When Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, they'll be without their coach and leader, Chuck Pagano, who has been diagnosed with leukemia.
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Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians has taken the interim reins in Pagano's absence, meaning Luck is already working with his second head coach as a rookie.
"It shell shocked a lot of people on the team, including me," Luck said on "NFL Total Access" on Friday. "I don't think I fully grasp the situation, but we also try not to let it affect football too much, which may sound very cold, but I view it as an obligation to coach Pagano that we're still bringing the same intensity, dedication, focus to practice, to meetings and any Colts-related event.
"For him, he wouldn't want us falling off the emotional cliff or starting to do uncharacteristic things because he's not around. But it's a tough deal, and I think we'll learn a lot about ourselves as we go through it."
From a football perspective, Luck expressed concern about keeping an in-game dialogue going with Arians, his offensive coordinator who now has much more to think about on Sundays. Luck said he and Arians carved out "extra time" this week "so what we do is not lost in the shuffle."
Luck also mentioned the challenge of facing Packers ball hawk Charles Woodson this weekend, which looms as one of Week 5's more intriguing matchups. All eyes will be on Indy this Sunday because of what the Colts are going through, but in a tough time, we're already discovering what kind of leader this team has in Luck.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
