Indy star doyle 8/15

[JAFF]

Doyel: Calm down, on the day Colts name rookie QB Anthony Richardson starter? You calm down.

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Colts have done the smart thing, the only thing, and named rookie Anthony Richardson the starter at quarterback. It’s another milestone on his way to Manning and Luck and whatever heights our city eventually reaches, riding the cape of No. 5.

This is what we want, and don’t bother telling me to calm down. This day, with Colts coach Shane Steichen anointing Richardson as the starter, isn’t the time to ratchet down the pressure. You think Richardson isn’t feeling it already? You think he hasn’t felt it since April 27, when the Colts drafted him with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft? He knows what the franchise expects. He knows what the city expects.

Most of all, he knows what he expects.

“Great quarterbacks played here before I did,” Richardson told us April 28, his first day in town, mentioning Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck by name, “and I want to be a part of that list.”

And then he said:

“I will be a part of that list because I’m going to make sure I’m prepared, I’ll put that work in, and support my team and support the franchise.”

Doyel before draft: Stay calm, but signing Minshew MEANS ANTHONY RICHARDSON IS NEXT

Doyel on draft night: Anthony Richardson is the perfect lump of QB clay


Calm down? Me? Look, tell Gardner Minshew to calm down. He’s the veteran quarterback the Colts signed as a free agent before the draft, before they knew Richardson would fall to them with the fourth pick. Minshew came here to help lead whichever rookie quarterback the Colts drafted – could’ve been Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud, in those days – but also to compete for the job. He came here to play, if at all possible.

So what did Minshew say Tuesday, minutes after learning that, as it turns out, he’d come here to watch?


“This is his franchise,” Minshew told reporters at Colts camp at Grand Park in Westfield. “There’s a reason they picked (Richardson) where they did. He’s going to be special.”

Whoa, Gardner, slow down. That’s crazy talk.

Richardson good, almost great in NFL debut

It’s a good thing Colts receiver Alec Pierce dropped that touchdown Saturday, you know that?

Imagine if Pierce had caught the prettiest pass of Richardson’s NFL debut, a 34-yard lob to the front of the end zone, put softly in a place where only Pierce could catch it. Think of Richardson’s stat line after one quarter against the defending AFC East champion Buffalo Bills, on the road:

Try 8-for-12 for 101 yards, an interception and a touchdown. Something close to that, anyway.

We’d have done backflips around here. Do the Colts have tickets remaining for the 2023 NFL season? Not anymore, they wouldn’t, if Pierce had caught that pass and Richardson had ended his first quarter of NFL action with more than 100 yards passing. Do the math: Four quarters multiplied by 100 yards equals … well, it equals mass hysteria, the good kind, the kind we’ve not had around here since January 2015 when Luck was throwing to T.Y. Hilton and the Colts were marching to the 2015 AFC title game at New England and what could possibly derail this franchise from its rightful return to a Super Bowl?


Oh, everything. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and some deflated footballs. Two mismatched coaching staffs and one overmatched general manager. Fourth-and-dumb. Luck’s shoulder. Adam Vinatieri’s leg.

We’ve seen some things.

Calm down, today, the day we learn Anthony Richardson will lead the Colts offense onto the field Sept. 10 against the Jacksonville Jaguars? You calm down. Me, I’m going to beg Shane Steichen to do something nobody does in the NFL, but to please do it Sept. 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium if the Colts win the pregame coin toss against Jacksonville:

Take the ball to start the game, Steichen. Don’t make us wait even one minute more than necessary.

It starts with Anthony Richardson, Shane Steichen

Richardson has learned some things in the last months. Outward humility, for one thing, and if you could see the way I’m writing this paragraph, picture me smiling and hugging the young man. He’s not cocky or arrogant, just a product of 21st century stardom.


Fueled by sycophants on social media, athletes say the strangest things these days, like after the Colts’ 2018 NFL Draft when Rutgers defensive end Kemoko Turay called himself “our generation of Von Miller” and Northern Iowa receiver Daurice Fountain said he could be “talked about like Antonio Brown.”

“Literally,” Fountain said.

Doyel in 2018: Did you hear what Colts' draft class said about itself??

Deon Cain, a receiver from Clemson, was saying in 2018 that “I’m going to be a hall of famer in this league,” so let’s not hold it against Richardson that, five years later, he'd say:

“God blessed me with physical abilities that not every quarterback has,” he said on draft night. “I can do things other QBs can’t do. … Then I’m also willing to learn. I’m willing to be just as good or if not better than all these quarterbacks in the draft or all the quarterbacks in the league.”


Here we are, less than four months later, and Richardson has that chance. He’s the starter. And here’s what he said Tuesday, after a reporter asked if he was ready.

“As of right now, I think I’m ready,” he said. “But who am I to say if I’m ready or not?”

He’s learning, see. He’s seen what an NFL defense looks like – the Colts in practice, the Bills in the preseason opener – and realizes his physical gifts will take him only so far. This is good, this is what we want. Richardson is determined to reach his potential, whether it’s showing up to the stadium five hours before kickoff Saturday or playing catch with rookie receiver Josh Downs in the parking lot outside the team hotel on the first night of rookie minicamp in May.

"Just from that," Downs said, "I know he’s ready to go any time and he’s going to put in the work to be great.”


Doyel in May: Anthony Richardson's work ethic, like his physical ability, is off the charts

This is what it will take, plus time and patience, but it sure seems like we have the ingredients in place for something delicious here. This season? No, not this season. The 2023 Colts roster is barren of elite talent thanks to injuries (linebacker Shaq Leonard), wear-and-tear (guard Quenton Nelson) and pouting (running back Jonathan Taylor), and the depth looks suspect. The offensive line might be decent. Same goes for the receiving corps. Whatever the Colts do on offense this season, they will do it because of those ingredients I just mentioned:

Richardson’s athletic ability, throwing ability and hunger – and Steichen’s genius for offense.

We need to see more of that – mainly Richardson’s throwing ability, and Steichen’s genius – but if both can deliver on their promise, the Colts are in good hands. It’s tempting to say the payoff will come down the road, in 2024 or maybe beyond, after the rest of the roster rises to the occasion, but let’s not overlook the 2023 season. Let’s not overlook Sept. 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium.


Anthony Richardson is here, and like Manning and Luck before him, he will start the first regular-season game of his NFL career. He will have rookie moments, and he will have great moments, and let’s savor all of it. Because someday down the road, when Richardson and the Colts become what they are destined to become, we’ll be able to say this:

We were there, like Richardson, from the start.

[JAFF]

He’s going to be really special': Colts name Anthony Richardson starting quarterback

WESTFIELD — Anthony Richardson had no idea the decision was coming.

From the moment he was drafted, Richardson has been working with the season opener in mind, grinding in order to earn the right to be the Colts’ starting quarterback right away, even though so many analysts and experts spent the draft cycle saying Richardson needs time to sit and develop.

Richardson had been sharing first-team snaps with veteran Gardner Minshew throughout training camp, slowly but surely kept improving and started the first preseason game, all along displaying the command of the Colts offense he needed to handle the playbook.

But the rookie didn’t know what was coming when Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen called Richardson into his office Monday night to tell him the decision had been made.


Richardson’s the starting quarterback, the same way that Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck began their careers in Indianapolis as the starters right away.

“Honestly, I was shocked,’ Richardson said. “It was just hearing the words. You work for it. … I didn’t know when the timeline was going to be, I was just looking forward to Week 1, getting the opportunity and being thrown into the fire.”


The Colts wanted Richardson to win the job right away.

Steichen planted that flag on the night Richardson was drafted, saying at the time that he believed the best way for a young quarterback to develop was to play right away.

Colts owner Jim Irsay had laid the groundwork a month earlier, referencing Peyton Manning’s ugly rookie season as proof that letting a rookie learn on the fly can pay dividends long-term, and if there was any doubt where the owner stood, Irsay erased it on the third day of the draft, echoing Steichen’s belief: The best way to develop a young quarterback is to play him.


But Richardson still had to earn the right.

Indianapolis wasn’t going to the throw the rookie into the lineup right away if he couldn’t handle the playbook, if they thought he wasn’t ready as a player, if he didn’t have command of the huddle and the leadership role the quarterback inevitably takes on a roster.


Richardson answered all those questions.

By all accounts, he’s worked tirelessly on the playbook since he was drafted, and the work has been evident on the practice fields during training camp, where Richardson’s mistakes have often been more physical than mental. He’s taken ownership of his role — dapping up the first-team offense before practice periods even when Minshew was playing the snaps, and impressing the veterans with his command of the huddle during Saturday’s preseason game against the Bills.

“I try to work my tail off every day for them,” Richardson said. “I don’t want to make it seem like everything should be handed to me, because it definitely shouldn’t.”

When Richardson bounced back from an early interception in Buffalo with poise, took responsibility for the throw and then responded by playing better as the game progressed, the older Colts players weren’t surprised, because he’s been unflappable ever since he was drafted.

“I know if you talk to some of the offensive linemen, he’s got some confidence in the huddle and not like, ‘Hey, I’m this young first-round pick, I’ve got all the answers,’” assistant general manager Ed Dodds said. “It’s not too big for him.”

And as a player, Richardson might not be as accurate as Minshew right away, but he adds an explosive quality to the offense that Minshew doesn’t have.

“Like the progress he’s made, excited about his future, the playmaking ability he brings to this football team,” Steichen said.

Naming Richardson the starting quarterback now allows the Colts to focus all of their energy on getting the rookie ready for the season opener. Richardson will take all the first-team snaps in joint practices against the Bears this week and the Eagles next week, critical sessions for developing the offense.

“Keep getting more reps, keep creating that chemistry with the ones,” Steichen said. “The more reps he gets, the more he sees, the more looks he sees, he’s going to be better for it.”

The more the Colts know, the more Steichen and his offensive staff can help Richardson from a schematic standpoint right away.


The Richardson version of the offense will be very different than the Minshew version of the offense, and Steichen’s prior experience with young quarterbacks — he was the offensive coordinator for Justin Herbert as a rookie and for Jalen Hurts in his first full season starting in Philadelphia — has taught the Colts head coach that the coaching staff can help a young quarterback immensely by building the offense around concepts what he already knows.

Indianapolis knows Richardson will go through rough patches.

“Are there going to be ups and downs throughout the season? Absolutely,” Steichen said. “For a rookie, it’s a long season, it’s a 17-week grind, there’s going to be ups and downs. We fight through those together.”

Minshew now settles back into a familiar role, serving primarily as support for the rookie quarterback the team considers its future.

The fifth-year veteran is still only 27. He might have wanted a chance, even briefly, to convince the rest of the NFL that he might still have starter’s potential.


But Minshew also understands the NFL, and he’s seen how Richardson’s worked up close, even before they were on the same team — the two quarterbacks share the same private coach in the offseason.

“This is his franchise,” Minshew said. “That’s the reason they picked him. … Man, he’s going to be really special.”

Richardson will be the seventh different starting quarterback to open the season in the past seven years.

But unlike all of the others, the only exception being Andrew Luck in 2018, Richardson’s supposed to be the starter in Indianapolis for a long, long time.

“I want to be great, I want to be remembered,” Richardson said. “I don’t want to just be one of those guys, ‘OK, he was in the league.’ I want my legacy to be forever.”

Richardson has the title.

Now, he begins the harder job. Making it his own.