Luck's photographic memory was a skill even Manning and Brady lacked, says former coach Arians

Former NFL coach Bruce Arians has said quarterback Andrew Luck had a rare skill that even Peyton Manning and Tom Brady did not have. In an interview with NFL insider Jordan Schultz, he talked about his experience of coaching Luck.

According to Arians, Luck had a photographic memory. In the interview he said Luck did not take any notes. By contrast, Peyton Manning had notebooks, and Tom Brady had a notebook on top of a notebook on top of a notebook.

In the 2012 season Arians was the Indianapolis Colts' offensive coordinator, and he later also served as the team's interim head coach. He stepped in for head coach Chuck Pagano, who stepped away from the team to undergo treatment for leukemia.

That 2012 season was Luck's rookie year in the NFL, having come out of Stanford. Arians said he realized as soon as he saw his new quarterback that there was something different about Luck. Luck would tell him, 'I got it; let's roll.'

Asked why he was not taking any notes, Luck would say he did not need to. According to Arians, Luck would literally spit back verbatim everything from practice.

That season the Colts became known for late, dramatic wins. Arians recalled that an exact scenario the team had practiced happened in that Sunday's game, and Luck was already on the field before even being called upon. Luck executed it to perfection and the Colts won the game with a late field goal.

Luck has since become the general manager of the Stanford Cardinals football program. Arians went on to coach the Arizona Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay.

In the same interview, Arians also expressed his interest in returning to the NFL sidelines after dealing with health issues. 'Now that I'm all healthy again, I've got the itch again, so we'll see,' he said.