10 thoughts on the Colts' thrilling win over the Jets in Anthony Richardson's return

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Ten thoughts on the Colts’ 28-27 win over the Jets at MetLife Stadium:

1. Anthony Richardson’s return was anticipated in the sense that we had no idea what we’d exactly see: Would he show improvement on the mental side of the game after two weeks of enhanced studying, or was that mostly talk until Joe Flacco crumbled and the Colts needed him again?

Would the Colts deploy a game plan to play to his and the offense’s strengths, or would it be more of the same pass-heavy approach?

And how much would it matter with three injuries along the offensive line?

The answers were beyond encouraging. Richardson made sharp decisions as a passer, with no turnover-worthy throws. He was durable through big shots as a runner. He had just two really bad plays -- the strip-sack and the fumbled exchange with Jonathan Taylor -- and he led the Colts back with two touchdown drives with his arm in the fourth quarter.

The final line speaks to his best game as a pro: 20 of 30, 272 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions, 9.1 yards per attempt and a 106.5 rating, to go along with two rushing touchdowns.

The Colts offense we've been waiting for

2. Like many, I have been waiting for 10 weeks for the Colts to run something with Richardson that looked like the Jalen Hurts offense that Shane Steichen rode to a Super Bowl two years ago. That’s become more of a need after the Colts signed Jonathan Taylor to a big deal, like the Ravens did with Derrick Henry for Lamar Jackson and like the Eagles did with Saquon Barkley for Hurts.

The Colts came out with a variety of concepts they’ve barely used this season, from quarterback powers and draws, a heavy emphasis on the zone-read game with Richardson and Taylor, stretching Taylor to the edge behind Ashton Dulin on the move and allowing Richardson to throw on the move rather than stationary in the pocket.

It led to a stable offense that minimized risk. And it got Richardson in a groove, which was badly needed after the two most difficult weeks of his career.

3. That opening script set the tone for everything.

Take it from Mo Alie-Cox:

"The way we dialed up the game plan, we had a lot of designed quarterback runs in there today. Even though they weren't hitting, it wasn't just, 'Here, sit back and be a passer the whole game,'" Alie-Cox said. "JT had a lot of runs early. It slowed the game down and let the game come to him, to try to get ahead of the sticks instead of be behind the sticks.

"There was a period where we were behind the sticks with penalties, but by that point, he's already settled into the game and his confidence is there. I think the coaches did a good job with the game plan, and we just went out and executed."

4. So, why wasn't that the game plan for Richardson's first six starts?

I posed this theory earlier in the season: The Colts were trying to protect Richardson. They felt like the league wasn't doing it on the hits he was taking above the shoulder and late in plays in Week 1. The time he lost to the shoulder and brain injuries last year and then the hip injury this year sat in their heads as they preached "reps, reps, reps" to build him as a passer.

Steichen tried to find the solution with a play sheet. And it might have worked better back when Will Fries was protecting the middle of the pocket like an All-Pro and Michael Pittman Jr. was his fresh and violent self. But especially after those two got hurt in Week 5, this team lost the ability to play that way with either quarterback, and it would leave Richardson pressing if he was asked to do that and suffering so many 3-and-outs with a deficit.

5. The fear of losing Richardson to injury disappeared once the Colts took him off the field by their own volition and were unsure if or when they wanted to bring him back. Once they had to after Flacco crumbled, they were willing to lay it all on the line in order to evaluate and maximize him, because the clock is ticking on both now.

Richardson took a couple of major blows in this game, including on his first touchdown run, when he lowered a shoulder to run over a defender for the score. It was Cam Newton-esque, and it will make you feel uneasy even in the bright moments. That's all part of the viewing experience right now.

We're by no means out of the woods on his injuries or his accuracy challenges right now. But they have to confront both fears in the face to make this work.

Colts offensive line struggles

6. Indianapolis’ offensive line survived while the game plan was new, run-centric and perimeter focused, but time caught up to the group.

The Colts started three rookies along the offensive line in left tackle Matt Goncalves, center Tanor Bortolini and right guard Dalton Tucker. Not only would that mean a drop in play in most situations, but it would stress the communication in a road stadium between a rookie center, a quarterback with 10 career starts and two other rookies to pass off those protection changes on the fly.

The Jets were able to get some pressured based on skill sets alone. Braden Smith also doesn’t look to presently have the knee bend to win against speed rushers like he used to.

It makes it hard no matter who is playing quarterback. And the closest thing to a solution coming is if Bernhard Raimann can return at left tackle so the Colts can at least protect the blindside and live in 11 personnel with easier answers to Josh Downs.

7. Of the many areas where the Colts wanted to see growth out of Richardson after a two-week benching, reading the blitz was priority No. 1.

They know his accuracy is going to be a work in progress that isn’t fixed by taking better notes or even with the reps in a first full season of starting; that’s not how Josh Allen or Hurts got to where they are.

But the Colts sat him down ahead of a blitz-heavy game from Brian Flores because they needed a different process of preparation during the week in order to see blitzes and pressure curveballs pre-snap so he can find easier outlets post-snap than just breaking the initial hit and turning a play into scramble mode.

As talented as he is at that, it’s hard to make it work until he has the passing skills and chemistry with receivers to adjust routes in that way.

8. I don’t buy when Steichen said that Flacco’s performance didn’t have anything to do with the decision to go back to Richardson. Mostly because Flacco doesn’t buy it either.

“I’m disappointed in the way the past two weeks went,” Flacco said on Wednesday. “I wanted to provide a spark and get some wins for the team and wasn’t able to do it. I’m mostly just disappointed in that.”

If you take out the garbage-time drive against the Bills where Flacco threw a touchdown pass to Alec Pierce with so little time left that Bills players weren’t even trying to rush the passer, he led 14 drives as the Colts starting quarterback. Indianapolis found the end zone on one of them.

That, combined with Flacco’s six turnovers in two games, put the Colts in a spot where their initial promise to make a push for the playoffs couldn’t hold up anymore. It cut down on the time they wanted to spend on “the process” with Richardson, where they hoped he could take notes and learn through watching Flacco make corrections and adjustments on his game film.

With little success on the field, it was hard to create those lessons in real time that they were sacrificing through the reps. It became harder to sell to the players on the team that this had a pay-off they would feel, now or later. So I think they went back to Richardson because they had no ability to explain a way not to.

9. The Colts defense can be hard to read because it goes in and out of good and bad play in the run game. They allowed Breece Hall to rack up 78 yards and a touchdown on just 16 carries today, mostly by sacrificing the edges, which has been a problem all season.

It's not the problem it was to start the year, but if the Colts want to force teams to really deal with their pass rush, they’re going to have to get more consistent here. For as long as their offense is compromised along the offensive line, it allows even messy teams like the Jets to find a low-risk avenue to surviving and eventually finding points late in games.

10. But hey, the Colts survived and have positive momentum at 5-6 and squarely in the thick of a muddy AFC wildcard race, so let's end on a positive note:

Downs is turning into one of the best draft picks Chris Ballard has ever made.

He's handling two different jobs at a high level as a slot receiver and punt returner. He's holding up physically, despite his 5-foot-9, 173-pound frame. And he's showing some active leadership, both in building Richardson up through phone calls in and around the benching and in putting the game on his shoulders, the way he did when he called the audible for the Richardson to throw an angle-route touchdown to him to pull within two scores in the fourth.

MORE: How a bond with Josh Downs, unwavering faith helped Anthony Richardson become Colts QB again

The play I think back to was the one on the first possession, where he left his feet to lay out for a 31-yard catch. That let the Colts take a 3-0 lead rather than start with a three-and-out, and it was key to Richardson saying he never felt like he was in a pressure situation today.

This was just a start for the Richardson reboot, but it's a fun and impressive one. See you next week from Lucas Oil Stadium, where the opponent is the Lions, who are everything this Jets team is not.