Andrew Luck out 2-6 weeks with lacerated kidney:

What was already the worst statistical season of Andrew Luck’s young career has officially become the worst season of his young career, as the Indianapolis Colts starting quarterback will now miss 2-6 weeks with a lacerated kidney.

Poor stats aside, the Colts 4-5 record has them in first place in the dreadful AFC South, and a victory over the undefeated Denver Broncos Sunday had to have lifted the team’s confidence to its highest point of the season.

Luck had already missed two games earlier this season with a shoulder injury, and it had recently been reported he may have played much of the season with broken ribs, which some had attributed to his subpar start.

Through his first seven games this season, Luck has 15 touchdowns and a whopping 12 interceptions. He threw 18 interceptions as a rookie, and then combined for 25 picks over his last two seasons. This year, Luck was on pace to throw for over 25 this season alone, but this latest injury will keep him from throwing any passes for at least the next two weeks.

The Colts announced that Luck was injured early in the fourth quarter against the Broncos on Sunday, but finished the game and helped the Colts hold onto the much-needed upset victory.

Chuck Pagano explained to the media that he isn’t yet sure how long Luck will be out with this latest setback, but after Matt Hasselbeck led Indianapolis to two victories when the former first-overall pick missed time with a shoulder earlier this season, the Colts’ head coach is confident in his veteran backup.

“It’s way too early to guess how long Andrew will be out,” said Pagano. “We’re going to keep listening to the doctors and evaluating his progress on a week by week basis. We’ve got all the confidence in the world in Matt Hasselbeck and we’re not going to put Andrew back out there until he’s healed and ready to go.”

Despite the fact that the Colts had just the slightest of leads over the Houston Texans in the AFC South, or that at 4-5 they were even allowing the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars to believe they are still in the picture, it seemed almost inevitable that the Colts would wind up on top of the division. Luck’s injury changes that.

Suddenly the AFC South feels wide open, and Luck’s injury feels like a death knell. When everything is going wrong, and then this happens after your team plays its best game of the season, it feels like a final sign that this just isn’t the year for the Colts.

Aqib Talib loses appeal of one-game suspension:

The only thing worse than Aqib Talib blatantly poking Colts tight end Dwayne Allen in the eye Sunday is the fact that the Broncos cornerback actually appealed the suspension. On Wednesday, the league wasted no time in quickly denying Talib’s appeal since it was clearly obvious what he did, and because this isn’t his first time being an idiot.

Actually, that’s not true. His excuse for what happened, and better yet, questioning Allen’s integrity in his post-game comments were worse. While Talib is one of the best cornerbacks in the league today, and possibly over the last decade, his character is unfortunately his biggest flaw.

Talib not only went as far as to make up a ridiculous excuse about how the incident happened, he took a verbal shot at Allen for supposedly over-dramatizing the event.

“From my angle, I see (Allen) head-butt Von (Miller) a little bit,” Talib said after the game via the Denver Post. “I went over to poke his head, and I think my hand slipped and hit his face. He acted like he got in an 18-passenger car wreck. I guess that’s what type of guy he is.”

What a joke. Take some time to read up on the “type of guy” Allen is and what “type of guy” Talib is, and you’ll quickly side with Allen on the matter, whether or not he played up the foul by the Broncos moronic corner or not.

Allen is the “type of guy” who’s been lauded for his actions away from the football field while having a solid career on it. Talib on the other hand has almost cost himself his NFL career by refusing to grow up and act like an adult away from the football field. At the end of the day, there’s only one of these guys you’d want to have dinner or a discussion with, and it’s not Talib.

Talib was no more contrite on Monday, once again making excuses for his actions while inadvertently pointing out the true issue.

“They’re entitled to discipline me. I deserve discipline,” Talib said Monday. “It was not intentional. I should have never went over there in the first place. … My emotions got the best of me. I was a little heated. … That’s what I regret.”

The issue once again was Talib not having control of his emotions. On and off the football field this has been an issue for the former first-round pick who is on his third NFL team, and you can only hope he doesn’t seriously hurt a teammate before his career is over and he hopefully slips into obscurity never to be heard of again.

Remember, this is the same guy who once punched a cab driver in the back of the head, while they were traveling down the highway, with teammates in the car. Talib’s actions not only put that cab driver’s life at risk, but his own and his then Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammate’s lives at risk.

Talib has an immense amount of talent, and his ability changes the entire defense. You just have to hope he doesn’t do anything stupid enough that he changes your entire franchise, because his fuse could go off at any time, and he’s shown a propensity for doing stupid things. He’s one of those guys that constantly has you wondering whether it’s worth having him around, because his play on the football field (when not poking opponents in the eye) is literally his only redeeming quality.

Rex Ryan names IK Enemkpali captain against Jets:

Normally you’d say that a head coach naming the guy who broke his former quarterback’s jaw a team captain when matching up against his former team as Rex Ryan has for this Sunday’s Buffalo Bills – New York Jets match-up is a pretty clear sign that said coach wasn’t much of a fan of his former signal caller.

But this is Rex Ryan we’re talking about.

Something just tells you that Ryan would pull this kind of silly move on his own brother if he thought it would improve his chances of winning. Who are we kidding? Ryan seems like the kind of guy who would pull this kind of move on his own brother just because he thinks it’s funny.

While it’s unlikely that Geno Smith sees the humor in the situation, or is enjoying being asked about the incident that ultimately cost him his job as starting quarterback, he told reporters that he doesn’t take Ryan’s shot personally.

The selection of captains and the coin toss can be a unique way for teams to poke fun at one another, so hopefully it keeps happening. While Ryan naming Enemkpali team captain for Sunday’s tilt with the Jets is funny, it can’t hold a candle to Jeff Fisher sending out every player the St. Louis Rams drafted with the picks they received in return for Robert Griffin III when the Rams played the Washington Redskins a couple years back. That takes the cake for the ultimate captain troll to this point.

Your move NFL teams.