The AFC South, the NFL's worst division, just become exponentially more unwatchable now that Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is expected to miss the next 2-6 weeks with a lacerated kidney and torn abdominal muscle. Luck will once again be replaced by veteran Matt Hasselbeck.
"The injuries happened at the end of an early-fourth-quarter scramble when Andrew was doing everything he could to get us the win," Colts head coach Chuck Pagano said, according to ESPN. "Andrew was sore after the game and was feeling a little worse Monday afternoon, so we sent him to get tests."
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The good news is that Hasselbeck got a little play earlier this season and acquitted himself well. The Colts won both starts, divisional games against the Jaguars and Texans, and Hasselbeck threw three touchdowns against zero interceptions. The Colts have seven games left on their schedule though, and the remaining slate isn't a cakewalk. Four of the games are on the road, including next week at Atlanta, and Dec. 6 at Pittsburgh.
The Luck injury does give rise to the possibility of Titans rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota making the postseason. The Titans, at 2-6, are somehow only two games back of the Colts (who are on bye this week), and Mariota is coming off his second four-touchdown performance of 2015. Tennessee is 1-0 under interim coach Mike Mularkey, who said he'd cater to Mariota's strengths. It looked like Mularkey's adjustments worked, as the Titans engineered an upset of the Saints in New Orleans, without No. 1 receiver Kendall Wright.
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The Titans' remaining schedule is also rough, with a home game vs. the unbeaten Panthers coming Sunday, and a two-week stretch at the Jets, and then at New England. Those two tests, in cold weather, will be crucial in Tennessee's quest for the postseason. Then, the Titans end the year against the Colts in Week 17, when Luck should be back even with a conservative estimate.
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