Colts' Anthony Richardson plays hero to beat Aaron Rodgers in return from benching
11/17/2024 05:08 PM
The Indianapolis Colts returned the reins to quarterback Anthony Richardson in Week 11 against the New York Jets and were rewarded with improved play and an excellent team win. He rushed hard to the left from the Jets’ 4-yard line with less than a minute left, scoring a hard-fought go-ahead touchdown that would prove to be the game-winner.
ANTHONY RICHARDSON GIVES THE COLTS THE LEAD WITH 46 SECONDS LEFT pic.twitter.com/fZgXjHYMxu
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 17, 2024
The Colts’ defense came out swarming, and Kwity Paye sacked Aaron Rodgers on the subsequent drive, sealing the game for Indianapolis.
Aaron Rodgers SACKED
Ball game to the Colts over the Jets pic.twitter.com/B2uFePCFum
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 17, 2024
Richardson completed 20-of-30 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown. He added 32 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Indianapolis dominated the time of possession 34:17 to 25:43.
The Colts improve to 5-6, good for second in the AFC South, 1.5 games behind the division-leading Houston Texans. The Jets fell to 3-8 but are ahead of the 3-8 New England Patriots in the AFC East by tiebreaker.
Colts aren’t out of it yet
The AFC playoff picture is looking like a battle between the conference’s haves and have-nots. At 5-6, Indianapolis is the No. 8 seed in the AFC and has a 38% chance of making the postseason. Just ahead of them with the No. 7 seed are the 5-5 Denver Broncos. Unfortunately, it’s a big jump up to the sixth seed held by the 7-4 Baltimore Ravens. This means Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Houston, Los Angeles and Baltimore have locked up six of the seven AFC playoff spots.
This leaves Denver, Indianapolis, Miami and Cincinnati as the only AFC teams left to compete for one remaining postseason slot. Indy will have its hands full over the next few weeks and will likely need to win out to have a shot at making the playoffs, especially with a road trip in Week 15 to play the Broncos upcoming after its Week 14 bye.
The Joe Flacco experiment fell flat as the Colts lost back-to-back games against the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills in Weeks 9 & 10. Was benching Richardson an overreaction? We’ll see how the team fares to close out the 2024 regular season. Flacco discussed the move to send him back to the bench ahead of the Jets game, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk.
"I really do feel disappointed in the way the last couple of weeks went," Flacco said. "When you walk into this locker room, you want to be able to really, really hold your head high and feel like you've done the best for the team. And I didn't necessarily feel like I did that."
The Colts host the red-hot Detroit Lions in Week 12 on Sunday, November 24, at 1:00 p.m. EST.
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