a playoff loss to the Lakers 34 years
ago.
”It was epic,” Lue said ”He did enough to carry this team to a victory. We just came up short. But this is LeBron James, that’s who he is. That’s why he’s
the best player in the world. He’s been doing it for us all season.
”To do what he did tonight and come out robbed, it’s just not right.”
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