The Indianapolis Colts are running back Anthony Richardson. The 2023 No. 4 pick will regain his spot as the team’s starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets and for the rest of the season, coach Shane Steichen said Wednesday.

“It’s the attention to detail in everything Richardson does. … It has to be a higher standard,” Steichen said. “Over the past two weeks he has made progress in those areas.”

The decision follows perhaps quarterback Joe Flacco’s worst performance of the season. In the Colts’ 30-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Flacco finished 26 of 35 passing for 272 yards with two touchdowns against three interceptions. He threw a pick-six on Indianapolis’ first offensive play and was sacked in the third quarter and lost the fumble. Flacco’s four turnovers were the most he had in a single game since Week 3 of 2022, when he started for the Jets in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The 39-year-old’s four-turnover performance Sunday also marked just the fourth time he has had more than four turnovers in a single game in his 17-year NFL career.

But Steichen said Wednesday that the move had to do with Richardson’s progress, not Flacco’s struggles.

“I just showed that I’m willing to be a professional,” Richardson said. “I am willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary for the team. I feel like the last few weeks have definitely opened my eyes and given me the opportunity to do that and just take a deeper dive and look within myself and see what I’m made of. I’m grateful for the past two weeks, and I’m subdued glad they happened.

Steichen noted that the quarterback remains the future of the franchise.

“Anthony is a great football player,” Steichen said.

After Sunday’s loss, Flacco called it “a humiliating game” and said “this competition is tough.”

“You’re going to have to deal with things like that from time to time,” he said of his latest performance. “It’s a shame. You don’t want to put yourself in that situation, but we can only look at ourselves. I can only look at myself in terms of why that happens.”

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Flacco went 1-3 as Indianapolis’ starter this year, appearing in six total games. He recorded a career 66.5 completion percentage while throwing nine touchdowns against five interceptions. Flacco has also lost three fumbles.

Steichen initially said his decision to bench Richardson, who started the season as the starting QB, in favor of Flacco was because the veteran quarterback gave the Colts “the best chance to win right now.”

“It’s obviously a tough thing,” Steichen said last month about Indy’s quarterback swap. “But again, it’s my obligation to 53 guys in this organization to win football games. And right now I’m focusing on the present of winning football games, and we’ll go to the future when we need to go to the future.

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Steichen’s reasoning was correct at the time of Richardson’s demotion. Richardson ranked last in the league in completion percentage on passes without pressure (48.1 percent), under pressure (38.9 percent), not blitz (50.5 percent) and blitz (26.5 percent). Richardson’s tap-out in a Week 8 loss at Houston, in which the 22-year-old subbed himself out for one play in the third quarter because he was “tired,” seemed to be the nail in the coffin when Steichen pulled the plug on Richardson his career only starts ten.

Richardson is 3-3 as the Colts’ starter this season. He has recorded a 44.4 completion percentage while throwing four touchdowns against seven interceptions. Richardson also scored one rushing TD and lost two fumbles.

Richardson was asked last week what specifically he has been working on since taking a backseat to Flacco, and while he said he was focused on getting better, he didn’t provide any details. To that end, no one else in the organization has publicly provided an in-depth analysis of where they would like to see Richardson improve, whether that be on the field or off.

“I’m not necessarily sure what it is in general, but all the aspects and just becoming a professional,” Richardson said of his development. “This is just my second year – almost my full second year of doing this, so I’m still learning the ins and outs of it and just trying to follow the vets.”

The Colts will take on the New York Jets in their Week 11 matchup on November 17 at 1:00 PM ET.

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(Photo: David Berding/Getty Images)