How are you? Doing well, thanks for having me.
Absolutely, well thank you for the time. A little shocking to hear Anthony Richardson say I need a playoff. We see the responses from inside the building and outside the building as well. Were you surprised that they took measures to tell him to take a seat today? Yeah, I mean obviously it was shocking on Saturday or Sunday. I'm so busy today.
I've forgotten what day it is, but there's no doubt. It was a shocking Sunday when he tapped out of the game and there were definitely private conversations that went on there, you know, telling him that that wasn't the standard that they're held up to, but we were told that that had nothing to do with the decision that was made today. This is purely performance-based and it was, I think, the biggest surprise of it is that it's a complete gift in organizational philosophy right now. I mean they've said for a year and a half they understood this is a very inexperienced quarterback. You're going to take your lumps. You're going to, you know, ride the ups and downs with them and 10 starts in they've pulled the plug and now, you know, when you make a move like this you go from developmental mode to what they're telling everybody now is win now mode. So I think the way the rest of this season is judged is going to be different. So when you, the team says that they're doing this because of performance reasons, do you think the last straw was his admission that he needed to sit out?
Didn't that give them a reason to hit the eject button? I think it definitely affects everything about this. I mean, you know, they're going to say obviously it didn't, but I think when you look at what effect it had in the locker room, we don't know that because we're not in there every day. You know, what effect does it have with the guys that are playing day to day with them? You've got a wide receiver out there right now in Michael Pittman Jr. who's playing through a back injury that's going to need treatment at some point and could still eventually land him an IR and he's out there because he believes this team has a chance to play for something and as long as they do, he's going to stay out there. It's a bad look when your quarterback's tapping out, but you know, my feeling is if that was the impetus for this, why did he go back into the game on Sunday? You had quite a lot of time left after that play and, you know, he came right back in and wasn't at least openly punished that day, but I think it's the culmination of all these things. You've got a guy right now who's not playing well enough. I mean, that's the bottom line of all this.
We can debate, you know, why a move was made and whether this philosophy is better or that. If a guy should play, if he should rest. The bottom line right now is he's not playing well. He's completing 44% of his passes. He's thrown seven interceptions. He's lost a couple fumbles and I think ultimately that's what it comes down to. They want to sit him down, let him kind of get his mind right, get out of this pressure cooker for a little while. They say they haven't given up on him. I think the problem with that theory or that explanation is historically it doesn't work. I mean, there are very few examples of first-round quarterbacks who have become the starter and were benched and then came back later and had success with that team.
But that's what they're trying to accomplish here. George Bremer is joining us, covers the Colts for the Herald Bulletin in Indiana. When you look at the expectations with Joe Flacco now taking over, he's thrown seven touchdowns to only one interception in four games. This is a team that's still sitting at 400 or excuse me, 500 at four and four. Where are the expectations at now for the Colts with Flacco at the helm?
I think they've set them as playoffs of us. When you make this move, the only way you can defend it is if you at least make the playoffs and honestly probably advance in the playoffs. I think anything short of that, it's going to be a pretty, it's already a bad look when you pull the plug on your fourth, number four overall pick after 10 starts, but I think becomes a really bad look if you don't get anything out of the quarterback you put in there. I think the concern with Flacco is he has played well.
There's no question. The numbers that you just threw out there, but he's 39 years old. Until last season, he hadn't had a winning record as a starter since 2017, and right now in these two games that he started, this completion percentage of that 65.7 percent is the highest of his career. I think regression is a real worry right now with him. Can he go out and continue to play at the level he did a year ago?
We've seen him do it in this situation, going four and one last year with Cleveland and leading them to the playoffs. That's obviously what the Colts are trying to get here, but it's a big ask. They're entering the toughest part of their schedule. They've got a tough matchup Sunday against the Vikings team that's coming off back to back losses. That's been extremely good against the run, and so you're going to need to lean on the quarterback, and that might have played into this decision as well, knowing that the passing game is going to have to be a bigger part of that, but they've also got games coming up against the Lions and the Bills in the next few weeks. We're going to find out a lot about how much of a difference Joe Flacco can make in this team very quickly. Well, George, having said what you just explained about the schedule even past Minnesota on Sunday night, what are your expectations for the Indianapolis Colts moving forward?
I am pessimistic at the moment. I think this defense has been very scrappy. I think they've played a little bit above their heads lately, but the degree of difficulty is going up pretty heavily for them here in the next few weeks with some of the quarterbacks they're going to face and some of the receivers they're going to face, and I think you're putting a lot on Joe Flacco's shoulders here to come out, and last year what he did with Cleveland was remarkable, but the Browns have one of the best defenses in the NFL, and they were able to run the ball a little bit. The Colts are going to have to lean on Jonathan Taylor. They're going to have to get consistent efforts from this defense, and the offensive lines are going to have to play better. Honestly, we've talked a lot about the struggles that Anthony Richardson's had, but the last couple weeks he was under 60 percent pressure on his snaps against Miami in the win, and it was 64 percent this past week against Houston, so those are the two highest totals of his career, and now they're probably going to play Sunday without their left tackle in Bernard Ryman. He's in the concussion protocol. Very rarely do you clear that in one week, so I would expect him not to play on Sunday.
That's a lot on Joe Flacco's plate. We'll see. They have a lot of confidence. They're making this move with the belief that this can turn them around and make them a playoff team. I think right now if they go one and three in the next four, that's a barely probable outcome at this point.
George Bremer is here with us from the Herald Bulletin. Do we see Anthony Richardson again this season if Joe Flacco is healthy, and let's say the Colts don't make the postseason. Anthony Richardson, he's going to get one final chance next year, right?
That's the thought. I mean, they're being adamant right now behind the scenes that they haven't given up on him, even if it looks that way and it's going to be reported that way and feels that way for all intents and purposes. They are very adamant that that's not what this is, but it'll be interesting to see, especially if they fall out of playoff contention now. I mean, if they do go one and three in the next four, do you look to make a change back at that point? Or do you continue to ride Joe Flacco against a stretch run that's a lot easier.
Once they get past these next four weeks, I think they've got Denver might be the only team with a waiting record right now in their final five. So I think there's some very tough decisions ahead. And then really for me, the biggest thing that this decision does is it throws the door open again next year. You had a pretty clear statement that Anthony Richardson was the future.
He's the quarterback for the foreseeable future. The thought was he's going to get three years. That's how it normally goes.
You know, he pulled the plug now. Do you bring in competition next year? Do you bring back Joe Flacco?
Does he start next year without any competition going into the season? That for me is really a lot of the question, the mystery that's left after today's move. Well, we heard the comments from him after the game about him being tied. We heard Michael Parsons saying, hey, man, next time lie.
And we heard his own center pretty much saying, yeah, I needed to talk to him behind the scenes. We haven't heard from him publicly as of yet. I haven't heard anything. Has there been anything in addition out of him since Sunday's admission that he was tired?
No, nothing publicly. I would agree. It probably is a good idea there to just say, hey, I landed on the ball wrong.
You know, I needed a breath or just something that, you know, could be plausible. And so that's probably telling the truth to your own detriment at that point. But he, behind the scenes, the word is that obviously he's devastated, as you would expect him to be. But the Colts feel like he's going to be able to handle this. And that's a big part of this too.
What kind of mental toll does it take? This week has obviously been very hard on him. You had the whole situation Sunday coming out of the game. Then they weren't able to finish that game. He played better in the second half. They came back within three points, but they can't complete the comeback and win the game. And now your bench, you know, 22 years old, that's a lot to handle.
I wouldn't have handled it well at that age. They have a lot of confidence in the building, though, that his character and his work ethic will shine through. But it's been a very tough week for Anthony Richardson. And it'll be very interesting to see how he responds. Yeah, definitely, George. I look at him, I go, he's either completely tone deaf or he just doesn't care. It's not the latter, is it? It's not because you can say, hey, I'm tired.
Nobody's ever heard that. Is he just totally on his own planet or does he not even give a damn? He's like, hey, I got checks coming. Why do I care? I mean, even Ryan Kelly said after the game that you really can't question, you know, if you watch the film, you really can't question his effort and his want to.
I think sometimes he's just a little too honest for his own good. That's probably a spot where you say, hey, look, I felt something. I tweaked something.
And then I was able to go back in. It's a really bad look. And I think it was a bad look in the locker room as well. And that is obviously where it matters most. Okay. Well, George, thank you so much for the time joining us covering the Colts from the Herald Bulletin.
Where can people follow you online? Read your works, all the good stuff. Fill us in.
Yeah, absolutely. All my work is at Herald Bulletin dot com slash Colts. You can follow me on X at at GM Bremer. Hey, George, do yourself a favor. Another admit you're tired. OK, don't do that. I will try. I will try.
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