Are Colts deluding themselves by playing Joe Flacco over Anthony Richardson?

National Football League

Published Nov. 7, 2024 10:04 a.m. ET

In the aftermath of the Colts’ loss to the Vikings on Sunday, one in which Indianapolis had its worst offensive performance of the season, coach Shane Steichen defended veteran quarterback Joe Flacco.

The second-year coach said postgame that Flacco played “fine.” He chalked up the performance as “just one game.” He reaffirmed his commitment to Flacco as Indianapolis’ QB1 for the foreseeable future, leaving Anthony Richardson on the bench.

“If you watch him, obviously in the games he’s played early on, obviously just throwing the football., he’s doing a hell of a job with that,” Steichen said Wednesday of Flacco. “Getting the ball out of his hands, finding completions. Just a veteran leader that’s been doing it at a high level.”

Is he, though?

The Colts seem to believe they’re better than they actually are with Flacco.

On Sunday, he completed just 59.3% of his passes for 179 yards and an interception plus a lost fumble. Indianapolis had season-worsts in first downs (13), yards of offense (227) and expected points added per carry (-0.36), its second-worst EPA per drop back of the season (-0.30) and failed to register an offensive touchdown for the first time this season.

Did the Colts make the right decision in benching Anthony Richardson?

And we can look beyond the Minnesota game. The reality is that the Colts are 1-1 in their other two games with Flacco as starter. The loss came against a bad Jacksonville Jaguars team (2-7) that has one of the league’s worst defenses — a game in which Indianapolis had a 24-point fourth quarter and still fell short, even with a strong showing from Flacco (75% completion rate for 359 yards and three touchdowns with a 121.3 passer rating). The victory came against an equally bad division rival in the Tennessee Titans (2-6), against whom the Colts mustered just 269 yards of offense, their second-lowest mark of the year.

So Indianapolis’ two worst games this season in terms of total offense have come with Flacco under center. His completion rate is significantly higher than Richardson’s — 64.4% compared to 44.4% — but it isn’t making a difference in the effectiveness of the offense, which has been inconsistent all year.

In five games, including three starts, Flacco has completed 87 of 135 passes for 895 yards and seven touchdowns with two interceptions and a 94.5 passer rating. He also has two lost fumbles.

“Joe has played a bunch of good ball in this league for a long time,” offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said Tuesday. “He’s delivered the ball in a bunch of different big spots, big areas, tough pockets. [He’s] able to sort of push the ball down the field when needed, sort of press the edges of the defense and sort of work through progressions when asked for. So, he’s been a really good quarterback in this league for a long time, sort of doing all those things, all those quarterback traits of finding those completions and creating explosives and all those type of things.”

With the Cleveland Browns last season, Flacco had the perfect situation around him to facilitate a renaissance year, one in which he won AP Comeback of the Year.

He had a legitimate No. 1 wide receiver (Amari Cooper), a Pro Bowl tight end (David Njoku), a strong run game and a historically great defense. But the Colts have a below-average defense. They rank 31st in rushing defense, 26th in passing defense, 24th in third-down efficiency, 20th in yards allowed per play and tied for 17th in red-zone efficiency. And Indianapolis’ offense has taken a step back in Year 2 with Steichen. It ranks 22nd in total passing. The team is operating as if a 39-year-old Flacco can play at the level he did last season with a worse supporting cast.

The Colts should be crystal clear about who they are after the next three weeks. In that span, they’ll face the 7-2 Buffalo Bills and the 7-1 Detroit Lions, both legitimate contenders. They’ll see how they measure up with championship-caliber teams.

“I’ve got a ton of faith in the guys in that locker room,” Steichen said Monday. “There’s never any quit in any of these guys. You can see it. As bad as it was [Sunday] and the way it went, our guys fought all the way till the end. There’s five minutes left and it’s 10-14, and we’re still right in it. So, our guys that we got in that locker room, I’ve got a lot of faith and trust in those guys moving forward.”

The big question is: Who can the Colts trust under center for the long-term? If they continue to struggle offensively, they should absolutely go back to Richardson, whose development has taken a back seat.

Going back to Richardson would also prove how futile this all was in the first place, though — pursuing a deep playoff run that never seemed plausible, while having no definitive answers on their raw, high-upside young quarterback who is far from being a finished product.

Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.

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