The Indianapolis Colts sit at 5-7 after their Week 12 loss to the Detroit Lions. 
As usual, some online took the time to point out Anthony Richardson's lackluster stat line as a reason for the outcome in Week 12. Richardson's stat line hardly ever tells the full truth, but his performance in Week 12 is a great example of how stats can lie.
Colts head coach Shane Steichen weighs in on Anthony Richardson's performance in Week 12
Colts head coach Shane Steichen was asked how he thought Anthony Richardson played against the Lions because many believed his stat line wasn't "reflective of how he played." Here is Steichen's answer:
"Yeah, I agree with that. I don’t think his stat line reflected the way he played. I thought he played pretty darn well looking back at the tape. We had some big plays negated by penalties. But again, I thought he was efficient running the football. He threw it to the right guy, made the right reads. I know he missed a few that he wants back, but man, I thought he did a great job. I really did.”
- Colts head coach Shane Steichen
In Week 12, the Colts had zero turnovers and didn't allow a single sack, but they still lost the game pretty handily. Steichen's answer shows why Ricahrdson's stat line doesn't tell the full story about his performance.
" “I think the penalties were a big part of it. I think we've been pretty good with penalties, but I think we had 96 yards of offense called back on penalties, some big plays. I think when you create explosive plays, your chances of scoring points go up. And when those get called back, they're tough. So, that comes back to fundamentals and details and technique that we got to get cleaned up this week going forward because we don't want to do – make the same mistakes twice, week in and week out.”
- Colts head coach Shane Steichen
Plays Anthony Richardson made that sadly don't appear on his stat sheet
If you only look at the box score, I can see why someone would come away thinking Richardson played poorly. His stat line from Week 12 says he completed 11 of his 28 pass attempts, which is a disappointing 39.2% completion %. He also ended the day with no passing touchdowns and only 172 yards but had a strong day on the ground with 61 yards on six carries.
Now, for what the box score doesn't include. As you read above, the Colts didn't allow a single sack in Week 12. You would assume the Colts' offensive line played well, reading that statement, but you would be wrong. The Colts allowed pressure on 46.7% of Richardson's dropbacks on the day. There have been only three games this season where a QB was pressured on 45% or more of his dropbacks and did not take a sack. In fact, Richardson has been the QB for two of those three with his performances in Week 12 and Week 7.
Richardson also had three big plays taken from him due to mistakes by his receivers. Two coming from the tight end room with Andrew Ogletree dropping an easy touchdown and Kylen Granson having poor open field awareness when he was the hot read after a blitz by the Lions for what would have been a first down with room to run after the catch. The third was a dime deep down the sideline to Ashton Dulin, who couldn't get his second foot down after the catch.
The Colts also struggled with penalties throughout the day, with the team having ten accepted penalties go against them. Multiple negating big plays by Richardson and the passing game. There was a big play to Kylen Granson for what would have been a first down, as well as two big catches by Josh Downs. The first from Downs was called back on a terrible pass interference call on Alec Pierce, who made no contact with the defender, and another coming on a wild play by Richardson to avoid the pressure in the pocket and, after rolling out, hit Josh Downs for what would have been a highlight reel play.
At the end of the day, some people seem to prefer their quarterbacks to take the sack and keep their completion percentage up rather than throw the ball away, as Richardson was able to do consistently throughout this game against pressure. Richardson was able to overcome the poor play by the offensive line by not taking a sack, but he couldn't overcome the number of big plays negated by penalties on the day. The Colts' offense couldn't find any rhythm in this game, leading to the offense only scoring six points on the day. While the end result was disappointing, there was a lot of good to take away from this game in terms of Richardson's play and development as a player. Since his benching, he has looked like a drastically improved QB, and while Week 12's stat line says otherwise, he also looks like a drastically more accurate QB.
