Dear Shane Steichen, The Joe Flacco Playoff Run Was A Fun Idea. But It's Not Happening. Start Anthony Richardson Now Before Someone Gets Hurt.

After that moment, the mighty and powerful, Colts Nation ripped apart at the seams. Anthony Richardson making a line change mid-drive after a play in which he scrambled tirelessly for zero yards was the final straw in a long list of hilariously unfortunate Anthony Richardson highlights. I believe it was on the back of that very moment that Colts' Head Coach Shane Steichen, or their GM Chris Ballard, or owner Jim Irsay, or Blue The Colts' Mascot or whoever the hell is actually making decisions for the Colts, made the call to move forward with Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback. 

Regardless of who exactly made the call, I thought it made some sense at the time. I thought Flacco had shown some flashes of being good. I thought the offense moved better with him starting. I thought the Colts' had a good enough team around him that they could make a playoff run with a more experienced, conservative quarterback. Maybe they could even win a playoff game. I thought Flacco might have enough left in the tank. 

I also hate the philosophy that if you don't think your team can win a Super Bowl, then you should just pack it in and plan for the future. There's something to be said for making the playoffs. If you think you have a chance to make them, then you should go for it. That's why you play the game. And who fucking knows. Anything can happen in the NFL. Maybe the Colts could unprecedentedly win the most improbable Super Bowl in the history of Super Bowls championship in the history of American sports.

And I definitely didn't think it meant Anthony Richardson's career was over either. He could come back next season and still be younger than half the QB's drafted next year. He's got a whole career ahead of him. I assume the Colts' organization was thinking something along those lines as well when Shane Steichen infamously proclaimed, "Joe gives us the best chance to win."

But Joe Flacco proceeded to play two of the worst games I've seen a quarterback play since Anthony Richardson earlier this season. Flacco has been nothing short of flaming hot garbage the last two weeks. The tens of thousands of Joe Flacco Elite t-shirts (color blue), that I demanded our merch team order, are not exactly flying off the shelves.

In Week 9 against the Vikings on prime-time Sunday Night Football, despite a damn impressive defensive performance, the Colts didn't take a single snap in the red zone. Flacco threw for less than 200 yards, and completed just 16 passes. It was a humbling moment for Flacco believers everywhere.

Advertisement

This week vs. the Bills, Flacco threw two interceptions in the first 6 minutes of the game. Do you know how hard that is to do? The Colts didn't even receive the opening kickoff. Most quarterbacks couldn't do that if they tried. Most quarterbacks wouldn't even get the chance. But Flacco did it.

Advertisement

It didn't get much better from there. The Colts did move the ball down the field much more so than last week. But that was primarily due to Jonathan Taylor and the run game. Flacco went on to throw another interception. The Bills dropped another 2 should-have-been INT's. Flacco was stripped sacked by a man who was dead just a couple years ago.

It was awful. The Colts' managed to stay in the game WAY longer than they should have. They even had a 13-10 lead at one point in the 2nd quarter. But that all happened in spite of Flacco. Not because of him. He did somehow put up 272 yard and 2 TD's (along with the 4 turnovers), but about 70 of those yards & 1 TD came on an irrelevant garbage time touchdown. If you watched the game, you know Flacco stunk out loud. 

And Colts fans are fucking pissed. It's an ugly scene in The Nation. You had fans today cheering Flacco's picks because they want ANYTHING that will lead to Anthony Richardson being put back in the game. Everyone is calling for Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard to be fired. They're calling for Jim Irsay to die (I technically haven't seen that one, but somebody has probably said it). Colts fans are demanding Anthony Richardson. Whether he's going to "give the Colts a better chance to win" than Flacco is irrelevant. The team is now 4-6. Nobody gives a shit about a playoff run. They just want to see the Colts 4th overall draft play some god damn football, no matter how many insanely wacky, head-scratching plays he might make. And they want everybody who ever dared suggest that Joe Flacco might be a better option dragged through the streets of Indianapolis.

Advertisement

If the Colts stick with Flacco for the rest of the season, then these people are right. If anybody still thinks there's a reason to play Joe Flacco for the rest of the season, I have no idea what their reasoning is. If Flacco has any good football left, he's clearly not capable of giving it to you every week. Maybe once every few games or so he can back the clock and win the Colts a game. But what's the point of that now? Let's do the Anthony Richardson thing again. Let's play the 22-year old gunslinging freight train who will simultaneously make some of the best and worst plays you've ever seen on a football field, all in one game. 

Advertisement

But maybe with some more consecutive games played, Richardson will learn to cut down on the "worst" plays, and maybe… just maybe… the Colts might have something. After watching the last 2 weeks, you'd have to be A) Crazy or B) Held at Gunpoint By a Drunk Owner, to say you think it makes more sense for the Colts to keep Flacco as their starter moving forward…

God damn it Shane. What are we doing here? Is it Irsay in the front office with a gun? Not to make excuses for Steichen, but moving forward with Flacco at this point makes so little sense that I have to wonder. I can see that Steichen has eyes. He must be watching the same games we are. How on earth could he not see that continuing to play Flacco is a complete waste of time.

I was honestly with him until right now. I can understand putting in a veteran quarterback to take over a 4-4 team when your young project quarterback looks as in-over-his-head as Richardson did. But you have to be objective, and be willing to change your mind based on the evidence presented to you. You gave Flacco 2 weeks. That was reasonable to me. But after those 2 weeks, it is very evident that Flacco is not the answer. He's lost two games that could have been won if he was the quarterback you thought he might be. I'm not sure why Steichen seems intent to die on this hill. You don't have to. You can still fix it. I know the fan base thinks the sky is falling right now, and that Anthony Richardson's fragile psyche will never be able to recover from a 2-week benching. But you haven't "ruined his chance at development" in 2 weeks. That's insane. And if you really did manage to "kill his confidence", then Anthony Richardson never had the confidence to be a franchise quarterback in the first place. 

But I think he's got a better head on his shoulders than that. Hell, maybe being benched for 2 weeks will be the wakeup call he needed to get his shit together. But you have to put him back in now. If you put him back in now, he'll get to start 7 more games. If he doesn't show any improvement in 7 games… or if he gets even worse… then maybe we look at other (non-Flacco) options. On the other hand, if he cuts back on the mistakes. If he continues running the ball effectively without breaking every bone in his body. If he throws a few less out routes into the rafters. Then maybe the Colts will go into next season with something to build on.

If Anthony Richardson is the guy, people will look back on the last two weeks and say, "Maybe we overreacted a little bit to two weeks of a 22-year old quarterback's life. Maybe I shouldn't have berated that small child at Walmart who was wearing a Flacco jersey. Maybe she wasn't a racist little cunt. Maybe she just got the jersey for her birthday."

Advertisement

But if they keep waiting, and Steichen keeps giving the exact same fucking post-game press conference where he says "Flacco is our guy moving forward", then they're playing with fire. Then they'll have wasted the entire season. Then everybody is going to be right about them completely wasting this season. I mean, maybe Richardson can technically learn a little something on the bench that would make him slightly more prepared to be the guy next year. But at this point there's no reason to not just play the guy and TRY to learn something with him on the field for the next 7 games. I'm not at all confident that Anthony Richardson will be the guy, but you gotta see it through for longer than 10 games. Especially when you have nothing else to play for.

So scrap the playoffs idea, Shane. It was a cute thought. A Joe Flacco playoff run moves the needle in this country. Maybe not for Colts fans who are thinking about the future of the franchise. But America fucking loves the guy for some reason. It's no longer happening though. At this point you have to do what's right for the Colts. Honestly does Flacco even want to be out there? You'd probably be doing him a favor. I'm really starting to feel bad for Flacco at this point. Colts' fans are cheering his interceptions. They boo him every time he runs onto the field. He didn't ask for this shit. The guy wanted to hold a clipboard and give sage wisdom to a young, developing quarterback from the comfort of the bench. For the love of god, start Anthony Richardson for the rest of the season. You can still salvage this situation. But you have to act now.