On Wednesday, Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen insisted that his resolution to bench beginning quarterback Anthony Richardson in favor of backup Joe Flacco had nothing to do with Richardson going to the sidelines for one play throughout this previous Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans as a result of the second-year professional was “tired.”
Richardson later accepted duty for the second many believe resulted in Flacco getting the nod for this Sunday night time’s matchup between 4-4 Indianapolis and the 5-2 Minnesota Vikings.
“Concerning that play, I do know I can not try this as a frontrunner, particularly as a quarterback of this group. Particularly as a soccer participant generally,” Richardson mentioned about tapping out towards Houston, as shared by Nick Shook of the NFL’s web site. “I can not simply carry myself out of the sport like that, particularly in key moments like that. However you reside and also you study. Simply gotta develop from it.”
Multiple former NFL gamers publicly ripped Richardson for exiting a sport because of fatigue.
Being relegated to QB2 duties is simply the newest irritating growth for the fourth general choose of the 2023 NFL Draft, who to this point has made simply 10 career regular-season begins and who was previously labeled by some as “injury-prone” earlier than he left a lot to be desired along with his play.
In response to Pro Football Reference, Richardson started Wednesday ranked final within the NFL with a 57.2 passer ranking, a 32.4% passing success charge and a 44.4% completion proportion on the season. He indicated on Wednesday that he’ll use the benching “as a possibility to develop and study from [his] errors.”
It seems Richardson may spend the following couple of months rising and studying, as Steichen mentioned on Wednesday that Flacco can be his QB1 “going ahead.” Richardson could not take one other significant snap this season so long as Flacco stays wholesome and performs in addition to he did with the Cleveland Browns in the course of the 2023 marketing campaign.
“Of course it hurts,” Richardson added in regards to the benching. “As a competitor, undoubtedly do not need to be informed I am not the man anymore for the upcoming week.”
