Week 1 Colts vs. Texans Highlights: the Indy defense did not make it in this article.

The best plays from week 1

It’s been eleven years since the Indianapolis Colts have won a week one game. That’s disappointing. It’s discouraging. It just really stinks.

This game was full of ups and downs. The offense struggled in some ways, though the way they struggled was highly predictable. The defensive struggles, however, were completely unexpected. Most Colts fans were probably expecting CJ Stroud to find his very talented trio of receivers over and over again for more than 300 yards and a massive day against a highly questionable Colts defensive backfield. No one, not even Texans fans, would have predicted that the Houston Texans would rush for more than 200 yards while Stroud threw for fewer than 250. Stroud didn’t need to throw to win this game and the entire hope the Colts had to win it rested on forcing Stroud into long third down situations so that their pass rushers would have a chance to disrupt the Texans offense and get them off the field.

That’s not exactly what happened.

Were there plays that were highlight worthy from the Indianapolis Colts defense today? Yeah, probably so. But I’m protesting that side of the ball in this article until they hold a starting running back under 5 yards per carry this season. Hopefully I can include them next week but with a Green Bay Packers and Josh Jacobs matchup next week, I’m not holding my breath.

Let’s get into what went right.

First Quarter

Anthony Richardson is a lot of fun

Richardson threw this ball off of his back foot, it traveled more than 60 yards in the air and it gave Alec Pierce an opportunity to make the catch and score six points. There aren’t many people on the planet who can make this throw. It didn’t always look great for Richardson today, there were mistakes, but none of those mistakes were the kind that should cast any doubt on Richardson’s future as he continues to develop as a 22 year old starting quarterback.

Second Quarter

Shane Steichen once asked if you would take the 3-shot away from Steph Curry

The Colts called multiple runs for Richardson, who finished with 6 carries for 46 yards. The best part of his runs today? Not once on any of his runs was there any sign that the hits phased him in the slightest. He didn’t get up slow, he didn’t wince, he didn’t limp back to the huddle. Nothing. He took the hits the way you would expect a 250+ pound ball carrier to. You can argue about “running” quarterbacks all you like, the Colts aren’t going to stop calling runs for their starting signal caller.

Non-called runs worked well too for AR

If your defense calls man to man and you vacate the middle of the field, Anthony Richardson will do this all day long. Picking up third and five is easy when the defense gifts you 15 untouched yards in the middle of the field.

Third Quarter

The defense did not make this article. But special teams absolutely did.

Segun Olubi came up huge in the third quarter, swinging momentum for the Colts and setting them up in scoring position.

Jonathan Taylor sighting

Taylor didn’t have a great day on the ground but I’m not worried about that yet. On this one he took the hand off and went more or less untouched for six points. The Colts went for two and didn’t get it so they pulled within two points with the game at 15-13, Texans.

Fourth Quarter

AR5 is pure excitement.

I don’t know what Ashton Dulin’s touchdown odds were today but I have to imagine someone out there put a dollar on it and now they’re going to have to worry about the tax implications of their new-found wealth. Good for Dulin, in his first game back from the torn ACL that cost him his 2023 season he goes 1 for 56 and a touchdown. Pretty good day for the special teamer.

If you thought AR to AP was done, you would be wrong.

This throw wasn’t as impressive as the first. Pierce had to come back to it, but he still threw the ball a mile. The most impressive part of this play was Alec Pierce high-pointing the ball and making a great play. My biggest criticism of Pierce was that he only seemed to create separation deep down field. As it turns out when your quarterback can throw the ball deep, that’s a very valuable skillset.

I submit to you that there is only one quarterback in the league that scores on this run

This play is silly. I was sure he was going to get tackled at the line and the game was over. Instead he put the team and several defenders on his back to convert on fourth and goal.

Final Thoughts on Week One

It stinks that the Colts lost, again, in week one. The defense caused this loss and I don’t really want to spend too much time lamenting their problems, if you’re reading this article and you watched the game you probably already understand the inability to stop the run was the biggest issue.

What I do want to talk about is Anthony Richardson. A lot of (dumb) people online are going to criticize Richardson’s completion percentage and the interception he threw. People online are going to call him a bust because he made some mistakes. If you believe that for a second please watch these cut-ups of Richardson’s day:

Richardson started his eighteenth football game since high school today. In his second year in the NFL he is 22 years old and was the youngest week one starting quarterback, again this season. He missed a couple of throws today. No doubt it. The interception happened because his receiver started falling down in the middle of the route, but that’s neither here nor there. There were some errant throws and there are going to be some errant throws. There are going to be some miscommunications. Anthony Richardson hasn’t played enough football to know what to expect in most (or even that many) situations.

You can look at that as a negative. The Colts are starting a kid with almost no experience and there are going to be bumps in the road while he gains experience and improves.

But for my money his performance today, especially the mistakes from his lack of experience, is an unbelievable positive. Richardson made multiple plays today that no one else in the NFL can make. Not Lamar, not Mahomes, not Allen, nobody can do everything that Richardson did today. We saw the same thing last season against the Rams that we saw today. The game was on the line and a 22 year old who has barely played any football did what it took to score points and give his team a chance to get a win. I don’t know if you felt it too, but it seemed like a foregone conclusion that if the defense would have gotten the ball back in his hands at the end of the game, Richardson was going to get them into field goal range and a chance at a win they really didn’t deserve. He’s just that kind of a player.

On top of what he did physically today, he doesn’t make the kind of dumb mental errors that so many young quarterbacks make. Guys like Zach Wilson don’t make it in the league, not because they don’t have the physical gifts to succeed, but because they don’t have the mental ability (pre or post snap) to work progressions and read a defense. Anthony Richardson doesn’t have those issues. He works his reads, he sees the defense, he makes good decisions most of the time.

If we’re patient with this kid and his body doesn’t betray us all, four or five years from now, he’s going to have figured a lot out. He’s going to be completing most of his passes, he and his receivers will all be on the same page week in and week out and most importantly, he’ll be contending for Super Bowls.

Anthony Richardson is not a normal 22 year old quarterback. Today gave us more evidence of who he is and yeah, the loss sucks, but the future with this kid is very, very exciting.

Until next week at Green Bay, go Colts.