Anthony Richardson did not participate in Friday’s practice. This is now the third day this week that he has been listed as a non-participant.
However, as of Friday afternoon, head coach Shane Steichen was not yet ready to rule Richardson out of Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.
“We’re going to see how the next 48 hours go,” said Steichen when asked about Richardson’s availability, adding that it is more so Richardson’s back than his foot that is bothering him this week.
Richardson would play all 62 offensive snaps this past week against the Tennessee Titans and popped up on Wednesday’s initial injury report. Steichen would say on Friday that Richardson has been dealing with soreness.
Although the Colts aren’t going to rule out Richardson at this time, having a young and inexperienced quarterback start on Sunday without any practice reps would go against the grain as well.
As Nate Atkins of the Indy Star noted, the only time he can recall a Colts player not practicing all week but still playing that Sunday was Josh Downs in Germany, and he only saw the field on third downs.
So it is quite possible that we are going to see Joe Flacco this week against the Giants, as the Colts search for a win and hope in addition to getting some help from other teams in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.
This season, Flacco has appeared in five games, completing 67% of his throws at 6.9 yards per attempt with nine touchdowns and five interceptions. When Flacco was under center in Weeks 9 and 10 while Richardson was the backup, the offense really struggled to get going.
The New York defense ranks 24th in points per game allowed this season and has really struggled against the run. Regardless of whether it’s Flacco or Richardson under center, we should see a run-centric approach from the offense.
The results of the Chargers and Broncos games on Saturday, which do directly impact the Colts’ playoff chances, will not have any effect on whether or not Richardson plays on Sunday, said Steichen.
