Pagano: Luck 'got me more years than I probably deserved'

Ex-Colts head coach Chuck Pagano lasted six seasons in Indianapolis, and while he fell out of favor toward the end of his tenure, his career record only trails Super Bowl winner Tony Dungy in post-Baltimore franchise history.

Pagano won 11 games in each of his first three seasons before failing to break .500 in the subsequent three years. The biggest change from 2015 onward was the health of Andrew Luck, and Pagano admitted Monday on FS1 that the star quarterback's early-career play likely kept him employed.

"Everyone saw the picture of him on a bicycle from the Indy 500," Pagano said of Luck, according to the Indy Star's Matthew VanTryon. "He's strapped, he’s ripped. My wife, my three daughters, my granddaughter, they all thought he looked great. He's in a great place mentally, he's in a great place physically.

"I expect Andrew to be the old Andrew, to come back and play great football this season and beyond. Obviously, he's got a lot of work to do. He's got to get back on the grass, he's got to start throwing the football. He's in a great place. I love Andrew Luck. He got me more years than I probably deserved. He's a phenom."

Luck missed the entire 2017 campaign due to a shoulder injury suffered under Pagano's watch in 2015. The veteran pivot played through the ailment in 2016 and underwent surgery in January 2017. He has yet to step back onto an NFL field since and only threw briefly last October before being shut down again, leading some to question his NFL future.

However, the Colts share their former coach's opinion, consistently saying Luck will begin throwing during July's training camp.