It is getting to the point of the 2024 NFL season in which a number of teams have to consider each game a virtual must-win contest in order to be able to clinch a playoff spot this winter.
The Indianapolis Colts may have single-handedly kept their playoff hopes alive on Sunday with a 28-27 win over the struggling New York Jets, and it marked quarterback Anthony Richardson’s return to the starting lineup after spending some time as a backup behind Joe Flacco.
Richardson’s numbers on Sunday were solid, if not impressive — he completed 20 of 30 pass attempts for 272 yards and one touchdown while scoring two rushing touchdowns — and it was his four-yard touchdown run with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter that won the game for Indianapolis.
ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said that Sunday’s game was the best Richardson has played in the NFL and that he seemed more poised than he did before he was benched.
“This was the best game of Anthony Richardson’s career,” said Orlovsky.
Richardson was the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft, and he saw his stock rise after the scouting combine, even though his passing statistics at the University of Florida were meager.
He struggled as a rookie, completing just 59.5 percent of his pass attempts before a shoulder injury ended his year after four games.
His inability to be accurate early this season presumably led Colts head coach Shane Steichen to bench him in favor of the seemingly ageless Flacco.
But Richardson’s dual-threat abilities have made him an intriguing player, and if he builds on his performance on Sunday, perhaps he can carry the Colts to the final wild-card playoff spot in the AFC.
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