Andrew Luck was the No. 1 pick in the Pro Bowl draft, but after taking a beating in the AFC Championship game last Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback considered skipping the event altogether.
"It was hard," Luck told the Indy Star's Stephen Holder in an expansive interview. "But once you get out here and you get around the guys and some of your teammates, it feels better. But the morning after the (loss), you get a phone call and they need your decision and they want to make sure you're not hurt, can you play and all that. I'm sitting there like ... (sighs).
"I mean, it is a privilege, but I am hurting in a sense. But I realize it's an honor to be voted in and the fans really enjoy it. So, I did it."
The way the 45-7 loss to the New England Patriots unfolded had Luck considering a different alternative to recharge his football batteries.
"I think every loss in the playoffs leaves a really, really terrible taste in your mouth," Luck said. "But this one has been worse than the other two because we did get so close. And the way we lost, it was just embarrassing."
The loss in the AFC Championship was difficult for the third-year quarterback, but on Sunday he'll be joined by colleagues whose seasons also all ended well before they envisioned.
"It's going to take awhile for me to get over it," Luck told Holder. "You take small steps, little doses of medicine in a sense. This (Pro Bowl) game, for instance, is a step. It's some of that medicine. You come out here and try to have fun with the guys. Everybody who's here lost at the end of the season. And misery loves company. I feel bad for the Packers guys who are here, for example. We were sitting there commiserating the other day.
"It's a little dose of medicine. But it's really going to take awhile. When you put a lot of freakin' work into something and you don't realize it, it's just hard."
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