Colts owner: Luck 'has to change the way he plays' to avoid injury

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay spent plenty of time talking about his star quarterback while taking center stage at a fan event in London on Saturday.

Though Irsay stated emphatically that there are no long-term concerns with Andrew Luck's sore throwing shoulder, he did concede that adjustments to his playing style are imperative to him avoiding injury in the years to come.

"He has to change the way he plays, only because it's just natural that he is not a 22-year-old kid at Stanford who could play tight end or quarterback," Irsay said, according to Mike Wells of ESPN. "He has to understand - and he learned from the Denver game - the importance of staying on the field. I think honing his game is the key. There isn't any sort of chronic shoulder injury or something like that."

Luck's practice reps have been limited throughout the first few weeks of the season, raising some concerns as to whether the shoulder issues would linger.

Hinting that the injury was further aggravated on a tackle attempt following a Week 2 interception, the owner said he'd much rather Luck mail it in and avoid any such contact.

"Look, (Luck) throws the interception, he's mad, I know," Irsay said. "Do what Peyton did. Do a little fox trot and you don't embarrass yourself. But you stay out of the fray. You don't see Aaron Rodgers (do it). You don't see quarterbacks get involved in those types of frays. That's when tough things happen."

Reigning in his competitive instincts likely isn't something that can be done overnight. The good news for both Luck and the Colts, however, is that the quarterback doesn't appear to have been affected by the injury thus far.

Luck has returned to his Pro Bowl form after a 2015 campaign in which he sat out all but seven games, and all indications are that his practice workload is the team's way of keeping him fresh throughout the year.