Anthony Richardson Misses Entire Week Of Practice
Source: Icon Sportswire / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS – With the Colts playoff hopes dangling this weekend, Shane Steichen is going all-in on gamesmanship in Week 17.
Despite missing the entire week of practice, Anthony Richardson (back, foot) has not been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Giants.
“We’ll see how the next 48 hours goes,” is about all Steichen shared on Friday when asked about Richardson’s status for Sunday.
If Richardson can’t go against New York, it would be Joe Flacco getting his 5th start of the season.
Steichen said Richardson came out of the Sunday’s game vs. the Titans “really sore” and that has stayed persistent throughout the week. The head coach didn’t recall a singular play that Richardson got hurt on. Steichen indicated the back issue is more at play for why Richardson didn’t practice all week.
Past precent under Steichen would say Richardson will not play against the Giants.
Outside of a limited role for Josh Downs in Germany last November, the Colts have rarely had a player under Steichen miss an entire week of practice, yet still play in that weekend’s game.
“I don’t know, we’ll see,” Steichen said on Friday when asked about this oddity. “Like I said, we are going to have those discussions. Obviously, it’s the quarterback position, but we’ll see.”
It is possible the Colts announce a decision on Richardson’s status Saturday afternoon before departing for their final road game of the season.
Technically, the Colts could be eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday, if the Chargers beat the Patriots and the Broncos beat the Bengals. Steichen said those results won’t influence his decision to play Richardson, or not, on Sunday.
The weather forecast for Sunday in New Jersey also looks like steady rain around kickoff. Would that impact Steichen’s decision-making with Richardson?
“I don’t think so,” the head coach said on Friday.
If Richardson plays on Sunday, it’ll mark the first time in his NFL career he’s ever played a game during a week in which he’s missed practice time.
Earlier in the week, Richardson was asked about the wear and tear on his body playing 11 games up to this point of the season.
“From the start of the season, you’re going to feel those hits the next day,” the second-year quarterback said. “It’s kind of weird because I was telling my family, like in college I didn’t really get sore. But NFL, it’s a different breed, different game. You have some grown men out there playing football, so it’s always a little different getting tackled by those guys. But it’s all part of it. You just have to keep adjusting and just keep your body right so you can keep performing.”
If Richardson has to miss Sunday, it would mark the 4th time an injury has sidelined him from action (1 due to concussion, 12 due to right shoulder, 2 due to oblique, 1 due to back/foot). He’s missed 17 games (15 due to injury, 2 due to benching) and played in 15 games in his career. He’s been available for 45 of the team’s 87 regular season practices the last 2 years.
Without question, Richardson desperately needs to enter this offseason healthy. The 2025 offseason must be one where Richardson is healthy enough to make significant strides as a thrower before entering a critical third season, with the Colts having to make a financial decision on AR’s 5th year team option following next season.
Richardson has started and finished 7 straight games (5 straight since his benching), which is the longest stretch of his career.
These ailments popped up on the injury report this week for the first time all season.
Since Richardson injured his oblique earlier this year, his return to game action has brought more commitment to him as a runner.
He’s averaging about 4 more carries per game since missing 2 games due to the oblique.
In other Colts injury news, things continue to move in the right direction for WR-Alec Pierce (concussion) returning in Week 17, although he needs final clearance from concussion protocol. Steichen said “we’ll see” on CB-JuJu Brents (knee) returning to game action, after the Indy product has practiced each of the last two weeks.
Anthony Richardson Misses Entire Week Of Practice was originally published on 1075thefan.com
