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[JAFF]

Inside Anthony Richardson's brain injury and the toughest decision for a rookie to make

Inside Anthony Richardson's brain injury and the toughest decision for a rookie to

HOUSTON -- Anthony Richardson was gliding into the end zone when a Texans defender flew into his chest and knocked him backward and banging his head against the turf. But the Colts rookie quarterback did what he's been doing since he was a middle schooler on the black metal picnic tables in a park behind his Gainesville house, flipping right back onto his feet with a smile and a scream of joy.

Colts teammates patted him on the shoulder pads and helmet in celebration of a show that felt like it was just beginning. But two nondescript drives later, Richardson was ducking into a blue tent to check for a brain injury and Gardner Minshew was warming up on the sidelines. Then, he was out for the game.


This was his decision. And what happened in the two series between those moments is what changed the tone of a the first victory of the Richardson-Shane Steichen era -- and, potentially, the health of the franchise.

Richardson was in a zone after that touchdown, one of two in a 31-20 victory over the Texans. In his first career road start, in his second NFL game, he'd scored two times in five minutes. Both were waltzes into the end zone through two completely different play designs -- one a quarterback draw for 18 yards, the other a 15-yard sweeper behind a lead blocker -- until M.J. Stewart surprised him at the 1-yard line.



"He was on his way to having a monster game," tight end Drew Ogletree said.

But he's a pro now, and a game is the culmination of a week of practices and meetings and words exchanged. And this week planted a seed for the crucial decision he'd make in his second start.

Indianapolis Colts guard Quenton Nelson (56) celebrates with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) after a touchdown Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during a game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston
MORE: 10 thoughts on Anthony Richardson's injury and the Colts' 31-20 win over the Texans

Seven days ago, Richardson finished his first career game against the Jaguars with 10 carries for 40 yards and a touchdown. He shook hands with Trevor Lawrence, the star quarterback who outdueled him, and Lawrence had a message to share.

"Just try to protect yourself," Lawrence said to Richardson in his postgame press conference. "The hits add up in this league and they are a little different than in college."

The next day, the rookie felt that message in his bones.

“I woke up with some feelings I had never felt before," said Richardson, who did not speak to media after the game due to his injury.


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He was asked if he'd force himself to slide more.

"Definitely," he said with a smile. "Definitely."

That week, the Colts practiced relentlessly on a play Steichen has been wating to make real. It called for Josh Downs to motion from a receiver spot into the backfield so that Richardson could fake a handoff out of the shotgun and then turn off a crack block from Michael Pittman Jr. to follow Kylen Granson as a lead blocker to the short side of the field.


"That's his baby," Pittman said of Steichen's design.

By the time they ran it on Sunday, the Colts were running away with the game. They had just forced a C.J. Stroud fumble that Samson Ebukam fell on at the 15-yard line. A sudden change of possession allowed them to catch the defense on its heels, and everything came together so perfectly -- a fake to Downs, a pancake from Pittman, a lead from Granson, a smooth gallop from Richardson on that 4.43-second 40-yard dash speed -- that the quarterback slowed up as he entered the end zone. And that's when Stewart launched.

Richardson hopped right back up, fueled by childlike adrenaline and showed no signs that anything was off. But he started to feel some in the next two series.

The Colts didn't call any runs for him, but he threw slightly behind and early to Granson and threw low to Downs as the Colts went three-and-out both times.


And that's when he told them the field wasn't looking right. The Colts propped up a blue tent, and in he went.

"If you're not able to perform at a level that you think can benefit your team and you think it's best for you to step down," Granson said, "I think that's the most mature thing you can do as a professional athlete."

Except Richardson wasn't just thinking about the people on the football field.

"You've gotta look at it like, 'What would your mom want you to do right here?'" said Downs, Richardson's roommate during training camp who spoke to him during that moment.

LaShawnda Cleare first realized her son's football talents when he won a throwing competition in a landslide at an elementary school in Miami. But she feared she couldn't protect it as they bounced from house to house and he imitated Cam Newton and Lamar Jackson in youth games at the park, surrounded by the drugs and crime that can kill dreams before they have a chance to take off.

GO DEEPER: Chasing Tim Tebow, idolizing Tom Brady, fighting fires: Making of Colts QB Anthony Richardson

She took he and his younger brother, Corey Carter, with her to Gainesville, Florida, to chase a safer life. And he brought the two of them to Indianapolis when he bought their first-ever house this spring, after the Colts made him the No. 4 pick in the draft.

So, even as he was in the middle of the breakout NFL performance he fantasized about on that patchy grass field at the park behind their Section 8 housing in Gainesville, something bigger was still at stake here. The goal was never just to get to the NFL.

The goal, as he had tattood on his body, is to become "legendary."

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) rushes in for a touchdown Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during a game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston
So, he stepped out of the tent, hooked a right and walked into the tunnel. Moments later, he was ruled out for the game.

That's where his teammates found him, still in strong spirits, asking all about the 76-yard touchdown drive Minshew led on the next series, which Zack Moss capped off with an 11-yard run. Pittman told him he has to be more careful when he's out in the open field, and Richardson said he just didn't see the defender.

"It's weird because when he runs, he doesn't really get hit, but when he does get it, it's a big hit," Pittman said. "... He's not used to the ferocity of hits in the NFL. He's in his learning process."

Minshew promised Richardson he'd hold it down for him out there, and he saw that trademark grin again. Then he went out and did that, completing 19 of 23 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers.

Mostly, teammates expressed surprise that he was willing to remove himself from a moment he'd never experienced before, that a childhood dream could contain such perspective. Moss played his first three seasons in Buffalo with Josh Allen, who notoriously never slides to avoid any contact.

"If I'm having a game especially the game (Richardson) was starting off with," Ogletree said, "Shoot, it would be hard to pull me out."

Ogletree knows this experience too well. Just one week ago, he caught a 20-yard seam pass from Richardson when a Jaguars defender speared him in the facemask. He, too, hopped right back up like Richardson did, but he wobbled for a step backward, and the NFL spotter in the press box called down to have him evaluated for a brain injury. Moments later, the trainer ruled him out of his second career NFL game.

He was symptom-free and never worried about any effects until he heard from his grandmother, who was terrified in the stands that day. He then had a son and younger brother asking questions, and he searched for the right words to describe to an 8-year-old an injury nobody can see.

Those conversations sat with him as he stood on the sidelines in street clothes as a healthy scratch and watched Richardson take the shot, bounce back up like he did, not fire passes like he had been and then dip his own giant frame into the blue medical tent. They kept coming back to him as Ogletree watched a Texans safety wobble off the field after going high on Mo Alie-Cox and got word that center Ryan Kelly was out for the game with his own brain injury.

"I'm lowkey glad I got a week off," Ogletree said, "to get my mind right."

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) draws back to pass Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during a game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston
Richardson will now go through the same protocol he did. It has five steps the player must progress beyond, starting with rest and recovery and moving to light aerobic exercise to strength training to a non-contact practice to a full practice and clearance by an independent neurologist, all ahead of a game.

Last year, 113 players were diagnosed with brain injuries prior to a game, according to pro-football-reference.com. Of that group, 21.2% played that week, 53.0% missed one game, 19.5% missed two games and 6.2% missed three games. The variance underscores how different each brain injury can be, from the presence and severity of symptoms to the baseline functions a player has to return to in order to get right.

The Colts might err on the side of caution with a road game in Baltimore, sitting Richardson even if he clears, the way they did with Ogletree in Houston. They might not have a choice either way.

At some point, Richardson will return to the field and so will the hope and thrill of those two rushing touchdowns and the way he screamed in celebration. But when that day comes, the Colts hope he's learned another lesson. After all, that's what this season is really about.

"Don't run like me," said Pittman, the team's heat-seeking missile, "especially if the whole franchise is dependent on you."

[JAFF]

Insider: Shane Steichen's fingerprints all over his first win as Colts head coach

HOUSTON — Shane Steichen did not want to make this win about him.

Actively tried to avoid it, in fact, in both his postgame speech to the team in the locker room and his postgame press conference with the media.

When the new Colts head coach was asked about the feeling of getting his first win, he reflexively and automatically deflected any praise to the players.

Doyel:Colts beat Texans but Anthony Richardson is concussed by a hit that everyone missed

Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen yells from the sideline Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during a game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston
But make no mistake about it, Steichen’s fingerprints were all over Sunday’s 31-20 win over the Texans, a significant victory for the Colts, not because of Houston’s quality, but because of what it represents for the franchise.

The Colts (1-1) played a terrible Texans team twice last season. Indianapolis had to come back to tie Houston (0-2) to open the 2022 season, then lost to the Texans at home, the seventh consecutive loss in a dismal Colts streak that extended to eight in last week’s season opener, finally snapped by Steichen this week.


The team’s new head coach tried to sidestep all of that context.

DeForest Buckner stepped right into it, the team leader handing Steichen the game ball after the first win of his NFL career.

“He was trying to play it all cool,” backup quarterback Gardner Minshew said. “But then, when we gave him the team ball, his voice was cracking a little bit. We see everything that Shane puts in. He works so hard. He wants this worse than anybody.”


From start to finish, Steichen put his imprint on this demon-exorcising Colts win, a win that was the final step in the franchise’s effort to put the 2022 collapse behind it.

Rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson, the player Steichen hand-picked, scored the first two touchdowns.

When Steichen finally finished hiring his staff and started working on the NFL draft’s quarterbacks in March, he only needed a couple of hours of tape to stop general manager Chris Ballard, bring him into his office and say that Richardson could do a lot of special things. After two years spent working with Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, building one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses around his quarterback’s legs, Steichen knew exactly how he wanted to use Richardson’s 4.43 speed.


Houston got a double dose right away. Richardson darted through the middle and ran away from the Texans secondary for an 18-yard touchdown on a quarterback draw, the same kind of play Hurts used to beat Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium last year and a staple of Steichen’s offense.

The second play showcased his creativity.


The Colts faked an end-around to Josh Downs, slipped tight end Kylen Granson behind the offensive line as a lead blocker and got a devastating crackback block from Michael Pittman Jr. to spring Richardson into the open after he’d wheeled away from the fake and taken off in the other direction.

Steichen knew the play would work. He’d spent the week harping on it, imploring Pittman to nail the block, because he knew it was headed for the end zone.

But Steichen’s defining quality as an offensive coordinator isn’t his ability to spring running quarterbacks.

The new Colts head coach made his name because of his adaptability, his ability to create offenses for Philip Rivers, Justin Herbert and Hurts, three quarterbacks with distinctly different styles. When Richardson suffered a concussion at the end of his second touchdown run that forced Steichen to put his flexibility on display in the middle of the game, two series later.

More:Colts QB Anthony Richardson self-reported concussion symptoms that led to his removal

Minshew has plenty of experience in Steichen’s offense.

He can’t run like Richardson or Hurts.

“Obviously, the game plan is the game plan,” Steichen said. “There’s certain things that we don’t do with Gardner that we do with Anthony, but as far as the pass game, him operating it, he was efficient.”

Minshew was brought into Indianapolis for a moment like this.

A backup quarterback has to be able to step into any situation, run a game plan devised for another player, on little practice.

“You don’t get any reps,” Minshew said. “You get zero reps through the week.”

Minshew, though, has the luxury of playing for a head coach who intuitively understands him, and knows how to tailor the game plan around him on the fly.

“I feel super comfortable in Shane’s offense,” Minshew said. “Got a ton of reps this offseason with our (No.) 1s, that starting offensive line, those receivers, so they all made it really easy for me to come in today.”

Using the quick, short throws that Richardson had to march the Colts the length of the field on the first series, Minshew directed a six-play, 76-yard touchdown drive and then a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that gave Indianapolis a commanding 28-10 lead, a lead big enough to withstand a second-half slowdown and hand the Colts the win.

“Those first few drives, felt like we were rolling,” Minshew said. “Slowed down in the second half, that was pissing me off a little bit. I think we could have finished better.”

Steichen likely agrees.

And he’s got his work cut out for him going forward. Not every team will be the Texans, a thin roster depleted further on Sunday by injuries to some of its best players.

The first win of his career was a sign that Steichen isn’t overmatched by the role, and that the same flexibility that marked his time as an offensive coordinator will be key to his role in developing both Richardson and a Colts roster that’s in transition.

“You could tell it meant a lot to him,” Buckner said. “I can only imagine being the head coach of an NFL team, that’s your whole dream, your entire life, finally getting the first win and then getting the game ball from your players, it means a lot to him, and it means a lot to us.”

Even if Steichen doesn’t want to admit it.