Colts' Anthony Richardson Earns High Marks Despite Erratic Stat Line

PFF graded Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson as the fifth-best passer in the NFL on Sunday vs. the Detroit Lions.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) makes a pass against Detroit Lions during the second half at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Indianapolis Colts were simply overmatched on Sunday against the Detroit Lions, falling 24-6 in an embarrassing home loss. The Colts now sit at 5-7 with every remaining game on the schedule being a must-win outing.

Anthony Richardson put together another poor stat line in the loss, completing just 11 of 28 passes for 172 yards and rushing for 61 yards on 10 carries. Despite the poor completion percentage and yards per attempt in the loss, Pro Football Focus had fairly high marks for the young passer.

PFF ranked Richardson with the fifth-highest passing grade among all NFL quarterbacks in Week 12. His 77.9 passing grade is actually the second-highest single-game grade he's received from the site, only behind his Week 11 game against the New York Jets. PFF has generally been a very harsh critic of Richardson's poor outings, but the site viewed this game as a major outlier from his past struggles.

The highest-graded Colts in Week 12 vs the Lions:

🥇 Michael Pittman Jr. - 88.6
🥈 Laiatu Latu - 86.7
🥉 Grover Stewart - 82.9
🏅 Josh Downs - 78.9
🏅 Anthony Richardson - 76.9 pic.twitter.com/zsTtR8sA09

— PFF IND Colts (@colts_pff) November 25, 2024

The reason for the high grade despite the poor stat line? PFF grades all plays within the context of the game, so even passes that are lost from the stat sheet due to penalties are still evaluated the same according to their grading system. Richardson lost five completions for 79 yards due to penalties in this game, drastically hurting his numbers.

As for the passes that actually counted in this game, five of Richardson's passes were charted as throwaways, batted at the line of scrimmage, or drops. The two drops would have given Richardson another 51 yards passing (at least) and a touchdown. He was also pressured at a 46% clip in this game despite having the eighth-fastest time to throw in the league among starting quarterbacks.

Guards Quenton Nelson and Dalton Tucker ranked among the bottom of the NFL in pass blocking this past week, while the entire tight end room for the Colts graded out among the worst at their position. A few of Richardson's incomplete passes while targeting the tight ends were charted as being more on the pass catcher than on the quarterback.

PFF is generally harsh on Richardson during his worst statistical outings, but the Colts' supporting cast was so abysmal in this game that even they could recognize what was happening on Sunday. Richardson was graded as the best passer in the NFL when kept clean, completing 10 of 16 passes for 163 yards against one of the best pass defenses in football. The Colts just couldn't keep him clean whatsoever in this game.

Despite having the 8th-fastest time to throw in the NFL, Anthony Richardson was pressured on over 46% of his pass attempts in week 12

The Colts also had a 15% drop rate, losing (at least) 51 yards and a TD on drop passes. Team also lost 79 yards on 4 completions with penalties

— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) November 25, 2024

Richardson still has a ton of work to do as a quarterback to be where the Colts need him to be, but this past game was truly a mess of the product around him. He was playing good football through the first three quarters against a strong Lions team, his supporting cast just severely let him down. I know that some people have said this about other games this season, but this game against the Lions was simply on another level.

Hopefully the Colts got all their bad play out of their system this past week, because it is must-win mode from here on out. For their sake, I hope they can get these issues ironed out.

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