The Indianapolis Colts are going back to Anthony Richardson. The 2023 No. 4 pick will regain his spot as the team’s starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets and for the rest of the season, coach Shane Steichen said Wednesday.
“It’s the attention to detail in everything (Richardson) does. … It’s got to be a higher standard,” Steichen said. “Over the last two weeks, he’s made strides in those areas.”
The decision comes on the heels of arguably quarterback Joe Flacco’s worst performance of the season. In the Colts’ 30-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Flacco finished 26-of-35 passing for 272 yards with two touchdowns against three interceptions. He threw a pick-six on Indianapolis’ first offensive play and was strip-sacked in the third quarter and lost the fumble. Flacco’s four turnovers were the most he’s had in a single game since Week 3 of 2022 when he started for the Jets in a loss against the Cincinnati Bengals. The 39-year-old’s four-turnover outing Sunday also marked just the fourth time he’s had four-plus turnovers in one game in his 17-year NFL career.
But Steichen said Wednesday the move was about the progress Richardson made, not Flacco’s struggles. He noted the quarterback remains the future of the franchise.
“Anthony’s a helluva football player,” Steichen said.
After Sunday’s loss, Flacco called it “a humbling game” and said “this league is tough.”
“You’re going to have to deal with things like that from time to time,” he said of his latest performance. “It’s unfortunate. You don’t want to put yourself in that situation, but we can only look at ourselves. I can only look at myself in terms of why that’s happening.”
Flacco went 1-3 as Indianapolis’ starter this year and has appeared in six games overall. He registered a career-high 66.5 completion percentage while throwing nine touchdowns against five interceptions. Flacco has also lost three fumbles.
Steichen initially said that his decision to bench Richardson, who began the season as the starting QB, in favor of Flacco was because the veteran quarterback gave the Colts “the best chance to win right now.”
“Obviously, it’s a difficult thing,” Steichen said of Indy’s quarterback swap last month. “But again, it’s my obligation to 53 guys in this organization to win football games. And right now, I’m focused on the present of winning football games, and we’ll get to the future when we have to get to the future.”
Steichen’s reasoning was sound at the time of Richardson’s demotion. Richardson ranked last in the league in completion percentage on passes when not pressured (48.1 percent), pressured (38.9 percent), not blitzed (50.5 percent) and blitzed (26.5 percent). Richardson’s tap-out in a Week 8 loss at Houston, in which the 22-year-old subbed himself out for one play in the third quarter because he was “tired,” appeared to be the nail in the coffin as Steichen pulled the plug on Richardson just 10 starts into his career.
Richardson is 3-3 as the Colts’ starter this season. He’s logged a 44.4 completion percentage while throwing four touchdowns against seven interceptions. Richardson has also scored one rushing TD and lost two fumbles.
Richardson was asked last week what he’s specifically worked on since taking a backseat to Flacco, and while he said he’s focused on getting better, he didn’t offer any details. To that end, no one else in the organization has publicly provided any in-depth analysis of where they’d like to see Richardson improve, whether it’s on the field or off.
“I’m not necessarily sure which one thing in general it is — but all aspects and just becoming a pro,” Richardson said of his development. “This is like my second year — almost my full second year doing this, so I’m still learning all the ins and outs of it and just try to follow the vets.”
The Colts will take on the New York Jets at 1 p.m. ET on Nov. 17 in their Week 11 game.
(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)
