After benching their young quarterback, where do the Colts go from here?
Breaking news flashes: Anthony Richardson benched in favor of Joe Flacco.
I’m sorry, what?
Flacco will be the starter heading into Sunday night’s game against Minnesota.
Is this permanent or a reaction to Richardson tapping out of the game?
Rumors of who made the ultimate decision and why, swirl.
Have we seen the last of Richardson in Indy?
The decision made by the Indianapolis Colts to bench Richardson in favor of Flacco is a bombshell and still extremely unclear. Fans still do not know whether this is for the season or only a game. We are also in the dark as to whether it is due to his poor play to start the year or tapping out of the game on Sunday against Houston to get a breather.
Richardson hasn’t been good to start his NFL career. Ok. He has been closer to really bad than just “not good”, but are we surprised? When he was selected, the whole concept that was preached was “patience”. When you take a wild card with freakish athletic gifts and limited experience, having patience comes with the territory. Or at least it should… Here we are less than a season into game action for the young quarterback and the Colts are signaling they are making a franchise altering decision. A decision, if made for the long haul, is extremely short-sided and ill-advised.
Flacco is not the answer. Neither was Rivers or Wentz or Ryan. These older journeymen quarterbacks have the potential to be serviceable in the short-term, but what about the future? What is the plan here, Colts? I don’t love what I have seen from Richardson on the field, but to pull a Bryce Young is something he might never come back from. If this benching is more than a game, this failure is on the coaches and more importantly on Chris Ballard and his team. They deserve just as much of the blame if not more for failing this franchise. Their inability to find and develop a quarterback has been a theme for too long, and Richardson shouldn’t be left holding the bag.
If the decision is short-term, which I hope it is, why this move? Did the locker room turn on Richardson after he tapped out of the game? If you have ever seen a team’s “Field Access” or “Sounds of the Game” video, there is usually a huddle in which one player states, “Give me everything you got. Leave it all on the field.” It always sounded cliché, but maybe there is more to it than I understand. Richardson being winded and asking out of the game could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. If this isn’t permanent, was benching him and making this a huge deal the best move then? Could he have been made to address the team or demoted in practice? Not sure, but if it is just for one game, I don’t have a major problem with it. The issue is, this whole thing isn’t being promoted as a “one game suspension”. The Colts are letting this thing have legs, and it looks bad.
A once proud and successful franchise has been in shambles for years now. I thought 2022 was rock bottom, but the Colts continue to find themselves in the news for all the wrong reasons. Does Joe Flacco give the Colts a better chance to win? Yes. He certainly does at this point, but this isn’t a championship roster that is one quarterback away. If this is a permanent move, the Colts are admitting they made a huge mistake and see no future for Anthony Richardson with the franchise. I would have preferred to play this season out and make an evaluation during the offseason. It would provide a better idea of exactly what they have and avoid a mid-season circus. Welcome to the big top Colts fans. The circus is back in town.
