Some believe there's no such thing as moral victories, and to some point, that's true. However, if you're looking for a silver lining in the Indianapolis Colts' 29-27 home loss on Sunday to the Houston Texans, it's that second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson proved that he is a positively unique player.
His counterpart on the Texans' sideline, fellow sophomore quarterback C.J. Stroud, was fortunate enough to stay healthy last year, outperforming his peers on the way to NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. There's no mystery about how good he already is.
Sunday was a battle of special, young quarterbacks who are just scratching the surface of how good they'll both eventually be.
Pro Football Focus (PFF) took notice in their recap of Houston's victory, saying, "A battle between two of the NFL's most promising young quarterbacks lived up to its billing."
The Houston Texans‘ C.J. Stroud and the Indianapolis Colts‘ Anthony Richardson had their lows in this Week 1 contest — a 29-27 win for the Texans — but their highs outweighed all else.
Stroud made three turnover-worthy plays but finished with a strong 78.2% adjusted completion percentage. Richardson, in his return to regular-season action following a season-ending injury in 2023, completed two of his 20-plus-yard pass attempts for 117 yards and a score but struggled some with accuracy.
This was just the fifth start of Richardson's career after he was selected fourth overall by the Colts in the 2023 NFL Draft (Stroud was picked second), and while he was far from perfect, he made a handful of plays that haven't been seen by a Colts quarterback since the days of Andrew Luck.
Most notably, Richardson had a pair of huge downfield connections to Alec Pierce — one in the first quarter and the other in the fourth — which helped both drives put touchdowns on the scoreboard.
"Last year, no quarterback had more than one completion of 50 or more air yards all season. Richardson had two in this game," wrote Dan Pizzuta of The 33rd Team. "Five quarterbacks in 2022 had two all season."
Richardson was a disenchanting 9-of-19 passing (47.4%) overall, but with 212 yards and an eye-popping yards-per-attempt of 11.2. He also threw 2 touchdowns and an interception, and he was sacked twice for a passer rating of 101.2.
As a runner, he accumulated 56 yards and a touchdown on 6 carries (9.3 avg.). Of those runs, five of them resulted in either a first down or touchdown, pulling through when the Colts' offense needed Richardson the most. Without his work, the Colts had just 48 yards on 16 carries (3.0 avg.).
While the Colts offense is unlikely to be wholly reliant on him throughout the season, it was a positive development to see that he can carry a team if needed.
As for Stroud, the Colts' pass rush did have him appearing uncomfortable at times throughout the afternoon, racking up 14 combined sacks and hits, but Stroud still came up big with critical plays when needed, in particular some 3rd-and-long conversions in key moments.
This was just the second chapter between Richardson and Stroud in what appears to be an entertaining AFC South rivalry.
