Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano spoke to Bay Area media via a conference call on Wednesday morning and said quarterback Andrew Luck would not play on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. Instead, Jacoby Brissett will start his fourth-straight game for the one-win Colts.
"[Luck] won't play in this game," Pagano told reporters.
Luck did return to practice this week -- sort of. The plan for the quarterback, according to Pagano, is to have him do individual drills on Wednesday, only rehab on Thursday, and return to individual drills on Friday.
"No timetable (for Luck's return) and he's doing well," Pagano said.
Luck, who started throwing again in late-July following surgery in January to repair a partially torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, has not practiced with his teammates since the final week of the 2016 season. He missed all of the Colts' minicamps, organized team activities, training camp, and every preseason and regular season practice since.
The Colts are taking their time bringing Luck back.
"We'll slowly start working him back into practice this week,'' Colts general manager Chris Ballard said on Monday. "We'll see how much he gets but we've got a plan in place to where we want to start getting him reps."
As for Brissett, Pagano feels the quarterback has done a great job filling in for Luck.
"He fit right in here from day one," Pagano said. "He's a great pro and he's a real talent. He's a smart guy and he's a tireless worker. He's a selfless guy. He's been able to pick things up in a hurry and do some good things for us. He's got great poise and a sense of calm about him and a really good command.
"It hasn't been easy coming in on a short period of time and getting a lot thrown at you but he's managed it well. He's handled it well. He's earned the respect of this organization and our staff and the locker room and his teammates in a hurry. He's a great pro and we feel very fortunate things worked out and that we got him and he's done a good job and he's going to do nothing but get better."
