Joe Flacco vs. Anthony Richardson Is Tearing Colts Nation Apart
As far as NFL fan bases go, Colts fans are about as tame and measured as they come. Most Colts fans really haven't had much to be mad about in their lifetimes. At least in comparison to a lot of the other dreadful organizations in the NFL. Since Peyton Manning was drafted in 1998, there's never not been hope. They've almost always been competitive. They've never had back to back losing seasons.
Even the year Peyton Manning had his neck surgery before going to Denver, the Colts executed the perfect tank for Andrew Luck. Luck had them in the playoffs his rookie season. And even after Andrew Luck's body fell apart, which was nothing more than shitty luck, the Colts still had a good enough team in place around whichever bandaid QB they plugged in that season (Brissett, Rivers, Went, Ryan, Minshew), to at least give fans hope. To at minimum be "in the hunt". Or as ESPN once put it, "sniffin' around" the playoffs every season. Which is a lot more than a lot of NFL teams can say. And say what you want about Jim Irsay's competence as an owner, but at least the guy cares about winning. And again... that's a lot more than a lot of teams can say.
But the latter half of that paragraph.. the part where the Colts have been "good enough" to be in the hunt every year. Where "at least the Colts have a competitive roster"... That's starting to wear thin. That can be fine if you're sprinkling in a division title and a some playoff wins once every 2-3 years. But the Colts have been stuck in that "maybe good enough to win a playoff game or two if they get hot" for a little too long now. The goodwill the Colts organization has built up with their fans over the last 25 years has nearly run out.
Now couple that with the first true mid-season quarterback controversy I can remember the Colts having in my 32 years of life. Now Colts fans are officially pissed. And I'm afraid the current Anthony Richardson vs Joe Flacco situation is going to tear them apart.
To me, this current quarterback situation seems pretty simple. On one hand, you have a quarterback who you drafted with the 4th pick overall in Anthony Richardson. You hoped he would be the future of your franchise. Unfortunately he's had some struggles. Some LOUD struggles. Struggles to the tune of the worst completion percentage in the NFL, injuries to his knee, hamstring, hip, throwing shoulder, and brain, and on top of that, highlights of this nature.
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Then Anthony Richardson went out with an injury in Week 4 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Joe Flacco came in and led the Colts to a 27-24 win. Flacco followed that up with a 33/44, 359yds, 3 TD, 0 INT game against the Jaguars (albeit a loss). He came back down to earth a bit against the Titans (189yds, 2 TD, 1 INT) in Week 6, but he still managed to come away with a victory.
Yet when Richardson got healthy, the Colts gave him another chance. When he came back, it was a lot more of the same. Anthony Richardson was able to beat the Miami Dolphins' two-headed monster of Tyler Huntley & Tim Boyle (despite a 41% completion percentage, and having his offense booed off the field by his own fans). But the next game, he turned in a 31% completion performance in a close loss to the Texans. Now to be fair, his receivers didn't help him out much. There were a lot of drops. And Anthony Richardson does things with his legs that make the Colts offense not one-dimensional.
As ugly as his numbers are. As ripe as he if for viral highlights that the entire internet can come together an laugh at. As cartoonishly bad as his mistakes are... Anthony Richardson does things on the field that not many NFL QB's are capable of.
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So there's still some hope with the guy. But you can't watch Anthony Richardson with the Colts this season and tell me the good outweighs the bad. He was becoming the laughing stock of the NFL. He was throwing 100mph missiles 10 yards over the heads over wide open receivers. Passes where you didn't have the slightest clue what was going through his head when he threw the ball. You were holding your breath every time he dropped back to pass. And of course, the nail in the coffin, Anthony Richardson checking himself out of the Texans game mid-drive because he was tired.
So you had a situation where the Colts were 4-4 with a realistic shot at making the playoffs. Their defense had looked great at times. They have some legitimate weapons on offense. So I didn't think it was the most insane thing in the world to say, "You know what, maybe Anthony Richardson isn't ready yet. Joe Flacco has looked like the better QB this season. Let's give the old guy a shot"
Of course some fans were going to disagree, and would prefer to throw Anthony Richardson into the fire to see if he can fight his way out. But I truly didn't think the decision to play Joe Flacco was some sort of wildly controversial decision that meant the end of Anthony Richardson's career. But holy shit was I wrong. After Joe Flacco lost in primetime to the Vikings last night, Colts fans are now calling for every employee within Lucas Oil Stadium to be fired into the sun.
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Clearly Joe Flacco is not a long-term answer. After last night, he might not be the short-term answer either. But my god can we relax a bit?
For one, Joe Flacco beating the Steelers, a defense who's let up the 2nd least amount of points in the league, then following that up with a 350+ yard game isn't nothing. And it was just last year that Flacco joined the Browns and led them to the playoffs. He finished the regular season 4-1, throwing for 300+ pass yards in all of his wins. He beat out a man who died and came back to life for Comeback Player of The Year. Colts fans acting like they knew exactly what Joe Flacco was going to give them heading into last night's game against the Vikings are engaging in preposterous levels of hindsight.
Not that last night wasn't dreadful. Joe Flacco looked incompetent. It looks like the clock may have officially struck midnight on the 39-year old QB's career.
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I fear Barstool may have sold the last of the Joe Flacco Elite shirts.
He undoubtedly played a dog shit football game last night. And maybe that's who he is now. But again, based on what we'd seen from him as recently as last month, I don't think it was the most ludicrous thing in the world to think Flacco might have given the Colts a better chance to win this season.
Secondly, I will never understand why people think benching a rookie quarterback, in this case Anthony Richardson, for however many games early in his career is some sort of death sentence. Why does seeing what Joe Flacco can do for a few games mean the Colts have completely given up on Richardson? He's 22 years old. He has so much football ahead of him. I'm sorry, but if sitting the bench for a few games during the regular season, or even the entire second half of the season for that matter, is what kills Anthony Richardson's development… if Anthony Richardson psyche is that weak that he can't mentally recover from that… then he was never going to be make it in the first place.
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Now if the Colts continue playing Joe Flacco for the remainder of the season, and he continues looking like he did last night, then that's fucking stupid. Obviously that gets the Colts nowhere. Personally, I'd go back to Anthony Richardson for the rest of the year right now. I was a Flacco guy there for a bit. I don't believe in the whole Super Bowl or bust mentality. I thought if Flacco could lead them to the playoffs, that would be valuable experience for a lot of young players that would pay dividends in the future when hopefully the Colts do have a legitimate shot at a Super Bowl. And I thought maybe Anthony Richardson could learn a thing or two from a QB with 17-years of experience. But after Flacco's last couple of games, I'm not sure that's realistic. At this point, I say we buckle up and enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is 2024 Anthony Richardson.
So I don't know if Colts fans are simply overreacting because they're not used to having the spotlight on them in primetime, but to me, this whole quarterback controversy with has been blown WAY out of proportion. The decision to play Flacco over Richardson was just not that big of a deal. It doesn't have to mean the Colts have given up on their young QB. It doesn't mean Richardson's career is over. Maybe Colts fans want to make it into that because they're fed up with Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen and see this as a way to get them out the door. But I don't even think they've built a bad team. They just don't have a QB right now.
You give the Colts a real one and we legitimately might be talking Super Bowl. Who fucking knows. And maybe somehow Anthony Richardson will develop into that. Maybe the Anthony Richardson lottery ticket were holding that's down to it's last couple scratches will end up being a winner. The awesome thing is, just because he's benched at this particular moment doesn't necessarily mean we'll never get to find out.
At least Seth is still in good spirits