“Colts return Anthony Richardson as QB1 against Jets,” says Shane Steichen

The Indianapolis Colts are returning Anthony Richardson. The 2023 No. 4 pick will reclaim 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 has to be a higher standard,” Steichen said. “Over the last two weeks he has made progress in those areas.”

The decision follows arguably quarterback Joe Flacco’s worst performance this season. In the Colts’ 30-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Flacco completed 26 of 35 passes for 272 yards with two touchdowns against three interceptions. He threw a pick-six on Indianapolis’ first offensive play, was sacked in the third quarter and lost the fumble. Flacco’s four turnovers were the most he has had in a single game since Week 3 of 2022, when he started for the Jets in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The 39-year-old’s four-turnover performance on Sunday also marked just the fourth time in his 17-year NFL career that he had more than four turnovers in a game.

But Steichen said Wednesday the move is about the progress Richardson has made, not Flacco’s problems.

“I just showed that I was ready to go pro,” Richardson said. “I’m willing to sacrifice whatever I have to for the team. I feel like the last few weeks have definitely opened my eyes and given me the opportunity to just dive deeper and look into myself and see what I’m made of. I’m grateful for the last two weeks and humbly glad it happened.”

Steichen noted that the quarterback remains the future of the franchise.

“Anthony is a heck of a football player,” Steichen said.

After Sunday’s loss, Flacco called it “a humiliating 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 last appearance. “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 this is happening.”

Flacco was the starter for Indianapolis that went 1-3 this year and appeared in six games overall. He recorded a career-high 66.5 completion percentage and threw nine touchdowns against five interceptions. Flacco also lost three fumbles.

Steichen initially said 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, my commitment to the 53 people in this organization is to win football games. And right now I’m focused on the present, winning football games, and we’ll get to the future when we need to get to the future.”

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Steichen’s argument was sound at the time of Richardson’s demotion. Richardson ranked last in the league in completion percentage on passes without pressure (48.1 percent), under pressure (38.9 percent), without the blitz (50.5 percent) and with the blitz (26.5 percent). Richardson’s exit in a Week 8 loss to Houston, in which the 22-year-old subbed out on a play in the third quarter because he was “tired,” appeared to be the nail in the coffin as Steichen pulled the plug. Richardson is making just 10 starts into his career.

Richardson is 3-3 and is the Colts’ starter this season. He posted a 44.4 completion percentage while throwing four touchdowns against seven interceptions. Richardson also scored a rushing TD and recovered two fumbles.

Richardson was asked last week what specifically he’s been working on since taking a back seat to Flacco, and while he said he’s focused on getting better, he didn’t provide any specifics. To that end, no one else in the organization has publicly offered a detailed analysis of where they think Richardson would improve, whether on the field or off.

“I’m not necessarily sure what it is in general – but all aspects and just becoming a professional,” Richardson said of his development. “This is like my second year – almost my whole second year of doing this, so I’m still learning everything and just trying to follow the vets.”

The Colts will face the New York Jets in their Week 11 game on November 17th at 1 p.m. ET.

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(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)