The Anthony Richardson experience on full display through two weeks

 Through the first two weeks of the NFL season, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson’s struggles and shortcomings have been rather evident. Richardson entered the NFL as a raw prospect, who’s upside seemed limitless. 

While Indianapolis’ starting signal caller has already made some special plays this season, there’s been more bad than good to begin year two with the Colts. Now in his second season in the league, albeit just six starts into his career, the former No. 4 overall pick has been exactly what people expected him to be. 

Already this season, Richardson has made a handful of unimaginable plays. During the season opener against the Texans, Richardson launched a 60-yard, back-foot bomb to wide receiver Alec Pierce for a touchdown. The throw traveled over 65 yards in the air and left many around the league stunned.

“That’s just physical ability, launching that ball down the field,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said regarding the touchdown throw postgame. “There’s not many guys that can do that.”

While Richardson has made those inhuman types of throws, he’s also made some head-scratching plays to begin the season. He’s missed a handful of open targets throughout the first couple weeks of the season, but for the Colts, the up-and-down nature of the young QB is all a part of the process.

The Colts’ week one matchup with Houston was a perfect display of who Richardson is at this point in his career. There were big plays, such as that 60-yard toss to Pierce, yet there were a lot of errant throws as well. Richardson finished week one with the sixth-best overall efficiency as a passer, yet it was those explosive plays that carried him statistically. On the day, Richardson completed nine of his 19 pass attempts (47.4%) for 212 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. 

Despite those numbers seeming to be impressive, over half of Richardson’s production in the season opener came on just two completions. In addition to the 60-yarder to Pierce, Richardson also connected with wide receiver Ashton Dulin for a 54-yard catch and run for a score. 

“There’s just things he can do that others can’t,” wide receiver Michael Pittman said. 

Those two plays accounted for 114 of Richardson’s 212 passing yards, as well as both of his touchdowns passes. Richardson and the Colts can’t rely on those home runs plays to be their only source of offense.

After a solid, but not great, week one performance, Richardson turned in one of the poorest performances of his young career the following weekend against the Packers. Richardson completed 17 of his 34 pass attempts for 204 yards and a touchdown on Sunday against Green Bay. He also threw three interceptions and ended the game with a 41.8 passer rating.

He also wasn’t his usual self on the ground either in that loss to the Packers. He tallied just four carries for 37 yards against Green Bay, fumbling the ball twice—both of which were recovered by Indianapolis.

One important note from the Colts’ loss to the Packers, was that Richardson got little to no help from his pass catchers. The Indianapolis receiving corps registered a 15% drop rate on Sunday, the worst mark in the entire league. Even still, Richardson’s adjusted completion percentage of 62.5% still ranked at the bottom of the NFL during week two.

“We know we’re better than that,” Richardson said following the loss to the Packers. “It’s frustrating when you have a decent week of practice, you know, you execute a certain way in practice, and then you get to the game and some things are switched up and you adjust a little too late.”

The Colts scored just 10 points in the week two affair. That’s tied for the fewest points scored in a game by Indianapolis since Steichen took over head coaching duties less than two years ago.

“We know that we’re a way better football team than we’re presenting right now,” Richardson said. “We’ve just got to correct things that we’re messing up on right now and show that we’re a good team.

Through two games, Richardson hasn’t registered a completion percentage higher than 50%. Accuracy was one of Richardson’s biggest red flags coming out of college and so far, it’s remained that way to begin his NFL career.

Despite that, it’s important to remember that Richardson has started just six games throughout his limited time in the league. He still hasn’t even totaled 300 snaps at the NFL level. Richardson has plenty of room to grow, but the Colts knew that when they selected him with the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. 

This is what Indianapolis signed up for by drafting one of the rawest prospects in the NFL Draft two years ago. There’s going to be plenty of growing pains this season for Richardson. The Colts are just hoping that the growing pains are worth it and that Richardson eventually develops into the franchise quarterback they drafted him to be.