Things Are Going Great: Colts Coach Shane Steichen Has No Idea If The Team Supports Benching Anthony Richardson, Won't Say If He'll Ever Start Again
We all know that Anthony Richardson got benched. It's not shocking, he's been awful. I get the whole argument that what's the point of benching him? You're not winning a title with Joe Flacco so why send a guy in year 2 to the bench? Well, it's simple. Coaches have careers too. If they lose, they don't have a job. It's all about winning now and Flacco is the guy who can do that. But this isn't a spark or an experiment of some sort, they've made it very clear it's Flacco's team now:
Okay, again, all makes sense. Seems like everything seems to be going well. Gonna go out on a limb and say the team would rather make the playoffs or at least fight for the playoffs than lose. Surely, they love the move right?
You can't do what now? You're the head coach, Shane! At the minimum lie and say you haven't heard any complaints. Tell a half truth. Instead you have everyone wondering if the players wanted this or not. There's gotta be some better answer than whatever this is, especially when you combine it with this from Michael Pittman:
Everyone finds shit out via social media now. That's not really the story. How many times do we see the story of the guy who found out he was traded because of Twitter? Feels more often than not now. But you're talking about WR1 for a Colts offense that needs help and you didn't talk to him? That's where the unity comment gets weirder. Then there's the talk with Anthony Richardson:
The whole just seems like a shitshow. It sure seems like this version of the Colts is ready to give up on Richardson. It also begs the question about whether or not young quarterbacks need to get back to sitting out a year or two. It's the argument we get all the time. Rodgers and Love both waited for their time in Green Bay. Patrick Mahomes sat out his first year behind Alex Smith. But at the same time, CJ Stroud looked like a future MVP as a rookie. Jayden Daniels looks like an MVP. There's no rhyme or reason and no guarantee to having someone sit out a year means it'll pay off. But for now it's Flacco's team and the Colts have no idea what's going on.