Anthony Richardson, 2024 Season
 

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Richardson is technically in his 2nd season, but he is essentially still a Rookie.

In my worthless opinion, I believe that he has already learned a very important lesson ...... when to take chances with his health when he runs with the ball. In yesterday's game, there was a play in which he could have put his head down and fought for a few extra yards, and he instead chose to duck away and go out of bounds to avoid contact. He wasn't doing that last year. Last year, he would fight for yardage on 1st and 2nd downs, when it wasn't crucial to do so.

He IS taking chances when it is warranted/worth the risk ...... for example, late in the 4th quarter of BOTH of the Colts games this season (against the Texans, and against the Packers), he saved whatever chances the Colts had to win the game with outstanding runs. Against the Texans, he took on a defender at the goal-line and bulled his way into the end-zone on 4th down, when the Colts absolutely needed that touchdown. One week later, he did a Lynn Swann impersonation on 4th down along the sidelines, late in the 4th quarter when the Colts absolutely needed to get to the sticks to have any chance at all to win the game.


As far as his passing game goes, he has been missing open receivers (although to be completely fair, there have also been some drops by the receivers.) As far as that goes, I think that our best hope is that he is essentially still a Rookie, and with experience will come more accurate and consistent throws. Peyton Manning had 26 TD's and 28 INT's in his Rookie season before evolving into one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time ...... I think that we're going to have to just wait and see with Richardson in that regard.

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Good observation on that late scramble yesterday- kid suckered them bad on that one and at least put us in a position to have a punchers chance (think about what could have been if his coach didn't cheat him out of 30+ seconds of clock to work with on that last drive). He has exhibited some great instincts- and I was also impressed with his demeanor coming off the field after the TD- no smiling, no high fiving- strictly business and you could tell he was pissed off about the situation they found themselves in- he is clearly a fierce competitor who wants to be special.

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(vs. STEELERS, 9/30)


Richardson was injured in the 2nd quarter ...... and when the Colts put him back in the game, Steichen called for a designed run ...... Richardson came up limping again after that play (the designed quarterback run), and left the game permanently.

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He seems to be making the right reads and his throws seem to get there so quickly defenses just aren’t ready and can’t prepare for the speed of his passes. Seems like Steichen has figured out to scrap the passes to the boundary for now because that’s where his deficiencies are. Over the middle he throws lasers , also if he can see the front of the jersey and the receiver is stationary he’s also good right now. Just gotta dial in those boundary passes

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(vs. DOLPHINS, 10/20)


As I stated in the game thread, Richardson DID NOT look like a guy coming off of an oblique injury ....... he looked like a bull that was doing his very best to gore a matador.

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AR started looking good a toward the end of the 1st half and played pretty well in the 2nd half. Gives me optimism for him going forward.

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Despite the fact that Anthony Richardson missed most of the 2023 season and several more games this season due to injuries, Shane Steichen is not being shy at all about letting his 1st-round draft pick run rampant against and through opposing defenses.



Despite Injuries, Colts Letting QB Anthony Richardson Run

(By Stephen Holder)

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...ony-richardson

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(vs. TEXANS, 10/27)


Colts storyline to watch: ) QB Anthony Richardson has had his struggles, but he has enjoyed more success against Houston than any other team. In six quarters of action against the Texans, dating back to last season, Richardson is responsible for five total touchdowns (3 rushing and 2 passing). He has averaged 9.2 yards per pass attempt, 10.1 yards per rush, and has a QBR of 90.1 in those games.


Stephen Holder


https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/pag...ies-stats-2024

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I'm hoping for a big leap from AR and the entire Colts offense on Sunday. The beginning of that Pittsburgh game had me very optimistic.

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(vs. TEXANS, 10/27)


I'm hoping that something good came out of one of the worst calls in recent memory, which was the INT in the final seconds of the 2nd quarter to essentially give the Texans 7 free points.

It was a horrendous call by Steichen in the first place ...... but it was an equally bad decision by Richardson to simply follow orders, and throw that pass. What I am hoping for is that Richardson learned one of the golden rules of competitive sports, and that is that sometimes your coach can be dead-wrong ...... and if he is dead-wrong, you don't just do what he says, you do what you know is right.


And if the coach has a problem with you for disobeying one of his orders/play-calls, so be it, let the dumb-ass chew you out with his hot air ...... the late, great Bill Walton once said that it is better to be chastised after the fact for doing the right thing than it is to not be chastised and do the wrong thing on the court/field.

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QB Anthony Richardson 2024

133 attempts / 59 completions / 44.4% completion rate

You can spin up all the hype you want about his physical skills and running ability (of which he has in abundance), but you cannot get past, at the moment, a passing completion rate that will not win you many, if any, games.

Is it an offensive plan that is not doing him any favors by planning open and hot routes? Is it the clock in his head? Is it poor O-Line play? Is it an inability to read a defense?

I don't know. But my son at the end of the 3rd quarters said that we win the game if we put Joe Flacco in at QB and I think he would have been right.

Right now, AR is just not good enough.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that AR isn’t good enough. Benching AR now solves nothing. Yes the team will win a few more games but it’s not a great team even with Flacco. And you continue the QB carousel - no idea who the starter will be in 1-2 years. Play the kid and let him either grow or fail. I mean fuck he was touted as extremely fucking raw and inaccurate and he’s shown to be exactly that. Why is that a huge surprise? I think mainly because 1) he looked better than expected in limited time last year. And 2) people are finally getting tired of Ballards perpetual rebuild. Let’s let the kid fail on his own and not add Ballard’s failures to it.

I was not actually saying we should bench him....I was saying that even Flacco would have delivered quality enough QB play for us to win the game.

I think the Colts pretty much have to start AR for the rest of this season and all of next season to allow him to sink or swim. At the end of 3 seasons, you have enough data to make the call.

His dead money after 2025 would only be just under $11m which is easily accounted for if the Colts then choose to go in a new direction.

I was just using that as an illustration that even my son can see that AR was not good enough to win and going to a 154 year-old backup would have been.

I know its weird to say but there's no point in trying to win with Flacco because there's no point in trying to win.
We either develop AR into a franchise quarterback or we don't. There's no other goal to this season, wins be damned.

We might win and even make the playoffs withe Flacco but we aren't going deep in the playoffs and it won't help our draft stock, and 39 year old Flacco can't be the future of this team.

I have railed on Richardson since last year. I didn't want any of the QB's last year and I wasn't shy about it. Richardson is a bust, period. Playing him this year and next is not going to change his trajectory of being a talented player who didn't make it. Putting in Flacco just gives us temporary joy just to get trounced out of the playoffs in the first round, if we even make it. Then we get the benefit of a late round selection. No thanks, we need talent in a lot of places.

All of his weaknesses that plague him now have been what has plagued him since high school. There has not been one percent improvement. The film 2 years ago showed he couldn't hit a wide open 10 yard check down in college, and he still can't. People can hang onto false hope all they want. Its their prerogative to do so, but my lying eyes say he sucks as an NFL starting QB.

The sad part of this whole situation is that Colts leadership said last year that even if they had the #1 overall that they would have taken AR. That he was THEIR guy.

Blowing smoke after the fact? Real? I don't know but, while AR might proove us all wrong, they had to have seen the issues he had and know that correcting them was not a certainty but a possibility.

Sigh....I just hate that we have to march in place year after year since Luck retired because we just do not have the right guy at QB. There are so few quality QBs in the league at any one time and if you don't have one of them...

Sure looking like it. He is what he is. An exceptional athletic talent playing the qb position but just not a qb.

Problem with that is he’s failing miserably, every time he gets hit he whinces and has bitter beer face, he can’t hit the broad side of a barn accuracy wise, he’s not on the same page with any WR on the dam team, his pocket presence has been horrendous, he moves into pressure most of the time, his situational football awareness is a joke, couldn’t even get a Hail Mary off vs a 3 man rush.

He’s gotten worse and worse than that he still has no clue what it is to be a leader out there. All the guidance, counseling and management they receive and he walked into a press conference and said “I was tired”

Every other QB over the last 5 years had a choker chain of a leash, 1 false step and Irsay was done with them. I still say Brissett and Wentz weren’t given a fair shake. Yet this guy has been given pass after pass because he’s young.

I have defended him since the draft and I simply cannot do it anymore, I really wanted him to succeed but he had a redshirt year and has gotten worse in year 2. Not slightly, I’m talking embarrassing laughable clown type backyard football. He’s making a mockery of the position, the team, and the game of football.

Ballard has such a hard on for RAS scores that I wouldn't doubt that AR was #1 on his board and that AR's red flags were probably not a concern for Ballard .

I don't fully agree with , this season yes, but if by year end he is not showing progress it is time to move on.

I guess then bench him, finish 9-7 with Flacco, take the mid round pick the mediocre record earns, and continue the Ballard carousel next year. I have no idea if AR will pan out. I see plenty of concerns. The one thing I’m pretty confident in is that benching him accomplishes absolutely nothing. I’ve seen the mediocre veteran start on a rebuilding team script. That has been the script for damn near every season under Ballard. I’m fucking tired of it. It leads no where. Let AR bust and take the higher pick. Or let him learn.

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10-7 ...... they play 17 games now.

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And become the Jests.

9 - 8

If he busts it’s still a QB carousel

With a better pick though right? If AR busts then the record is worse right? So a higher pick. Being mediocre with Flacco is the absolute worst spot the team could be in. Being bad with AR is better because bad equals a better pick. Being mediocre with AR would likely indicate growth.

Ballard kept getting passes on QBs because he kept putting out a mediocre team and he wasn’t in striking position for a QB. Why the fuck would you want to repeat that? If AR busts this is a rebuild.

Not gonna be better than the 4th overall pick, and clearly that’s no guarantee not to bust either

Yeah you are right - earlier picks aren’t statistically better. I must be misremembering all the Ballard defense on not drafting a QB and missing on elite DEs. It’s not a guarantee so it’s worthless. Of course the vet QB route hasn’t worked yet either so I’m curious why they’d even try with Flacco. Maybe they should try a street FA QB? That hasn’t proven to not be guaranteed yet.

He’s a superbowl winner and a veteran

AR can’t even get the ball to the playmakers so they’re being wasted at this point

A
FUCKING
Men

to this!

When AR was drafted, I was on record saying I didn't think he should start right away. They should have gone with Minshew for at least the first 6 games and if they then thought he was ready, give him a start. I don't think there has ever been a QB with as little starting experience in college that was ever handed the keys immediately. I'm not sure who had the last word on making him start immediately, Ballard or Streichen, but that was a colossal mistake. Hopefully he can come back from this and become a productive QB.

Maybe. Of course, that's assuming he sits behind a vet and comes back minus the flaws. But we don't know that will happen. They might've wanted to expedite the process and he may end up not being the guy.

Everybody assumes, because of recent examples like Mahomes or Love, that sitting behind a vet is what led to success. Could be. Or it could be that they were just going to be good regardless.

Same could apply in reverse... Josh Allen got the Baptism by fire... Is that the only way he would have ended up good?

I don't believe the plan was for Allen to start right away. The season began with another QB starting, but after a shitty performance, they decided to roll with Allen.

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‘He’s the One’ ...... Why Anthony Richardson’s Teammates Have Rallied Around His Return at QB

(By Joel A. Erickson)

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...b/76306507007/

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I agree one needs the support his teammates. They would not give it if they didn't have a solid reason. I have to trust the locker room at this point because I certainly don't trust the GM. The HC is on notice with me for sure.

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Anthony Richardson Is Last in Completion Percentage, but First in Yards-per-Completion

(By Michael David Smith)

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profoo...per-completion




Completion Percentage: l) 48.7

Yards-per-Completion llllllt. 15.6



Lamar Jackson l is 2nd in the NFL in Yards-per-Completion ...... more than 2 full yards behind Richardson, at 13.4

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This is not necessarily that surprising ...... if a QB doesn't complete a lot of passes, said QB's YPC will often be high ...... in 2010, Tim Tebow had a 50 Completion Percentage and a 16.0 YPC. In 2011, Tebow had a 46.5 Completion Percentage and a 13.7 YPC.

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(vs. LIONS, 11/24)


Richardson's numbers were bad (11-for-28), but he also avoided numerous sacks by either throwing the ball away or fighting off a tackle. There was also had a big drop at the goal-line by Ogletree, and some questionable calls by the referees.

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As long as this team learns to rally around Anthony and he grows cerebrally, this season is a win.

Sounds like some bullshit Ballard would say to save his job