The Indianapolis Colts are making a transformation at quarterback. The team will bench 2023 first-round draft pick Anthony Richardson for Sunday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, coach Shane Steichen announced. Not only that, but Joe Flacco, the 39-year-old backup who has so far replaced an injured Richardson, will continue to be the signal-caller “going forward.”
“I’m just looking [at] where we are as a football team, sitting at .500 with a lot of football ahead of us,” Steichen stated Wednesday, in tune with ESPN, “and we feel like Joe gives us the best opportunity going forward.”
The Colts’ decision to bench Richardson comes two days after he admitted that was taken out of this week’s 23-20 Sunday loss to the Texans and then got tired. Adding insult to injury was Richardson’s 10-of-32 passing on Sunday that included his seventh interception of the season. He also had five sacks and lost one of his two fumbles.
Sunday was a microcosm for the kind of year it’s been so far for Richardson, who played in just four games as a rookie before suffering season-ending trauma. Despite winning three of his six starts this season, Richardson is completing just 44.4% of his passes (compared to 59.5% last year) and has more interceptions (7) than landing passes ( 4).
The Colts will turn things over to Flacco, who has performed better than Richardson during his mid-season appointment. Through two games, the reigning NFL Comeback Player of the Hour has completed 65.7% of his passes with seven touchdowns against just one interception. He also led the Colts to a disappointing victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Life 4, then Richardson left the game with trauma in the first quarter.
Despite Richardson’s struggles, the Colts are 4-4 and in second place in the AFC South section standings. The Colts’ condition is similar to what Flacco found in his final year with the Browns. In his latest downfall, Flacco led the Browns to an impressive playoff berth and then replaced an injured Deshaun Watson. Now he will look to manufacture even more wizardry this season for the Colts.
How does the quarterback analyze the possible trajectory of the Colts’ season? The Colts are projected to win 8.5 games this season with Flacco versus 7.5 games with Richardson, according to SportsLine data analyst Stephen Oh. Indianapolis’ playoff odds are more than double under Flacco, from 21.2% to 42.3%, according to Oh.
Although Richardson is out of the game for Sunday’s game, the bench has no longer signed the end of his appointment in Indianapolis, according to The Athletic. The Colts hope Richardson can use this time to sit down, educate himself and develop the year’s process to help the group in alternative strategies, according to the document.
