During the two week period where the Indianapolis Colts had benched Anthony Richardson, fellow quarterback Sam Ehlinger played a pivotal role in Richardson’s growth during that time as the backup.
In a recent article by The Athletic’s Jim Trotter, who spoke to Colts’ GM Chris Ballard about the benching, Ehlinger was said to be among the “strongest voices” in Richardson’s corner.
This included suggesting that Richardson dive into the book “Atomic Habits,” which as the title suggests, delves into the importance of building habits and how doing so can lead to significant changes with time.
“I remember walking into one of the rooms one day, and there were all these notes on the board from Sam and Anthony, and it was talking about goals and outcome and process and identity,” Ballard said via The Athletic. “It was deciding who you want to be and proving it with your habits. The last line was: Habits lead to you trusting yourself and you don’t have to be perfect. Anthony was beating himself up because he wanted to be perfect.”
At the time when the Colts benched Richardson, the reasoning behind it was a bit murky. But we would later learn once Richardson was back to being the starter that the team wanted him to take a step back and really hone in on and focus on the day-to-day details of being an NFL quarterback from a preparation standpoint.
A key component to Richardson making his return to the starting lineup against New York was the growth that Shane Steichen and the team had seen from him in how he prepares.
That off the field improvement has then parlayed into major strides on the field. Over the last three games, Richardson has shown much more improved command of the offense, often playing within the timing and rhythm of the play, leading to more consistency–and oh yeah, two game-winning drives that he orchestrated.
The stats haven’t always backed this up, but the eye test shows a much improved player, as does PFF’s grading system with Richardson ranking as the sixth-best quarterback by that metric since Week 11.
There is, of course, still strides to be made, but the major steps that Richardson has taken in such a short period of time is incredibly encouraging, and Ehlinger played a role in helping him get to this point.
“He’s not there yet, but he’s working to get better each day at all the things he needs to get better at,” added Ballard. “It’s a process. He’s 22 years old.
“I told our local people (after the benching), ‘We’re not done with this guy.’ Nobody believed it. To watch him these last three weeks, I couldn’t be more proud.”
