While there have been updates regarding the injury to Indianapolis Colts star Anthony Richardson, it has been reported that he has been downgraded to doubtful for Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. With people finalizing their predictions for the integral Colts contest, it's looking more likely that Joe Flacco will start in place of Richardson.
The Colts are experiencing some other notable injuries like Jonathan Taylor who will be out for the team come Sunday as Trey Sermon is expected to get an extended role. Looking at Richardson's injury which is labeled as with the “oblique,” he left last game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first quarter which led Flacco to get some time and threw for 168 yards and two touchdown passes.
Colts want to be cautious with Anthony Richardson
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler spoke about Richardson's issue Saturday where he said there is some “good news” with the injury, though the team will look to be cautious.
“Talked to somebody close to Richardson who expects this to be a game time decision,” Fowler said. “He wants to play, it's a matter of functionality. Can he be himself running and throwing 100 percent? It's not a situation where that oblique injury can worsen, so that's the good news. Pain tolerance, functionality, so the Colts will monitor him today, see how he feels.”
Colts' Joe Flacco speaks on coming in for Richardson
Flacco would speak right after the win over the Steelers, 27-24, about coming into the game having mixed feelings as while he loves to play, it came bittersweet since it was Richardson who got hurt.
“When you're out here in this environment, you feel like you're 12 years old,” Flacco said. “I said it last year, wow, I mean, this is a little bit of a different experience. It's not the best, not the most ideal, when you're trotting onto the field, obviously, when your guy goes down, but every time you get a chance to go out there, it's a blessing and I'm definitely very fortunate for it.”
“I don't know if everything was clicking super well, but we did enough,” Flacco continued. “Really was able to rely on some underneath stuff by Josh Downs today. He made a couple big third down conversions, along with [Michael] Pittman on that, like, second to last drive, third to last drive, that drive ended up being huge. So you just go, rely on your guys and trust the play caller and everything else takes care of itself.”
At any rate, the Colts will wait and see how long Richardson will be out for as it could just be one game he misses, though it is a crucial one against an AFC South rival in the Jaguars.