The Colts have a healthy young quarterback, a quarterback who is coming back from an injury sustained in an unfortunate pregame accident, and a 44-year-old grandfather who just started his first game since the 2020 postseason.
As we know, between Riley Leonard, Anthony Richardson, and Philip Rivers, it’s Rivers who is set to start the Week 16 matchup against the 49ers on Monday Night Football.
Richardson has been cleared for football activities, but in a Monday press conference, head coach Shane Steichen did not definitively say one way or another whether or not Richardson would have his 21-day practice window opened this week. While Leonard could be an option, Steichen was fairly blunt when asked why the team would go with Rivers instead of potentially giving the rookie a shot.
“Obviously, we wanted to see how Philip did on Sunday, and I thought he did some really good things. To bring in a guy of his age and where he’s at in his career — we didn’t bring him in here to sit on the bench. I’ll say that,” Steichen said, via transcript from the team. “So, he’s excited for this challenge. We obviously got to take it one week at a time, and then we go from there.”
Rivers looked limited at times by different factors during Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, finishing 18-of-27 for 120 yards with a touchdown and an interception. But Rivers’ knowledge of the offensive scheme and how defenses would attack it allowed him to overcome some of those limitations to be an effective signal-caller. The numbers indicate Rivers didn’t do much downfield passing, but he didn’t necessarily have to.
“Yeah, I think obviously, we talked about a little bit earlier, but going into that game plan — that was the game plan,” Steichen said. “We wanted to run the ball, control the clock, take easy completions. I thought we did a pretty good job of that. And our defense was phenomenal. They played awesome. Obviously, they didn’t score a touchdown. And to kick that field goal there at the end to have a chance to win it — I thought it was like a hard-fought game. I thought our guys played their tail off, and just at the end, it wasn’t enough. We’ve got to find a way to do that.
“I thought Philip did a hell of a job of managing that game plan. That was the plan going into it. I thought he did a hell of a job. Obviously, on the road in a hostile environment, first one back in a long time. He did what was necessary to put us in position to win that game.”
As for the aftermath of the game, Steichen said Rivers felt good coming into the building on Monday.
“He’s in the quarterback room right now watching tape,” Steichen said. “He’s like, ‘I’ve got my normal bruises that I had when I played.’ But he said, ‘I feel pretty darn good.’ So, that was good for him to come out of the game clean. And then obviously he’s excited for the challenge coming up this week.”
“Obviously, it is a story, and he knows that. But I mean, it’s about the team, and he’s here to help us win football games. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here, and he’s going to fight like crazy, just like he always has his whole career to help win one week at a time — as to his mindset, and that’s what he’s looking forward to, of the challenge each and every week of preparing to get ready to go out and compete and try to win a football game.”
