Anthony Richardson Comes Up Clutch

INDIANAPOLIS – This was all those Anthony Richardson possibilities and hopes finally seen on an actual NFL football field.

And it was on full display in the most important quarter of the game, on the road, with a future Hall of Fame quarterback on the opposing sidelines.

Questions about the accuracy of Richardson are there.

Questions about how Richardson will handle 4th quarter life, in a league where seemingly every game gets decided then, are there.

Well, on this Week 11 Sunday afternoon, Richardson emphatically showed the entire NFL what is possible in his oozing potential.

Colts fans obviously leave Sunday encouraged by Richardson returning to the lineup and going 20-of-30, with career-high 66.7 completion percentage, a career-high 272 yards and tying a career-high with 3 total touchdowns.

More than any of those numbers though, why Colts fans should be salivating the most exiting Sunday is what Richardson showed in the game's final quarter.

Not only was Richardson 8-of-10 for 129 yards in the 4th quarter on Sunday (completing his final 7 passes), but he delivered a pair of must-have, 70-yard touchdown drives.

That's big-moment moxie, surrounded by top-notch pass game playmaking, we've yet to see from Richardson.

"The way he played, the way he battled today, was phenomenal," Shane Steichen said after the 28-27 Colts victory.

Yes, Steichen implementing a run-game focus from Richardson early on clearly benefited the quarterback in an 8-of-12 first half performance for No. 5.

But with the defense and offensive line filled with mid-game breakdowns, the Colts needed some heavy lifting from their young quarterback.

Down 8 with 13:03 to go in the game, the Colts margin for error was starting to shrink a bit. Richardson responded though with one of his more impressive pure throwing drives of his young career. The highlight was a rolling to the right 3rd-and-2 touch pass to Mo Alie-Cox to keep the drive moving. It was capped by Richardson hitting an in-stride Josh Downs in an area of the field where the young quarterback has struggled with necessary pinpoint.

Following the Jets grinding out a 13-play, 7:30 drive, a game that felt like a potential season-swinger was down to one final drive.

Down 5 with 2:41 to go, Richardson was back in a moment he failed in during his first ever NFL game (vs. Jacksonville) and again his last time out (at Houston). Growth in these situations will help define Richardson's career. Getting another chance, Richardson had his NFL moment. The touch and poise to hit Alec Pierce for 39 yards on a pump and go. More of a frozen rope type throw on the next play to Josh Downs for 17 yards. And then capping it with his size, power and speed on a 3rd-and-Goal touchdown run.

Needing to drive the length of the field twice, needing touchdowns, and having to rely mostly on that right arm, Richardson earned the celebration the Colts gave him in the visiting locker room.

The win was so, so needed.

But big picture, like past 2024, this side of Richardson has yet to be seen.

Right or wrong, we grade quarterbacks more in that final period, when a team is down, when that early scripted game plan gets tossed out the window.

The game from Richardson was his finest hour as a pro.