Today at 1 p.m. ET the Indianapolis Colts host the visiting Arizona Cardinals in a game that will be missing two first-round quarterbacks. The Cardinals will be sans 2019 first-overall pick Kyler Murray with a foot injury and now the Colts are going to sit their former high draft pick as well.
Anthony Richardson, the fourth-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, is inactive for the game.
For those of you losing it and running to your laptops to perceive it as an impending big trade before the NFL deadline, relax. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network is here to pour cold water on that.
“#Colts QB Anthony Richardson, the third QB today, was injured in warmups today, source said,” Rapoport posted on X. “So, not a healthy scratch.”
Richardson was not on the team’s injury report all week, so this is a brand-new injury. Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper says that it’s an eye injury, but it’s not known exactly how it occurred. It’s quite possible that they were shooting paper clips around the office and one of the damn fools hit him in the eye.
Riley Leonard will be Daniel Jones‘ backup today against the Cardinals.
Indianapolis Colts are ready even without Richardson
Losing Richardson really doesn’t change much for the Colts heading into this game. Let’s be honest, if Jones goes down, the Colts will be in trouble regardless of who the backup is. Actually, Leonard might even be better than Richardson, but we wouldn’t know that yet.
Head coach Shane Steichen said the Cardinals’ defense is impressive and they have to be ready for whatever.
“They do a phenomenal job,” Steichen said. “I think they’re very multiple in what they do. Got different looks that we got to be prepared for.”
Jones echoed that sentiment.
“(They) play a multitude of different looks, and force you to communicate well on offense and make sure you identify what they’re doing well and you’re kind of all on the same page as a group,” Jones said. “You can tell they’re well-coached, a smart team. They present kind of some unique and nontraditional looks. And for us, we got to do a good job identifying it, communicating clearly and then executing.”
Kyler Murray is out, but the Indianapolis Colts were prepared anyway
On Saturday night it was announced that Murray wouldn’t be playing due to a lisfranc injury (not good) and that journeyman quarterback Jacoby Brissett would be starting in his place.
Still, the Colts were prepared all week in the event that Murray would play.
“We’re just going to keep preparing like he’s going to play,” defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said. “You don’t know until he’s ruled out.”
It’s safe to say that facing the statue of Brissett is very different than going against Murray, who if he threw as well as he ran would be in Canton before his career was over.
“You got to continue to rush because he loves to extend plays,” Buckner said. “That’s been his entire career – getting outside of the pocket and extending plays. It’s not fair to the back end having to cover for so long. So as a rush group, we’ve got to do a really good job with our rush lanes and keeping our eyes on the quarterback when we’re rushing, covering each other and continuing to just rush all the way through the down.”
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