INDIANAPOLIS – The talking points were real and from the heart.
Chris Ballard spent nearly 50 minutes Friday admitting mistakes and offering a vision of how he’ll go about learning from and correcting them.
It was mea culpa on steroids.
But that had to be the tenor of Ballard’s season-ending meeting with the media. Anything else would have rung hollow.
These are Jim Irsay’s Indianapolis Colts, but Irsay has entrusted Ballard to make the hard decisions and give it direction.
And this is not where anyone wants to be. It’s been three decades since the Colts have failed to make the playoffs in four consecutive seasons, and it’s fair to wonder if that drought is going to reach five, six or more.
“Right now, we’re not close,’’ Ballard said. “Like, close is losing on the last play of the Super Bowl. That’s close. Going 8-9, that’s not close. No. I’m not saying we won’t be closer when we get to the start of the season, but right now sitting here today, we’re an 8-9 football team and we’ve got to own that. We’re not good enough.’’
Ballard stressed the need to introduce a level of stress in a complacent locker room with serious competition this offseason.
He mentioned “self-reflecting’’ while battling an illness this week about his core beliefs on building the roster. That likely means being more active in veteran free agency this offseason, although Ballard stopped short of giving a guarantee.
Regardless of any philosophical changes or the possibility of adding three or four projected starters via free agency, whether the Ballard-led Colts can quiet an angry fan base and return Irsay’s franchise to relevancy hinges on one player: Anthony Richardson.
If Ballard, Steichen and Irsay were right to hitch their future to a young, ultra-gifted quarterback out of Florida in the 2023 NFL Draft, this works. It will have been painful along the way, but it will be Mission Accomplished.
If Richardson remains an injury-prone, erratic passer whose commitment to the position – Immaturity? Naivete? – required a two-game benching this season, then Irsay will have no other option than to blow it up after 2025.
The general manager. The head coach. The quarterback.
Perhaps that’s being too simplistic.
Perhaps not.
“The quarterback position has been the biggest albatross for us, getting that stability,’’ Ballard said.
And that’s still missing.
Here’s some more simplicity. Since 1998, the Colts are 194-100 (.660) with 15 playoff appearances and 10 division titles with Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck under center. They’re 60-81-1 with one postseason berth (in 2020 with Philip Rivers) and no division titles with anyone else at QB.
Anthony Richardson must be the answer, and there’s absolutely no evidence after two seasons that’s the case.
Priority 1: Richardson’s health
“The No. 1 thing we have to figure out, and what Anthony’s got to work through, is staying healthy,’’ Ballard said. “That to me, is probably the biggest question right now because now we’re going on two seasons in a row where he’s dealt with injuries.’’
Richardson has missed 17 of 34 starts with four significant injuries: a concussion and sprained AC joint in his right shoulder as a rookie, oblique and back spasms/disc in 2024.
Ballard doesn’t anticipate Richardson’s back being an issue going forward, even though Richardson admitted he’s dealt with spasms in his lower back since the eighth grade.
“He’s going into the offseason healthy,’’ Ballard said. “That’s going to give him a chance to work on some things going forward that we think will help going into next season. Now saying all that, like, we can’t beat our head against the wall. We’ve got to have competition at the position . . . just for one, the fact that competition makes everybody better. And then two, he’s not proven he can play 17 games.’’
That translates into someone being added to the roster who legitimately challenges Richardson for the starting position in ’25.
The injury concerns can only be alleviated by Richardson staying on the field. And that figures to be problematic considering he’s a 6-5, 250-pound presence in the run game.
Two other areas should be just as bothersome with Richardson:
*The maddening inaccuracy. His 47.7 completion percentage in ’24 is the worst in franchise history among quarterbacks with at least 200 attempts. Of the 40 quarterbacks who have attempted at least 348 passes the past two seasons, Richardson’s 50.6% accuracy checks in No. 40. The other 39 are at 60.1% or higher.
If you need perspective, consider for Richardson just to surpass Zach Wilson at No. 39 (60.1%), he’d need to complete his first 84 passes in 2025.
Richardson completed 50% or less in eight of 11 starts this season, and nine of 15 overall. That’s unsustainable and undoubtedly has impacted how Shane Steichen is able to design an efficient game plan.
The explosive pass plays aren’t the issue.
Consistency a must
“Getting consistent down-after-down, play-after-play,’’ Ballard said. “And that takes time.’’
Richardson’s development from year 1 to year 2 was impeded by his lengthy rehab from the sprained shoulder. He underwent surgery on Oct. 24 and resumed throwing – albeit lightly – in mid-February. Working on playing the position better took a backseat to getting better physically. His mechanics suffered.
Now, that won’t be the case. Richardson said he’ll continue to work at CORTX Sports Performance in Jacksonville and locally with the Colts.
NFL rules prohibit coaches from being hands-on with players during the offseason, so it’ll be up to Richardson to commit to whatever regimen is in place.
“We can’t actually hold his hand,’’ Ballard said. “I think we’re at a point where we shouldn’t going forward. Like, we don’t need to hold any hands. It’s time to, ‘All right, you understand the standard. We’ve gone through the growing pains. You’ve made mistakes. . . . you’ve got to learn from those mistakes and you’ve got to grow from them. We know where he works. We know the people that work with him and we’re in constant communication with them. But he’s got to go to work and I think he will.’’
*The two-game benching this season. Steichen’s initial message was vague, but the reason to yank Richardson from the starting lineup was related to the 22-year-old franchise quarterback not totally embracing what it meant and took to be a franchise quarterback. His preparation and attention to detail were lacking.
That struck a raw nerve for a franchise that had been exposed to the unwavering commitment of a Manning, a Luck, even a Rivers on a one-year basis.
Steichen named Richardson his starter after one preseason game. His teammates voted him a captain before he ever played a game that counted.
Everything came quickly. Probably too quickly for such a young, inexperienced player. Remember, Richardson started 13 games at Florida.
In hindsight and a perfect world, Ballard admitted the Colts should have allowed Richardson to sit and learn as a rookie behind a veteran, perhaps for a year or two. In 2023, that veteran was Gardner Minshew II.
“That was not a luxury we were afforded,’’ he said. “I even told Shane that I wish we would have sat him no matter what, but we didn’t. We played him. He got hurt. That setback his development? Yes.’’
For a number of reasons, Richardson began regressing in year 2. Noticeably so.
“Shane was really the first one,’’ Ballard said. “I saw it, but (Richardson) was drowning. He plays with really good poise most of the time . . . but I didn’t feel the same as we went along.’’
Then, week 8 at Houston. In a 23-20 loss to the Texans that could have changed the course of the season, Richardson completed 10-of-32 passes and was sacked five times.
It was a breaking point for the team.
“I didn’t feel the same poise,’’ Ballard said. “And that meant, in my mind . . . mentally it was really going fast for him and he needed to take a bit of a step back.’’
At no time were the Colts giving up on their young QB.
“We knew he needed to take a step back,’’ Ballard reiterated. “One, just to get him to calm down a little bit. Two, also to prepare. All the little things you need to do in the building, everything you need to do, let’s take a reset.’’
Ballard even thought Richardson might have needed more than a two-game break.
During that hiatus, the team’s leadership group met for a half-hour session and a portion of it focused on what Richardson needed to do to earn back his starting position.
“Probably one of the better ones I’ve been a part of,’’ Ballard said. “Players let it be known, like, ‘Here are . . . what we expect from you and what we need to get done.’’’
Richardson’s return showed promise.
He led fourth-quarter comeback wins on the road against the New York Jets and New England. The Colts were on the verge of grabbing a 20-7 third-quarter lead at Denver only to see Jonathan Taylor’s “fumble’’ just shy of the goal line open the door for a 31-13 Broncos win.
In a week 16 rematch with Tennessee, Richardson’s presence in the run game (70 yards and one TD on nine carries) was instrumental in the Colts winning 38-30 and setting a franchise record with 335 rushing yards in the process.
But he exited that game with back spasms and “a disc thing” and missed the final two games.
“He had really good moments, and then he kind of took a step back,’’ Ballard said.
Moving forward, Richardson must do his part and the Colts must do theirs.
“We’ve got to help him grow,’’ Ballard said. “There’s going to be moments of failure . . . in reality, failure can be a good thing if you grow from it. If you really learn from it. If you really learn from the experience. Struggle and failure are good. They’re not bad things if you learn and grow from them. That’s what we’ll continue to hope that he continues to learn from those mistakes.”
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.