The good, the bad, the whole Anthony Richardson experience: The Colts' backup quarterback competition continues

AR was 11 of 14 for 145 yards and ran for 53 more yards. But there was an interception -- not really his fault -- and a fumble, which was his fault. Flashes, for sure.

Big surprise. Anthony Richardson looked like Anthony Richardson. He’s always looked like Anthony Richardson and will always look like Anthony Richardson.

Which is to say…he showed flashes. Of excellence. Of cluelessness. All of it.

When he ran, it was hard to resist salivating over the thought that Shane Steichen might keep him around and design a Taysom Hill-like role for the fabulously gifted Richardson. But then he missed a layup to a wide-open Will Mallory and fumbled when he fought for the first-down marker, and you were jostled back into reality. At least he stayed healthy, and yes, it was nice to see him after that dreadful eye injury that could have ended his career then and there.

Good.

Bad.

But rarely indifferent.

In the end, he completed 11 of 14 passes for 145 yards and ran for an additional 53 yards. That’s a lot of offense for one half, and if the Colts could have held onto the ball (and had the Ulysses Bentley non-fumble been called correctly), they would have found the end zone with more regularity. As it was, they were moving the ball up and down the field with relative ease. But they couldn’t finish, a popular observation these last several years.

At this point, I’m really rooting for Richardson. Not necessarily to beat out Leonard, but to find a spot somewhere on somebody’s roster as a second-string quarterback, whether it’s here of somewhere else. I don’t know that he’s one of the top 32 quarterbacks in the league – in fact, I know he’s not – but he’s surely in the top 64. At the very least, you’d think somebody, maybe even the Colts, would take a flyer on Richardson just for his athletic profile.

Look, some of his situation was his fault. No question, he was handed the keys to the car and wrecked that sucker within weeks. He was immature – of course he was, he was in his early 20’s – and he didn’t have any earthly clue how to be a team leader. His work habits lacked. And he’s got no one else to blame for asking out of the Houston game because he was tired.