Colts bench Joe Flacco, turn back to Anthony Richardson at QB

INDIANAPOLIS — Two games after a sudden quarterback change, the Indianapolis Colts have done an about-face and will return to Anthony Richardson as the starter for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.

Coach Shane Steichen said the coaching staff implored Richardson to take a greater command of his off-the-field preparation and attention to detail and, “over the last two weeks, he’s made strides in those areas, big-time strides in becoming a pro’s pro.”

That, Steichen said, prompted the decision to go back to Richardson, who had started just 10 games before being benched after Week 7. He missed the past two starts, losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills.

“He’s going to start this week,” Steichen said. “He will start the rest of the season. And we will go from there.”

The team’s messaging during recent weeks has resulted in some confusion, with Steichen initially saying the move to Flacco was made to give the team the best chance of winning and was intended to be for the remainder of the season.

But Richardson said he thinks he might have ultimately benefited from the layoff, whatever the motivations were.

“I think these two weeks have definitely opened my eyes and allowed me to take a deeper dive and look into myself and see what I’m made of,” Richardson said. “So, I’m thankful for these past two weeks and I’m low-key thankful that it happened.”

He added, “As a competitor, you never want to be on the sideline when you think there’s an opportunity to go out and help the team. But sitting on the sideline just allowed me to just look and see certain things I could correct about myself, certain things that the team needed help with and I’m just forever grateful for the opportunity. I’m glad that Shane felt like I’m the guy again. I’m just forever grateful and I’m just thankful.”

Richardson’s performance played at least some role in his benching. He had a league-low 44.4% completion rate and had thrown seven interceptions. But Flacco’s struggles the past two games undermined Steichen’s position that playing the 39-year-old veteran was in the best interest of the team — which, at 4-6, still harbors hopes of making the postseason. Flacco committed six turnovers in the two games, including a three-interception performance against Buffalo last Sunday.

Steichen had affirmed earlier this week that he planned to move ahead with Flacco in Sunday’s game. But after further reflection he changed course.

“You evaluate everything,” he said. “I evaluated over the last 24 hours, had conversations, and again, where Anthony has developed over the last two weeks and the growth that he’s made … we’ve got a lot of faith that he’s going to be our franchise quarterback because of the abilities and the person that he is.”

Asked whether Richardson, 22, will have a short leash given his previous benching and expected ups and downs — he remains the NFL’s youngest starting quarterback — Steichen said he offered some assurance in a private conversation with Richardson.

“I made it very clear that he’s our quarterback going forward,” Steichen said.

As for whether this chance might come again, Richardson was not sure.

“I definitely didn’t know anything,” he said. “[Steichen] told me my time was going to come again and I didn’t know necessarily when it was going to be. But I was preparing as if I was the starter. And nothing’s going to change. I’m going to work a little bit harder to keep this job.”

Teammates have observed that Richardson is already doing that, which has earned him support in the locker room.

“I just see a sense of growth and maturity,” linebacker and team captain Zaire Franklin said. “… Not only in how much the position means to the team, but also just the responsibility that comes with that.

“I think the reality of the situation is, look, he’s not perfect. None of us are. He’s going to make mistakes. I challenged the rest of the captains and leaders of this team, let’s earn our role. Let’s do our job to help support him and have his back … He’s in a tough spot because the position that he’s in has such a microscope on it and his decisions mean so much to our organization. But we’ve got to do our best to help support him.”

As for Flacco, he has experienced a much different run in 2024 than he did in Cleveland last season, when his 4-1 stint as a starter helped the Browns make the postseason. Flacco is 1-3 in his four starts this season.

“I really do feel disappointed in the way the last couple of weeks went,” he said. “When you walk into this locker room, you want to be able to really, really hold your head high and feel like you’ve done the best for the team. And I didn’t necessarily feel like I did that.”