Game day indystar

[JAFF]

Doyel: Colts beat Texans but Anthony Richardson is concussed by a hit that everyone missed

Doyel: Colts beat Texans but Anthony Richardson is concussed by a hit that everyone missed
Gregg Doyel
Indianapolis Star







Gardner Minshew looked good, Zack Moss looked great, the coaching looked fantastic and the Indianapolis Colts picked up their first win of the 2023 season Sunday, 31-20 at Houston. Feel like celebrating?

Me neither.

Anthony Richardson has a concussion.

Insider on game: Colts lose QB Anthony Richardson but get Shane Steichen his first win

Insider from Houston: Anthony Richardson leaves game with self-reported concussion

A bad concussion? Don’t ask that. There are no good concussions. The hit didn’t look brutal, no. It didn’t look like anything, and that’s not me being dismissive of a traumatic brain injury. That’s me saying what happened: The hit that eventually knocked Richardson from the game? Nobody thought much of it. He played eight more snaps. He played two more series.


But at some point Richardson could tell something wasn’t right, approached a member of the Colts’ medical team and went into the injury tent. Richardson spent nearly five minutes in there, unbeknownst by almost everyone. Even when he started to go to the locker room, most of us didn’t know what was going on.

That includes Colts coach Shane Steichen, whose attention was on fallen defensive end Kwity Paye, whose minor injury – Paye returned soon, and had a sack – led to a break in the action. While Steichen was watching Paye and the crowd was watching Paye and FOX Sports announcers were talking about Paye, the future of the Indianapolis Colts was walking toward the locker room, not to return.




Soon came confirmation of the Colts rookie quarterback’s suspicions and our worst fears: Anthony Richardson, the player this franchise is building around and this fanbase is loving on and this city is banking on, has a concussion. He has played two NFL games, and left both of them with an injury.

As far as omens go, I’ve seen better.

Hey, but the Colts won, so hooray, right?

Houston Texans safety M.J. Stewart (29) tries to tackle Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) as he rushes in a touchdown Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, during a game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston
Nobody thought the hit was dangerous in real time?

OK, let’s not be all doom-and-gloom here. First, a quick word about Richardson, and concussions, and Richardson’s concussion in particular:

NFL players suffer concussions. It happens, and it almost never ends a player’s season, much less his career. Clearly there are examples to the contrary, horror stories like some of the ones we’ve seen around here – Austin Collie, anyone? – but the worst concussion any of us have ever seen, when Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was knocked unconscious last season, his fingers curled into claws, has turned out OK so far. Just last week, Tagovailoa threw for 466 yards.


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Doyel in 2022: NFL's concussion protocol program has to answer for Tua Tagovailoa

Players tend to return, and they tend to return as good as before. And then when you consider the exact concussion suffered by Richardson, you have to be encouraged – although a bit horrified – that he played two more series before coming out.


With all the attention on concussions in the NFL, all the attention on quarterbacks, and all the attention on this quarterback in particular, it’s scary that nobody – not on the field or sideline or coaches’ box, not even the independent, NFL-affiliated trainers who attend each game looking for exactly this – thought twice about the hit that apparently bruised Richardson’s brain.

In hindsight the hit was obviously dangerous. Texans safety M.J. Stewart chased down Richardson near the goal line on Richardson’s 15-yard touchdown run, driving his helmet into Richardson’s helmet, smashing Richardson to the ground where the back of his head bounced off the hard turf field.

And nobody who saw that raised the alarm? On a touchdown?!?!?

OK, I need to edit myself. Several paragraphs ago it says we should be “a bit horrified” that Richardson played eight more snaps after suffering that hit. That’s not a bit horrifying.

That’s a lot horrifying.


Three stars: Gardner Minshew, Zack Moss, Shane Steichen

One more bit of positivity, before we get back to the doom-and-gloom:

Colts backup quarterback Gardner Minshew, who played in this offense with the Steichen and the Eagles last season, looked awfully good: 19-for-23 for 171 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Backup running back Zack Moss looked awfully good: 18 tough carries for 88 yards. The Colts held the Texans to 52 rushing yards on 26 carries, reminiscent of their run defense last week against Jacksonville (35 carries, 105 yards; 3.0 yards per attempt).

And yes, while Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was 30-for-47 for 384 yards and two touchdowns, most of that came in the second half after the Colts had opened a 31-10 lead and dropped into a prevent defense, giving him completions while counting on the clock to expire before their strategy did. It worked.

The Colts’ coaching staff was magnificent. Before going conservative in the second half, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley was calling stunts and blitzes.

As for Steichen, well, we might just have a keeper here. Not only were the Colts having fun on offense with eye candy before the snap and trickery after it, Steichen tricked the Texans out of a timeout late in the game. On fourth-and-1 with six minutes left, he sent his punt team onto the field, then replaced them with the offense – think of a line shift in hockey, only with 11 players coming and 11 going – causing conniptions on the Houston sideline until first-year coach DeMeco Ryans called timeout.

Steichen gave a thumb’s up, then sent his punt team back onto the field. Ever seen that before? Me neither. A Colts coaching staff, having fun? Yes please.



Now, there is reason to tamp down the exuberance, and I’m talking about the actual football. Houston was playing without both starting tackles and both starting safeties. That helped the Colts post five sacks on defense and a superb 6.3 yards per play on offense.

Remember how the Texans joined the Colts near the top of the 2023 NFL Draft? Same thing will happen in 2024. Houston’s bad, and wasn’t close to full strength Sunday. The Colts are probably a little better, regardless. This is me, being positive.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled doom-and-gloom.

Trevor Lawrence told Anthony Richardson to be careful!

Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence warned Anthony Richardson last week.

“Protect yourself,” Lawrence told him after the game, after Richardson’s took a keeper inside the 5-yard line late in the game and absorbed a hit that knocked him from the game.



Richardson told us this week he would try to do what Lawrence had suggested – I was there and heard it with my own two ears – but that’s exactly what didn’t happen Sunday. Look even closer at the play that eventually sent him to the locker room with a concussion:

On first down at the Houston 15, on the first play after the Colts defense sacked Stroud and forced him to fumble, Richardson fakes a handoff to Josh Downs running an end-around. Richardson carries out the fake with aplomb, shielding the ball from the defense and turning with Downs as the rookie slot receiver heads around corner. Only then does Richardson take off the other way, the touchdown easy for someone this fast.

Richardson, who weighs 245 pounds and runs 40 yards in 4.4 seconds, was coasting into the end zone when he slowed at the 5. He was going to score, and there was nothing oncoming Houston safety M.J. Stewart could do about it, SO WHY IS STEWART NOT STOPPING?

Not sure about that helmet-to-helmet contact, but otherwise the hit was clean. Stewart blasted Richardson near the 1-yard line. He had no chance of stopping Richardson from reaching the end zone – 245 pounds, 4.4-second speed, you know the numbers – but hoped to rattle the ball from Richardson’s hands.

Alas, Stewart succeeded only in rattling the brain around Richardson’s cranium. Sorry to be graphic, but that’s what a concussion is. The hit was scary, the fact that Richardson played eight more snaps was scary, and until we learn Richardson has cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol, the future is scary.

Colts owner Jim Irsay told media in Houston that he’d visited after the game with his quarterback, and that Richardson “was clear and feeling better.”

So how about you? Feeling better?

Me neither.