Source: Todd Rosenberg / Getty
He hasn’t even taken a snap with the Colts in a game yet, but Anthony Richardson has already raised interest in the Colts both locally and on a national level. Will that translate into nationally televised games in 2023? That remains to be seen until the NFL unveils the full 2023 regular season schedule later tonight. The Colts schedule of opponents isn’t very sexy from a national TV perspective.
The biggest names at quarterback the Colts will see in 2023 are Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson, both of those games are on the road. Other road opponents are of course, the AFC South divisional games plus the Atlanta Falcons (Desmond Ridder), Carolina Panthers (presumably Bryce Young) and New England Patriots (Mac Jones), with that game being played in Germany.
The home slate of non-division opponents are the Pittsburgh Steelers (Kenny Pickett), Cleveland Browns (Deshaun Watson), Los Angeles Rams (Matthew Stafford), New Orleans Saints (Derek Carr), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Baker Mayfield/Kyle Trask) and Las Vegas Raiders (Jimmy Garoppolo). See? Not exactly sexy. If the Colts are going to get multiple nationally televised games it’s likely going to be on the back of Anthony Richardson and the intrigue that comes with him.
The Colts did themselves no favors last season when it comes to national appeal. They played arguably the most boring Thursday Night Football game in history against the Broncos and then were on the receiving end of one-sided games between the Patriots and Cowboys and the infamous game against the Vikings where they blew the largest lead in NFL history.
Despite all that, I think Richardson cleanses some of the pallette of last season’s stink. I’ll go out on a limb and say the Colts have two nationally televised games this year. A Thursday night divisional game between the Jaguars and their showdown with Frank Reich and the Panthers. If Richardson shows signs of being as dynamic as he’s shown during the combine and his pro day, then the Colts will have plenty of primetime games in the near future.
The NFL schedule gets released tonight at 8pm.
