Matt Hasselbeck knows great quarterbacks.
He was a pretty good one himself, having started for most of his 15 NFL seasons, winning 80 and losing 72. He has strong quarterback cred, with his 60.4 career completion percentage, 201 touchdown passes, 148 interceptions and 82.1 rating.
He also spent his first two seasons in the league backing up Brett Favre in Green Bay.
So when Hasselbeck, now a veteran backup in Indianapolis, talks quarterbacks, you tend to listen.
About an hour after second-year wunderkind Andrew Luck engineered the second greatest playoff comeback of all time to lead the Colts to Saturday night’s improbable 45-44 wild-card playoff victory over the Chiefs, Hasselbeck stood at one end of the cavernous Colts locker room in the bowels of Lucas Oil Stadium and talked Luck.
Two names came up in conversation, and they were both brought up by Hasselbeck: Peyton Manning and Favre.
“One of the special things about Favre when I was in there was that he sometimes would start the game with three or four interceptions, and end with four touchdowns and be NFC Player of the Week and have medium grade on the quarterback grade sheet,’’ Hasselbeck said. “But he inspires the team to victory and kind of sends a message to the league like, ‘Hey, I’m special … and we’re never out of it … and you can have the perfect defense called and that might not matter … there might be a fumble on the ground and I might pick it up and score on you.’
“It’s ‘the legend grows’ kind of thing, make plays and find a way. It’s a cool thing to see and a cool thing to be a part of.’’
Luck’s game versus the Chiefs was exactly as Hasselbeck described as Favre’s trademark — bad before it got great. Luck threw three interceptions before rallying the Colts into the divisional playoff round, where they will play the Patriots Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass.
“The thing that he brings to the table is not only who he is as a player but who he is as a leader in the locker room,’’ Hasselbeck said. “He pushes the coaches to be better, he pushes the guys around him to be better. It’s a reason this team was so successful for a long time, because they had a guy [Peyton Manning] that did that also, and credit goes to [Manning] a little bit for the way he paved the way here.
“It’s kind of the standard that’s expected here, and [Luck] has accepted that challenge and he has accepted that risk of being the leader in the locker room and he’s earned it. It hasn’t been given to him.’’
Luck blamed himself for putting his team in a hole, saying he was “angry’’ with himself. He lauded his coaches and teammates for trusting him “to go out there and right my wrongs.’’
He did.
“It’s incredible to see what Andrew has done so quickly,’’ said Colts owner Jim Irsay, the man who had final say in ushering Manning out of Indy and drafting Luck to replace him. “It’s amazing because obviously we have one guy going to the Pro Bowl in [linebacker] Robert [Mathis]. I mean, [Luck] and Peyton, those two guys should be co-MVPs.
“It’s so rare you see someone so mature and so composed and having all the components that he had [coming out of Stanford]. He’s beyond his years in maturity. With Andrew, it’s just amazing, just because he can beat you in so many ways. He needs the least amount of components around him to elevate your franchise and those guys are really, really rare.
“He legitimately probably would have been a No. 1 pick as a tight end. He’s probably be a top 15 tight end as an athlete and probably be at NASA getting ready to go on a Mars mission if he had chosen to be an astronaut. He’s that type of kid.’’
In a league where can’t-miss franchise quarterbacks are rare, another legend grows in Indianapolis. Some NFL cities are just lucky.