Benching Daniel Jones for Anthony Richardson Won’t Fix What the Colts Got Wrong
Colts fans may be clamoring for Anthony Richardson Sr. to get back under center, but the bigger issue in Indianapolis isn’t who starts next. It’s how the team keeps getting to these points in the first place.
On Query & Company, Jake Query pushed back on the idea that a quarterback switch would solve anything. His basic question was blunt: what good would it actually do?
He acknowledged it’s fair to ask whether Daniel Jones, still working back from a torn Achilles, is fully comfortable in the pocket. But Query said that misses the real problem. “the things plaguing him right now are exactly what plagued him in New York.”
For Query, Jones’ mistakes aren’t a fresh development. He described the quarterback’s early burst last season like a dream sequence that gets exposed before it can last - the kind where someone thinks they’ve made a pro basketball team by hitting every shot at a tryout, until reality catches up.
That’s why he said turnovers have become Jones’ defining trait. And because of that, Shane Steichen can’t really justify sitting Richardson by saying he needs a safer hand at quarterback. “You’re not taking care of the football,” Query said.
Query also used a very different image to make his point about Richardson’s spot on the depth chart. He said he drove to Michigan after the Vikings loss to see the BoDeans, and on the way home “Good Things” got stuck in his head, with Richardson imagined on the sideline singing the chorus to Steichen: don’t pass me over, don’t pass me by.
But the larger criticism was aimed away from the quarterbacks and squarely at the front office. “For the last year to year and a half, seemingly each decision they have had to make regarding a player or the future or contracts, they have made the wrong one,” Query said.
He pointed to the Laiatu Latu pick, said “Tyler Warren was probably the right call,” and also called the decision to trade two first-round picks and a receiver for Sauce Gardner “the wrong call.”
Steichen said after the game that he hasn’t considered a quarterback change because he has “a ton of faith” in Jones. Query’s argument is that moving back to Richardson now wouldn’t erase any of the organizational mistakes already on the board.
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Colts Face A Jonathan Taylor Deadline Question Fans Can't Ignore
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Jonathan Taylor sits at the center of the latest debate because he remains one of the Colts most important players and has just signed a contract extension. Even with outside interest building, the bigger question in league circles is how firm Indianapolis will be as the deadline approaches, especially with the roster already altered by major additions and departures elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]