Luck takes crown as king of the comeback

Andrew Luck may not be ready to claim the quarterbacking throne but the Indianapolis Colts leader is already king of the comeback after he rallied his team to a wild-card win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday.

The No 1 pick in the 2012 draft, Luck has become a master of the Houdini-like escape, engineering 10 fourth quarter or overtime regular season game winning drives, more than any other quarterback in his first two seasons.

But Luck's greatest comeback to date, and perhaps what might be the best of his career, was in front of a frenzied home crowd as the Colts rallied from a 38-10 third-quarter deficit to steal a 45-44 win and advance to the divisional playoff against either the Denver Broncos or New England Patriots.

"One for the ages, never seen anything quite like that," said Colts' head coach Chuck Pagano. "Our guys are unbelievable, we've been there many, many times before.

"You think about all we've been through, they've always comeback. We signed up for one thing (a championship) and one thing only and we all know what that is."

The comeback was one for the ages. Only once before had a team erased a bigger deficit to win a playoff game. The 1993 Buffalo Bills beat the Houston Oilers 41-38 in overtime.

"This team has never panicked since I have been part of this club," said Luck, the first player to throw for more than 8,000 yards in his first two seasons.

"Up big, down big, close game, first quarter, fourth quarter, the guys just play football. Guys stepped up, everybody stepped up.

"I was disappointed in myself, angry I felt like I was letting the team down. You have to flush it, you have to forget about it ... guys trust me to go out there and right my wrongs."

(China Daily 01/06/2014 page23)