Assessing Anthony Richardson’s performance against the Lions
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Colts have now lost four of their last five games.
Their latest loss came on Sunday afternoon when the Lions (10-1) beat the Colts (5-7) by the final of 24-6 inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
Of course, a lot of eyes were on Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson as he made his second start since returning from his benching.
Richardson finished the game 11-of-28 for 172 passing yards. He did not throw any touchdown passes, nor did he throw any interceptions, despite being under quite a bit of pressure at various times throughout the game.
“I thought he played well,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said. “Obviously, took care of the football. Like I said, we were in some tough situations there with them on first-and-20s, second-and-longs. Those are hard to overcome sometimes, but I thought he battled like crazy throughout the whole game for sure.”
Some of those “tough situations” Steichen alluded to were because of penalties. The Colts finished with a season-high 10 penalties in the matchup. Many of those penalties negated big plays.
“I think he (Richardson) handled it well,” Colts running back Jonathan Taylor said. “Like I said, it’s a great football team. Number one, when you have so many penalties it’s hard to win a football game when you shoot yourself in the foot before the play even starts or during the play. For us as an offense, that has to be eliminated to even give us a chance. I think he handled it well, especially just given some of those pre-snap or during the play kind of penalties that we had.”
Richardson’s numbers may have been misleading as well, as multiple incompletions should arguably have been completions.
One such pass was a throw to tight end Drew Ogletree in the second quarter, a throw that would have been a touchdown if caught.
Richardson was asked after the game what he said to Ogletree following the drop.
“Man, just stick with it,” Richardson said. “He’s not going to catch every pass. I’m not going to throw a great ball every time. So, like I said, it’s the nature of the game. Whatever the game throws at you, you’ve got to just adjust and just play ball. He dropped the ball – so what. I don’t throw great passes all the time, so it is what it is. We’re going to get the next one.”
Richardson also led the Colts in rushing, carrying the ball 10 times for a single-game career-high 61 yards.
“Gosh, he made some good plays – off-platform throws,” Steichen said. “Obviously, had a big one on third down and we had a holding call on that one. But again, he’s battling like crazy. I thought he was good, didn’t turn the ball over. Made some good plays with his legs on that first drive. Just got to find a way to finish in the red zone, get those touchdowns going forward, right.”
The Colts will hope to bounce back next Sunday when they face the Patriots (3-9). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. EDT inside Gillette Stadium.