The Indianapolis Colts earned their first victory of the season on Sunday but they still have a long way to go on offense. During their week three matchup against the Chicago Bears, Indy’s offense scored 21 points primarily on the back of Jonathan Taylor. He finished with a second straight 100-yard performance and two touchdowns. unfortunately, Taylor was the only bright moment for the Colts offense. Outside of his 135 total yards, the rest of the offense finished with just 171 yards.
The Colts are a solid football team that has a chance to make the playoffs this year. For that to happen, they will need their quarterback play to improve. Anthony Richardson is the youngest quarterback in the league and also one of the more inexperienced quarterbacks, dating back to college. Certainly, the Colts need him to perform better, but they also need to be patient and let him develop. Benching Richardson is not the answer.
Benching Anthony Richardson Is Not the Answer
Inexperienced Quarterbacks Struggle
Today’s NFL is a hard place for young quarterbacks to struggle as the league has turned into a win-now approach. The league has already seen several organizations turn on their young quarterbacks in favor of someone new. Just this offseason, the Chicago Bears moved on from Justin Fields. Not even one-quarter through his second season, the Carolina Panthers have seemingly moved on from Bryce Young. Needless to say, the league does not treat young quarterbacks like it used to.
Hall of Fame quarterback, Troy Aikman who also won three Super Bowls, lost his first eleven starts in the NFL to go along with 18 interceptions. Colts legend and Hall of Fame quarterback, Peyton Manning went 3-13 his first season in the league. he still holds the record for most interceptions in a single season with 28. Both of these quarterbacks were supported by their teams and ended up winning Super Bowls, making Pro Bowls, and winning MVPs. The bottom line is that it is perfectly normal for a young quarterback to struggle in his 10-20 games in the NFL. Anthony Richardson is no exception to this. If anything, he is actually off to a quicker start than these two legendary quarterbacks as he already has three wins in his first seven starts.
Colts fans need to be patient with Richardson as he navigates leading this offense. He has had minimal playing time as a quarterback in both college and the NFL. There will be many highs and many lows throughout his first few games.
Develop and Learn
As mentioned, Anthony Richardson is the youngest quarterback in the league at just 22 years of age. Between his college starts and NFL starts, he has a combined 20 starts, 13 of which were in college. Richardson has not played a lot of football in his career. However, because of his tremendous upside as an explosive playmaker on offense, the Indianapolis Colts decided to roll the dice and take him with the number four overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
During his NFL Draft Press Conference, General Manager Chris Ballard addressed Anthony Richardson’s inexperience. He also plainly stated how the Colts drafted Richardson based on what he could be in the future. Anthony Richardson was never expected to come into the league on day one and dominate like Andrew Luck did with the Colts in 2012. This organization knew that this would be a process with him leading their offense, but many fans have forgotten that.
Richardson has shown signs of incredible athleticism, transcendent arm strength, and sheer brilliance on the field. However, this good has come with several bad as he leads the league in interceptions with six. He also has the worst completion percentage in the league by a quarterback with five or more attempts. However, he also leads the league in completions of 40 yards or more. If Richardson can put all of the pieces together, get his accuracy higher, and have better decision-making, the skills are all there. The Colts certainly rolled the dice picking him number four overall. But if Richardson can be as good as they hope, he could be one of the most explosive quarterbacks in NFL history.
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