The Sports Xchange

INDIANAPOLIS – Andrew Luck saw limited practice time on Thursday and the Indianapolis Colts remain hopeful that their star quarterback can play Sunday despite an injury to his throwing shoulder.

Luck didn’t throw passes in the open media portion of the practice when his workload consisted of handoffs. But he and the Colts’ two other quarterbacks had an earlier session in the team’s indoor practice facility.

Veteran Matt Hasselbeck took most of the practice snaps and he will start against the Jacksonville Jaguars if Luck can’t play.

But nobody was ready to count Luck out after Thursday’s practice.

“I’m sure Andrew is going to try to play, and I expect Andrew to play,” Hasselbeck said. “At the same time my job is to do what I can behind the scenes and be ready. The only difference in this case is that I guess the percentages would say that I have a better chance than I normally would.”

Colts coach Chuck Pagano didn’t meet with reporters after Thursday’s practice. He stated Wednesday that he had “supreme confidence” that Luck would play.

Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton deflected probing questions about Luck’s health toward Pagano and wouldn’t reveal whether or not Luck threw any passes during practice.

Still, Hamilton is counting on having Luck on Sunday.

“Andrew is a tough football player,” Hamilton said. “He’s tough, and he does a good job of making sure that he’s ready to go out and perform for his teammates. He’s a durable guy.”

Hamilton said there won’t be too much fluctuation in the game plan whether it is Luck or Hasselbeck at the controls.

“We build our game plan to attack the opponent,” Hamilton said. “A big part of our strategy is based on what we do well and some of the things that they show on tape. We feel like we have a good plan for Jacksonville. They’re playing pretty good football. They have a really good front seven. They played us tough last year here at home, so we know they’ll be fired up and ready to go.”