Colts reportedly benching Anthony Richardson, Joe Flacco named starting QB

The Indianapolis Colts are making a quarterback change. Joe Flacco will start over Anthony Richardson against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night, per multiple reports.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen implied on Monday a change may be coming when he didn’t give a definitive answer when asked if Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, would remain the team’s starting quarterback.

“We’re evaluating everything,” Steichen told reporters.

Flacco started a pair of games for Indianapolis earlier this season when Richardson was sidelined with a hip injury, going 1-1 in those games. He’s thrown for 716 yards, seven touchdowns and an interception over three games this season.

Richardson had struggled in the Colts’ 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday, completing just 9 of 19 passes for 212 yards, two touchdowns and an interception with 56 rushing yards and a rushing score. However, Richardson drew more ire for taking a play off late in the third quarter after he shook off a sack for a zero-yard run on a second-and-goal from the Texas’ 23-yard line.

“I was tired,” Richardson said on Sunday. “I ain’t gonna lie. That was a lot of running right there. I didn’t think I was going to be able to go that next play, so I just told Shane I just needed a break right there.”

A day later, Steichen said that his quarterback knows he can’t be taking himself out of games like that moving forward.

“We had a conversation about it this morning in the quarterback room, which I’ll keep private, but obviously in those situations, he knows on those types of deals, you can’t take yourself out,” Steichen told reporters.

Regardless of whether Richardson’s decision to pull himself from Sunday’s game for a play is the root for Steichen’s decision to possibly make a quarterback change, the second-year quarterback hasn’t played well this season. After Steichen said earlier in the week that the Colts were looking to see Richardson improve from game to game, he struggled to move the offense for most of the game amid heavy pressure. The fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft was sacked five times and hit another eight.

The performance came after he managed just 129 yards passing in his return from a hip injury last week, but the Colts made two fourth-quarter field goals to get a 16-10 win over the Miami Dolphins.

Prior to leaving the door open for a quarterback change on Monday, Steichen was quick to defend his quarterback Sunday, saying that everyone needs to do better.

“We’ve just got to keep working through it,” Steichen said on Sunday. “He’s got a good work effort. He grinds through these things, it’s a process, and we’ll do it together. This ain’t about one guy — it’s about the team. It’s always about the team.”

Richardson has completed just 44.4% of his passes this season. But the dual-threat QB brushed off criticism of his completion percentage.

“I feel like I’m a great passer,” he said. “I’ve been playing quarterback pretty much my whole life. I’m just a different quarterback from everybody else so people are going to try to point out that I’m not as efficient as everybody else. It’s cool to me.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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