Colts QB Andrew Luck gave out a lot of high fives yesterday (Associated Press)

Expectations were high for Colts QB Andrew Luck’s preseason debut against the Rams. As the No. 1 pick, that would be the case, anyway. But having to fill the giant shoes left by franchise icon Peyton Manning? That ramped it up a bit.

“You have high expectations for the guy,” Colts TE Coby Fleener told me, “and he manages to exceed them every time.”

Yup. He did. And then some. Luck sparkled in his first game in an NFL uniform, going 10 of 16 for 188 yards with two TD passes and a 142.7 passer rating on 24 snaps. He led his team to a 38-3 win over the Rams, helping them score more points than they did during any game last season.

“I realize, like all of the guys in the locker room realize, that this is a preseason game and let’s not get too excited about anything because nobody goes back and looks at the preseason record for anything,” Luck said. “But to get out here and put some good stuff on film is definitely (good).”

There were a lot of impressive things physically yesterday at Lucas Oil Stadium, including how he threw the ball and how he scrambled. Nothing impressed me more than how Luck managed the game mentally. The best play I saw? An incompletion. You’ll read about it…

Check out my story on Luck’s preseason debut on NFL.com.

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