A meaningless game could become unwatchable.
Watching the Indianapolis Colts, who suffered one of the most embarrassing losses in franchise history against the Giants last week, take on the bottom feeding Jaguars was already going to be a tough game to stomach sitting through. Take away Anthony Richardson, and watching that game might just become impossible. Joe Flacco would be the starter, but he has no future in Indianapolis. Richardson is the future and watching what he can do might be the only reason most fans even consider turning their televisions on for Sunday’s contest.
The last week of the season is always tough. You have teams like the Chiefs who have already sewn everything up and will be resting starters. What might have been a good game just got way less competitive against the Broncos. Throw in other complete duds like Texans at Titans, Giants at Eagles, Bills at Patriots etc., and as you can see, the list of horrible games is long. I didn’t even list all of them… Unfortunately, that is the nature of the NFL’s last week slate. It can be a sleepy time that leads into exciting playoff football. On the other side of the coin, however, you do get some treats like Vikings at Lions which could be the game of the year as it will determine a divisional winner and the number one overall seed.
Unfortunately, the Colts find themselves in the first section of games. Dud-city. The Colts being out of the playoff hunt kills the excitement and playing a horrendous divisional opponent is even more of a wet blanket. Richardson suiting up would be the only saving grace, but his back injury is putting that into serious doubt. He did not practice on Wednesday, and his status for Sunday’s contest is looking ominous. His ability to scramble and make plays happen when things break down would create the excitement needed for a meaningless week 18 game. Watching Flacco run in slow motion is not what fans want to see in the new year.
We are still a few days away and perhaps Anthony Richardson practices today. That would be a great development. Meaningless or not, he still needs as many game reps as possible. Continuing to cut games and experience off that development isn’t going to do him any favors going into next year. If he is truly hurt, hold him out. There is no reason to risk further injury. If he can give it a go, however, that may be just enough for people to tune in on Sunday.