Colts Uncertain If Anthony Richardson Will Start Versus Vikings
Source: Jack Gorman / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in his NFL career, a healthy Anthony Richardson enters a week in which his job as the starting quarterback is up in the air.
Shane Steichen said on Monday that the Colts are “evaluating everything” when it comes to a decision on their starting quarterback for Sunday night’s game with the Vikings.
On Monday afternoon, Steichen was asked specifically if Richardson was starting in Week 9.
“We are evaluating everything,” was the head coach’s response.
“Like I said, we are evaluating everything, not just the quarterback. We all got to be better,” the head coach later added. “We are sitting at .500. I think looking back at what we’ve done, there’s a whole bunch of areas we can improve on. I’m not just talking about the quarterback, I’m talking everything. We got to be better moving forward.
“It’s the whole big picture and look at our football team, look at our roster, look at our personnel, look at our scheme and go from there.”
This is the first time Steichen has ever not committed to a healthy Richardson starting an upcoming game.
When asked on Monday if the “everything” included Steichen as a play caller, he said those duties will continue to fall on his plate.
“We are dissecting everything and evaluating everything, running the ball better, putting him in simpler positions, getting ball out of his hands quicker so he’s not dropping back and sitting back there,” Steichen said when asked about what he can do to help Richardson. “We are constantly evaluating that. But we got to be better than that.”
Richardson’s accuracy numbers at a historically low mark in 2024 (44.4 percent) and he has the NFL’s second highest interception rate. He’s 27th in yards per attempt and dead last in quarterback rating.
Steichen, like Chris Ballard and Jim Irsay, has always been a believer of Richardson playing early in his NFL career, stressing the importance in learning on the job, compared to on the sidelines.
The start on Sunday for Richardson marked just the 10th of his 2-year NFL career.
“There’s certain guys that you throw into the fire early and there’s guys you let them sit back and watch,” the head coach said on Monday. “Obviously playing, like I’ve said before, the more you play, the more you learn at that position. But is there benefit in sitting back and watching? Yes, of course there is. so those are conversations that go off in the offseason and are constantly going on through NFL football teams.”
The thought to benching Richardson at halftime on Sunday was something Steichen said he did not consider, despite the QB going 2-of-15 in the first half. Richardson certainly put up better numbers in the 2nd half, going 8-of-17, and led 2 scoring drives in his 5 series of work.
Steichen said Richardson taking himself out of the Texans game for one play, due to the QB saying he was ‘tired,’ is not factoring in to this indecision.
“We had a conversation about it this morning in the quarterback room, which we will keep private,” Steichen said of Richardson’s decision to leave the game for a play because he was tired. “Obviously in those situations, he knows, on those types of deals, you can’t take yourself out. It’s a learning experience for him and he’s got to grow from it.”
In a sight you almost never see from an NFL quarterback, Richardson did take himself out of Sunday’s loss to the Texans, tapping his helmet to state he needed a breather.
On Monday, fellow captain, Ryan Kelly was asked about Richardson checking himself out for one play.
“We had a conversation about it and I think he knows that’s not the standard he needs to play up to and what the rest of the team holds him to,” the longest tenured Colt said. “I will kind of leave the conversation that we had at that. But I’m sure he’s going to take some criticism for that. Rightfully so, right? That’s a tough look. But he’s out there giving it all for his team. It’s not always pretty sometimes in the offensive lull the last couple of weeks. At times, I thought we did some good things in the game. If anybody ever questions how hard he plays, I don’t think that’s the case. If you watch his film, surly we didn’t move the ball effectively at times, but he’s giving it everything for his teammates. He’s young. I’m sure it’s a learning moment for him and I’ll leave it at that.”
With Richardson heading to the sideline, Joe Flacco came onto the field for one play, a hand off to Taylor before Matt Gay kicked a late third-quarter lead.
In the picture of the entire 60-minute game, Richardson missing a 3rd-and-Goal from the Houston 23-yadr line hand off to Jonathan Taylor is one of the least impactful plays of the game.
Optically though, you hardly ever see a quarterback exit a game for stamina reasons, even running centric QBs.
That is a bad look for Richardson.
His overall play though in the other 294 snaps played this season has the Colts asking questions they never have before in the Richardson era.
Steichen loves gamesmanship more than anything.
Is this that, in preparing for one of the most exotic defensive coordinators in the entire NFL?
Or could we see a mid-season change to the 39-year-old Flacco in trying to turn another middling Colts season around?
