What does it take to become an NFL head coach? With the Indianapolis Colts, it takes a guy who keeps Anthony Richardson hunting for playing time while ancient mariner Joe Flacco rolls right along despite four turnovers. Guess he's not as bad as Jared Goff in that regard, right? But Colts head coach Shane Steichen doubled down on his Joe Flacco starting decision for Week 11.
Flacco retained his spot as the Colts’ QB 1, according to a post on X by Mike Chappell.
“Colts HC Shane Steichen: Joe will be starter at Jets”
Flacco threw for 272 yards with a pair of touchdowns in the 30-20 loss to the Bills. But he authored three picks — including a pick-six — and lost a fumble — in a 10-point game.
Colts QB Joe Flacco hanging on at age 39
It’s not like there’s no reason to go with Flacco. He’s going to complete more passes and keep the offense on the field. Richardson’s embarrassing 20-for-56 performance over his last two starts prove he has major accuracy problems.
But the problem isn’t so much whether Flacco is better than Richardson. The problem is whether Flacco is better than anyone. If the Colts had been serious about remaining in the playoff hunt, maybe they trade Richardson and bring in a different player to start at quarterback. Let it play out for the remainder of the 2024 season, and see what the signal-caller landscape looks like at that point.
But the Colts are still acting like Richardson is a long-term solution. And if that’s the truth, he needs to be playing and see if he can work through the issues. Flacco isn’t bringing wins to the table, so what’s the point?
How are Colts players, others responding to the situation?
Cornerback Kenny Moore II called out the team after the loss to the Bills, according Dominic Miranda via yahoo.com.
“I don’t think everybody is working as hard as possible, and obviously it’s showing,” Moore said. “I’m not the type to sugarcoat it, honestly. I don’t think the urgency is there, (and) I don’t think the details are there. I don’t think the effort is there, (and) I don’t see everything correlating from meetings to practice to games, and it shows. Year to year, it’s the same thing.”
Colts insider Heather Lloyd dissected the problems on Daybreak via wishtv.com.
“I think one of the things we’ve learned is that it doesn’t really matter what quarterback they play,” said Lloyd. “Even when it looked like they were going to turn it around and get some momentum, it would be another overthrow, another drop, another mistake.”
And she added Steichen seems like a waffle maker.
“What I make of that is that he’s not committed to Joe Flacco,” Lloyd said. “When Steichen made the change two weeks ago, the message was, ‘Joe Flacco is our quarterback going forward.’ Now it’s, ‘Right now,’ which he reiterated several times yesterday.”
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