Will the Colts stick with Anthony Richardson at quarterback?
It’s not getting better for Anthony Richardson. And it’s not hard to spread the blame for the Indianapolis Colts' loss to the Texans in Week 8. It's possible Richardson may be headed to the bench. And Ryan Kelly got honest on Richardson’s viral substitution.
In the 23-20 loss, Richardson left the game for a third-and-goal play in the third quarter after back-to-back scrambles. Richardson admitted weariness caused him to tap out. Colts center Ryan Kelly said that won’t work, according to a post on X by Kevin Bowen via nbcsports.com.
“We had a conversation about it,” Kelly said. “And I think he knows that’s not the standard he needs to play up to and the rest of the team holds him to. I’ll kind of leave the conversation we had at that.”
Colts QB Anthony Richardson getting hammered for decision
Kelly said he knows Richardson doesn’t come out of this situation looking very good.
“I know he’s going to take some criticism for that,” Kelly said. “And rightfully so. That’s a tough look. But also he’s out there giving it all for his team, right? It’s not always pretty at times. An offensive lull the last couple of weeks, just having a hard time getting going at times.”
Richardson’s final numbers bordered on terrible. He completed only 10 of 32 throws for 175 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also rushed six times for 45 yards. That hardly seems like enough scrambling to require a breather.
Despite the strong criticism of the one decision, Kelly stood up for Richardson’s effort.
“If anybody questions how hard he plays, I don’t think that’s the case,” Kelly said. “If you watch his film, surely we didn’t move the ball effectively at times, but he’s giving it everything for his teammates. He’s young. I’m sure it’s a learning moment for him, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Richardson also had a tough moment in the game with a first-half interception. He tried to rip the ball into Josh Downs, but the Texans picked it off and had the ball on the Colts’ 7-yard line with 23 seconds left before halftime. They scored a touchdown to take a 17-10 lead.
Colts’ head coach Shane Steichen didn’t crush Richardson for the throw, according to colts.com.
“In that situation, it was a minute left, they had all three timeouts,” Steichen said. “And so we started off with the run. See if we could pop it there and get some yardage, and we did. So we said hey, let's kind of be aggressive a little bit and go for it. And obviously we didn't convert the second-down pass. And then it was third down there in that situation. We thought we could get a play there and complete a pass, and it didn't work out.”
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Will Anthony Richardson have to watch from the sidelines?
Now Richardson faces the rather real possibility of heading to the bench for the first time as a healthy player.
“We're dissecting everything and we're evaluating everything,” Steichen said. “Running the ball better, putting him in simpler positions, getting the ball out of his hands quicker. So he's not dropping back, sitting back there. We're constantly evaluating that. But we gotta be better there.”
Steichen said he understands the Colts’ 4-4 record isn’t all on Richardson. He’s 3-3 as a starter this season after a 2-2 mark in his injury-shortened rookie season. Steichen said the Colts have a lot of things to consider, according to colts.com.
“Obviously there's a whole bunch of different things, right,” Steichen said. “It's not just one guy. It's everything. We gotta look at the whole big picture and look at our football team, look at our roster, look at our personnel, look at our scheme and then we go from there.”
