INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson had two chances to slide and avoid contact during the first quarter of Sunday's 27-24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He didn't, and the result was he couldn't finish another game.
Richardson started fast, completing a 32-yard pass on the first snap. That drive ended with a touchdown, and he got the Colts back into the red zone on their second series before departing with a hip injury he could have avoided.
“Obviously, we want to get down in those situations,” coach Shane Steichen said. “But there are some situations where it is kind of awkward, guys are coming around and you don't want to slide. So we'll go back and look at it.”
The Colts (2-2) drafted Richardson with the No. 4 overall pick in 2023, largely because of his strong arm and athletic 6-foot-4, 244-pound body.
While they don't want to take his physicality away, they would like him to avoid some of the hard hits he's taken in his eight career starts.
Richardson ran three times for 24 yards, taking a big shot on his right hip on the second run that sent him to the sideline after he fumbled. Three plays later, he returned and appeared to get hit on or near the head at the Steelers' 5-yard line. When he got up, he went straight to the locker room.
Referee Land Clark said in a pool report that the officials did not call a penalty because the contact was deemed “incidental” and not with “enough force to warrant a flag.”
By the time Richardson returned to the sideline, the Colts already had ruled him out of the game, and Joe Flacco was continuing to build on the momentum from Richardson's fastest start of the season. Richardson completed three of his four throws for 71 yards.
It's also unclear whether Richardson will be available in Week 5 at Jacksonville (0-4).
“My hip was hurting,” Richardson said. “I tried to go back out there, but I couldn’t accelerate like I wanted to, so coach was like, ‘Try not to mess up the team right now.’ So I was like. ‘I’ll just sit.’”
It's not the first time.
Of his eight starts, he's only finished four — three this season. He suffered a season-ending injury to his throwing shoulder early in his rookie year and had offseason surgery.
While Flacco played well enough to lead the Colts to their second straight victory, this is not the playbook Indy (2-2) wants to follow. Flacco finished 16 of 26 with 168 yards and two TD passes, helping the Colts fend off Pittsburgh's second-half rally.
Richardson has acknowledged at times that he needs to slide more, although he has routinely shrugged off the notion that his playing style makes him more susceptible to injuries.
Sunday's game only adds to that reputation.
“People are going to talk about injuries, people are going to say injury-prone, blah, blah, blah,” Richardson said. "Nobody wants to get injured, everyone wants to stay on the field, So, of course, I was like ‘Damn, not again.’”