“He just possesses certain abilities that others lack.” The Colts’ confidence is still strong despite their Week 1 setback because of Anthony Richardson’s explosiveness.
In his first game back after an 11-month absence, Richardson scored touchdowns from 60 and 54 yards out in addition to one yard rush. However, the Colts’ season ended in a 29-27 loss to the Houston Texans.
Other quarterbacks can only dream of doing some of the stuff Anthony Richardson did in his 2024 debut.
The starting point here, though, is that Colts lost, 29-27, to the Houston Texans on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. There’s no sugarcoating the ultimate outcome of Week 1 – the Colts haven’t won a season opener in their last 11 tries.
“We gotta brush it off, we got next week,” linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “I hate (to) keep saying that s* in Week 1, but it is what it is.”
The Colts, though, also left downtown Indianapolis on Sunday with a certain undercurrent of confidence. Of course there’s stuff to clean up, mistakes to fix, plays they want back.
But did you see what No. 5 did?
“There’s just things he can do that others can’t,” wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said.
Not many other quarterbacks would have their back leg slide out from under them at the back of their drop while still having the body control to sidestep a collapsing pocket and the arm strength to throw a ball 65.3 yards in the air downfield for a touchdown.
“That’s just physical ability, launching that ball down the field,” head coach Shane Steichen said. “There’s not many guys that can do that.”
Not many other quarterbacks could throw with such velocity that a pass traveling 38 yards in the air, on a line, could zip past a diving defender, whose arms flailed at air while Ashton Dulin sprinted for the end zone.
Not many other quarterbacks, on a desperation third-and-15, can calmly flick the ball about 64 yards in the air for a game-shifting completion.
And not many other quarterbacks could, in a gotta-have-it fourth-and-goal play, use their 250-pound strength to simply not be denied on a second effort to cross the goal line.
“I thought he made some big-time plays for us,” Steichen said. “Obviously, that opening touchdown pass to Alec (Pierce), I don’t think I’ve seen a throw like that. And then he hit another big one to Alec right there at the end on the two-minute drive, to get down there and score. He had Ashton on the in-cut. Then fourth down, got to have it. I mean, he just powered his will to go get in. I thought he did some really good things coming back.”
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