Colts let down QB Anthony Richardson in NFL preseason debut vs. Bills

Anthony Richardson’s NFL debut didn’t go so good Saturday, but let’s be honest: He was playing with the Indianapolis Colts tied behind his back.

Matt Gay missed an easy field goal. Darrell Baker Jr. missed an easy interception. Al-Quadin Muhammad missed an easy sack. Alec Pierce dropped an easy touchdown. And Isaiah McKenzie made two big boo-boos that cost Richardson dearly. That’s offense, defense and special teams. “Complementary football,” coaches love to call it when all three phases play well.

When all three play poorly?

Insulting football.

That’s what the first quarter of this 23-19 loss against Buffalo, the only quarter that matters, felt like: An insult. The Colts were not good, and if that description feels too vanilla for you, try it another way: The Colts were bad, and on social media, Colts fans were not taking it well. Getting hysterical isn’t the most efficient usage of emotional energy after one preseason game, but if you’re feeling that way, fine.

Just get hysterical at the right people. Who are the right people? Gay, Muhammad and Baker. Pierce, McKenzie and Trevor Denbow. Also…

Look, let’s do something else. Since we’re all about being efficient today with our emotional energy, let’s make it easier and talk about the one person, maybe the only person, who should be calming your nerves right about now:

Anthony Richardson.

Anthony Richardson runs with a mean streak

You see the way Richardson ran through a defensive end?

See the way he threw that deep ball?

Richardson wasn’t doing this at Grand Park in Westfield, where the competition isn’t very good – the competition there is the Colts – but against the first-team defense of a Super Bowl contender. The Bills defense ranked sixth in the NFL last season in yards allowed, meaning these guys are good.

And Richardson belonged on that field. Every now and then he looked too good for the Bills, and yes, thanks for noticing, Richardson did throw an interception. If that’s what you saw on that play, if that’s all you saw, thank goodness you’re here right now. Because you didn’t see enough, and I did, and in a moment I’ll show you what you missed.

But first let’s remember what Richardson did right. Best way to do that is show you the play where he embarrassed two starters on the Buffalo defense, both former first-round picks, including one guy who was his teammate at Florida.

Yeah, this happened:

First-and-10 at the Colts’ 25, first play of his second drive, and Richardson runs the read option with tailback Deon Jackson heading left. Richardson keeps the ball and heads right, where Buffalo’s Greg Rousseau is waiting, and understand something: Rousseau is 6-6 and 266 pounds. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.67 seconds. He was drafted in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, has played 30 NFL games, and started all 30 of them. He's nobody to be toyed with, but that’s what Richardson did:

Toyed with him, running into his grasp and then out of it, shucking Rousseau like a 6-6, 266-pound husk of corn.

Now Richardson’s in the open field, and Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam is in the way. They were teammates at Florida, and this is only the preseason. Meaning, who cares if Richardson goes easy on his college buddy? Answer: Richardson cares. He lowers his shoulder and runs through Elam for an extra yard. Just because he could.

The Colts’ quarterback has a mean streak, and I’m here for it.

Also: He can throw the nicest deep ball we’ve seen here since, um, Andrew Luck. Hey it’s true. You see that toss Saturday? Maybe you missed it, which means you have something in common with Colts receiver Alec Pierce.

On first-and-10 from the Buffalo 34, Pierce ran past six-year Bills veteran defensive back Siran Neal, got to the front right pylon of the end zone, and was rewarded with a ball suspended softly in the air, like an apple to be plucked from a tree. Pierce slid to his knees and dropped the apple, the ball, the touchdown, all of it.

Two other Colts veteran pass-catchers, receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and tight end Kylen Granson, also dropped passes. Would they have been difficult catches? Yes. Both were short tosses that Richardson could’ve placed more accurately. They were thrown hard, because Richardson throws it hard. Question for Pittman and Granson:

Do you play in the NFL, or don’t you?

Then catch the damn ball.

Terrible passer rating for Richardson, true

OK, the interception.

In real time it looked terrible, and honestly, after studying it five more times on replay, it won’t look much better. It’s the Colts’ first drive of the game, second-and-6 at their 24. Richardson has already thrown two short passes to McKenzie for a total of 9 yards, and here comes a third one. Only, Richardson pumps once, hangs onto the ball, takes a step backward and flicks his wrist. Everything about his body language suggested a throw he could take or leave:

Ah, the hell with it.

The ball sails behind McKenzie, right to Bills cornerback Dane Jackson, who had the good fortune of being in the background, covering Pierce. Now Jackson is running the other way, chased down by Pierce at the Buffalo 13, tackled in front of a guy standing two paces off the sideline in jeans, a white golf shirt and sunglasses.

The guy is Chris Ballard, the Colts general manager, and good guess: He’s not happy. He crosses his arms in frustration, looks at the ground, and walks away. Didn’t see that, did you?

Did you see this? McKenzie coming back to the sideline, greeted by Colts receiving coach Reggie Wayne, who knows a little something about playing the position and apparently knows McKenzie did something wrong on the play. He’s talking sternly to McKenzie, who’s trying to explain by pointing his arm this way. Wrong answer, McKenzie. Next time, point the other way.

And run there, too.

Am I seeming defensive of Anthony Richardson? Point for you. Excellent reading comprehension. I am defensive for Richardson, for a number of reasons. One, he’s a sweet young man. Great son, great brother, great teammate. To know him is to like him, a lot, and the only way we’re going to get to know him well around here – the only way for this rookie QB to succeed, and for the Colts to stop being dreadful – is for his teammates to play better.

If I’m not being clear enough, try this: Anthony Richardson didn’t hold back the Colts in his first career NFL action. Teammates held him back.

It started on the opening kickoff, when McKenzie – poor guy – fielded the kick 6 yards deep in the end zone, pauses because of course you take a knee there, only WHAT ARE YOU DOING ISAIAH? Now he’s bringing it out, and not very far. He’s down at the 16, which isn’t good, but it’s about to get worse: Young Colts linebacker Segun Olubi is called for holding, backing up the Colts to their 8. On the road. Near the loudest part of the stadium. For their rookie quarterback’s first career drive.

Nice.

Then McKenzie runs the wrong route, apparently, and teammates drop three catchable passes and Richardson throws it away on another one, and that accounts for all five incompletions on a day where he’s gone 7-for-12 for 67 yards and an interception, for a passer rating of 39.2 that doesn’t begin to describe how he looked.

Did Richardson look like a Pro Bowler? No. But he didn’t look like the obscenity that is a 39.2 passer rating.

Gardner Minshew was perfect, but no QB controversy

What do we do with all of this? First, we don’t freak out. Well, not about Richardson, or the quarterback decision facing the Colts. Because there is no quarterback decision facing the Colts.

Coach Shane Steichen made the decision when he gave Richardson the start at Buffalo. If he does anything different for the Colts’ next preseason game, Saturday against the Chicago Bears at Lucas Oil Stadium, he’s not as smart as he seems.

And Steichen seems awfully smart.

Yes, backup QB Gardner Minshew completed all six of his passes for 72 yards. He also has long hair. And with that, I’ve told you all you need to know about Gardner Minshew.

If we’re going to freak out, or ask questions, let’s wonder (briefly) about Matt Gay’s 27-yard field goal off the left upright or Baker’s dropped INT or Muhammad’s blown sack or Denbow’s missed tackle, all in the first quarter.

Now let’s stop freaking out. It’s too early for that. But we can ask questions, for sure, namely this one: When’s running back Jonathan Taylor going to stop holding out, er, be healthy enough to come off the Physically Unable to Perform list?

The most notable thing about Richardson’s debut, other than those passes to Pierce (the drop) and McKenzie (the interception), was the way the Colts ground game looked: Good, I’m saying. Without Taylor!

Again, playing against the bulk of the Bills’ first-team defense – a unit that was fifth in the NFL in rushing yards allowed last season – the Colts ran for 56 yards on 14 carries in the first quarter. Deon Jackson gained the bulk of it, 35 yards on six carries, as the Buffalo defense was keying on the 6-4, 245-pound, sprinter-fast Richardson.

Richardson added two carries for seven yards and got into the open field on another carry, only to have tight end Pharaoh Brown – the Colts’ blocking tight end, I’m told – commit an unnecessary holding penalty that accomplished nothing beyond saving Elam the embarrassment of being run over again by his old Florida teammate.

You’re seeing the trend here, yeah? Richardson’s statistical line – the 39.2 passer rating, the two carries for seven yards – looked bad, but the truth looks even worse:

He’s the rookie playing the hardest position on the field, but it’s his teammates who need to get a whole lot better.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.