Andrew Luck: A New Kind Of Trash Talker

Andrew Luck’s version of trash talk is confusing, brilliant, and hilarious.

Luck is quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and has a lot of impressive stats to his name. But what makes other players talk about him is how he talks on the turf. When Luck is literally laying on the field, just been knocked down by an opponent, he always has positive words to say.

The Wall Street Journal asked 12 guys who have either sacked Luck or knocked him down. Every single one heard responses like “Great job” or “What a hit!”

And it drives them nuts.

They’re used to hearing complaints and seeing frustration or occasionally anger when a quarterback’s been tackled — but they never hear compliments, and they don’t have a clue how to respond.

Rob Ninkovich, pass rusher for the New England Patriots, was so confused he stammered, “Thanks for…uh…accepting that hit?”

It sure threw Nolan Carroll off the first time he was complimented by Luck. He looked around for a teammate then realized it had come from the guy on the ground. “You know if you hear a quarterback get mad, you are in his head,” Carroll explained. “With Luck, you thought you hurt the guy, you hear ‘good job’ and you just say ‘aw, man.’ … So then I’m the one who gets ticked off because an upbeat attitude isn’t something you see.”

Instead of letting hits go to his head, Luck gets into his opponents’ heads — even if unintentionally. Former teammate Zach Ertz says it could be part of Luck’s game strategy, but it’s not the main reason he does it. He’s just a nice guy. Even when he makes a good play himself, he doesn’t strut around and brag about it. Ertz gives an example: Luck can easily dunk a basketball, but never gloated when he dunked on a teammate. “He’d just giggle and jog away chuckling because he knew he got the better of you.”

He really just respects the game and appreciates a good play, even at his own expense. Turns out it runs in the family — his dad, Oliver Luck, also played quarterback in the NFL and is now athletic director at West Virginia University. He says, “My wife and I raised all four of our kids with appropriate values, with respect for other people and to be kind and generous and I guess that carried over to the football field.” He’s been hearing about his son’s unusual trash talk since Andrew was in high school.

Former teammate Trent Murphy says Luck has always been “over-the-top positive.”

“His idea of trash talk is complimenting people.”

That’s awesome.

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