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Anthony Richardson is back in his starting role for the Indianapolis Colts.
Colts head coach Shane Steichen announced Wednesday that Richardson will start in Sunday’s Week 11 game against the New York Jets, two weeks after benching him in favor of veteran Joe Flacco.
Richardson will remain the starter for the rest of the 2024 season, Steichen said.
Flacco threw two touchdown passes and was picked off four times during consecutive losses as the Colts fell to 4-6 with Richardson on the bench.
“You understand the magnitude of everything. You understand the magnitude of the position,” Richardson told reporters about regaining his starting role. “You understand the magnitude of the work that you’ve got to put in, just to make sure that you’re right for the team.
“I definitely appreciate it. I’m fairly grateful, and happy and excited to get going this week again. I’m thankful.”
Richardson, the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft, has seen his early NFL career largely defined by injuries. After suffering a bruised knee in his NFL debut before a shoulder injury cut his rookie season to four games, Richardson returned in 2024 only to suffer an oblique injury in Week 4.
After closing out the Week 4 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers following Richardson’s injury, Flacco led the Colts to a 1-1 record in the second-year starter’s absence.
That stretch, during which Flacco threw seven touchdowns to one interception while recording one fumble for loss, gave Steichen the confidence to turn back to the veteran after Richardson was unable to drive the Colts’ offense in a Week 8 loss to the Houston Texans.
But Flacco struggled with turnovers in his second stint as starter, most recently throwing a pick-six on the Colts’ first play of Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
After the Week 10 loss, which dropped the Colts’ playoff odds to 24 percent, per NFL Next Gen Stats, Steichen initially said that Flacco would remain the starter.
“We’ve had the two games that he’d like to have back, but we’ll keep battling through it and see where it goes,” Steichen said on Sunday.
Steichen shared a different outlook on the issue three days later, when he expressed confidence in Richardson to start for the Colts going forward.
“It’s the attention to detail in everything he does,” Steichen said about Richardson. “It’s got to be a higher standard. Over the last two weeks, he’s made strides in those areas.”
Steichen added that he had talked to Colts owner Jim Irsay and general manager Chris Ballard about the change, but that it ultimately was his decision, per Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star.
Richardson has completed 44.4 percent of his passes through six contests, the lowest mark in the NFL by quarterbacks who average at least 14 attempts per game, per ESPN. Steichen and the Colts could be hoping that giving him seven more starts to finish out the season will allow him to settle into a role he has held only intermittently since joining the team last year.
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