The Colts finally divulged what the process was regarding since reinstated starting 2nd-year quarterback Anthony Richardson.
After refraining from elaborating earlier this week, Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen clarified ‘the process’ that the franchise was going through over the past two weeks regarding since now reinstated starting 2nd-year quarterback Anthony Richardson (via The Athletic’s James Boyd):
#Colts HC Shane Steichen on QB Anthony Richardson:
“I’ve said ‘the process, the process’ for a long time, and what I mean by that is the attention to detail in everything he does. From the classroom to the walkthroughs to practice …”
“He’s gonna start the rest of the season.” pic.twitter.com/GOay4fOWZG
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) November 13, 2024
Steichen’s comments on Wednesday confirmed what was initially (and briefly) reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, that Richardson’s recent demotion was as a direct result of his “lack of attention-to-detail and preparation” expected from a starting NFL quarterback.
Which, and this is just me purely connecting dots, may have reached its boiling over point with his infamous ‘tap-out’ in the third quarter of Week 8’s road loss to the Houston Texans—that caused his two-week benching (*and really may have lasted even longer had veteran Joe Flacco actually been able to ‘hold down the fort’ as the starter these past two weeks).
It’s easy to play ‘Monday Morning Quarterback here,’ but if the Colts had just been initially transparent about Richardson’s benching, then a lot of the national media speculation and angst among the Horseshoe faithful could’ve been reasonably mitigated from the get-go.
When asked why that wasn’t the case, Steichen responded to The Athletic’s James Boyd that he preferred to keep this matter ‘in-house and within the locker room’:
I asked #Colts HC Shane Steichen why he didn’t explain the “the process” with QB Anthony Richardson from the start:
“A lot of things we want to keep in house. We want to keep (it) in house because there’s 53 guys in that locker room, right? That we want to keep things in house.” pic.twitter.com/xtSn0oEBlc
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) November 13, 2024
In the end though, Steichen ended up revealing the real reasoning behind the benching anyways, so his initial attempt to protect Richardson from extra public scrutiny was in vain—although again, that’s playing ‘Captain Hindsight’ here.
What really matters here though is that Richardson applies this ‘learning lesson’ going forward regarding his practice, preparation, film work, and whatever else the case may be.
It’s still hard to believe he’s only 22-years-old (and relatively new to the quarterback position), so this entire episode appears to be more of an instance of him ‘not knowing what he doesn’t know,’ as opposed to any indictment on his well regarded character.
Should he have known?
Quite possibly yes, but at this point, both sides need to treat this like water under the bridge, move forward together, and help one another as best they can so that Richardson can better fulfill his elite franchise quarterback destiny with the Colts long-term.
