Indianapolis Colts plan to start Anthony Richardson, but Dolphins wary of Joe Flacco, too

Although the Miami Dolphins won’t have their No. 1 quarterback available Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts will — and they’re on track to take advantage by starting Anthony Richardson.

Richardson, the former Florida Gator drafted fourth overall in 2023 , missed the past two games with an oblique injury. But barring a setback this week, he’ll start, coach Shane Steichen said Monday.

Richardson’s injury had put the Colts in the hands of 39-year-old Joe Flacco, who threw two touchdown passes Sunday to beat the Tennessee Titans 20-17. In Flacco’s other start, the Colts lost 37-34 to the Jacksonville Jaguars .

“Obviously, Flacco’s a really good player, been playing good ball for us, but when Anthony’s healthy, he’s our quarterback,” Steichen said.

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Flacco enjoyed a rebirth with Cleveland last year when signed off the street, going 4-1.

This season, Flacco is completing 65.7 percent of his passes compared to only 50.6 percent for Richardson.

That’s not all.

Flacco has seven touchdown passes against only one interception, which helps explain his passer rating of 102.2.

Richardson has twice as many interceptions (six) as TD passes (three) and a passer rating of 60.2.

But Richardson has a big edge in average yards per completion (16.8 to Flacco’s 10.1) and is a far bigger threat to take off running with 141 yards and a 6.7-yard average. Flacco has rushed for just 26 yards and a 4.3 average.

Despite the announcement in Indianapolis, the Dolphins know they could see either QB at some point Sunday.

“We’ve got to prepare for both,” defensive tackle Calais Campbell said.”That’s just more work for all of us, right? They both kind of played a few games this year, so at least there’s tape on both of them. But Richardson is probably the ultimate athlete and probably from a pass rusher standpoint, the biggest challenge we’ll have so far this season. And then you have Joe Flacco, who from the secondary stuff is different, but for us up front, he’s probably as close as you’re going to get to a statue in the NFL.

“I did see the (Titans) game. He kind of actually scrambled for a few yards and was moving around pretty good, but now in this day and age and in this business, he’s the ideal guy you want to go after from a pass rusher standpoint, but he also has a brilliant mind and can make every throw and he has weapons and he knows how to use them and he’s been playing some good football, which I expected.”

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com . Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Indianapolis Colts plan to start Anthony Richardson, but Dolphins wary of Joe Flacco, too