A handful of Indianapolis Colts players are dealing with injuries, but one name added to that list that no Colts fan wants to see hurt is the franchise’s rookie quarterback.
Anthony Richardson left early during Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a hip injury. Although Richardson stayed on the sidelines and didn’t appear to be severely injured, fans have concerns considering the star rookie missed most of his debut season last year due to a shoulder injury.
This has naturally led to some critics calling the young Colts QB “injury-prone.”
Head coach Shane Steichen doesn’t necessarily see it that way.
“I don’t know. There’s always those things out there – injury prone, guys get hurt,” Steichen said Monday in a media call, “I mean, it’s football. Guys go out and play, and injuries happen sometimes, and you don’t want them to happen. Obviously it happened, and obviously it wasn’t a huge, huge injury. So, we’ll see how the week progresses and go from there.”
Steichen says the team is constantly discussing alternate options to keep Richardson from taking unnecessary punishment. Sliding on plays is always on the team’s mind, but the question was asked Monday if Richardson should avoid the run altogether.
“There is a balance there in running a quarterback, but it does add the element to our offense that he can make big-time plays with his feet,” Steichen explained, “so, we don’t want to lose that. So, we’ve got to go into games obviously being smart, and when the opportunity’s there obviously, he knows he can run. And obviously, even if it’s a drop-back pass and he scrambles, he’s going to take off and run too as well. So, we’ll keep working through those things as we go through this.”
Indianapolis is now 2 and 2 on the season after a nail-biter against Pittsburgh. The Colts ended the Steelers undefeated streak and now head down to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars.
Indianapolis has lost in each of the last nine visits to the Sunshine State.