We're back with another edition of The Colts Show Mailbag, where I'll answer listener, viewer and reader questions here on Colts.com every week.
You can submit your questions to me a few ways: At Colts.com/Mailbag, on social media (like X and Instagram) and in the YouTube comments for the podcast. Be sure to get your questions in, since I'll get to one on next Tuesday's podcast edition of The Colts Show.
On this week's podcast, I answered a question from Tim Cook about how the Colts can rebound from their current two-game losing streak. I was also joined on the pod by former Colts All-Pro linebacker Shaquille Leonard for a great conversation about how he re-discovered his love for football after a "heartbreaking" end to his playing career. You can get the podcast on all major podcast platforms including:
Let's dive into the rest of this week's batch of questions:
Tim Head (Pittsford, N.Y.): Why not have Richardson back up Rivers? He appears to be ready to at least back up Rivers. He has qualities that Rivers does not. Maybe use in certain situations.
JJ Stankevitz: Shane Steichen has been pretty clear this week that Richardson is not ready to play in a game yet, even if he's returned to practice in a limited fashion. Richardson will not be activated off injured reserve this week, and the Colts will evaluate his readiness to play going forward.
"Just see how he practices, see how he's feeling," Steichen said. "Obviously, watching the practice tape, talking to him, see how he's feeling."
Before the Colts get to a point of considering whether to use Richardson in certain situations – like short-yardage sneaks – they need to make sure he's fully ready to play after that freak eye injury he sustained in October. We'll see.
Becky Hyatt (Salem, Ind.): Hello Colts fans! Just wanted to ask, why in the world did the coach not ice that kicker last week? Or ice the offense to try and break the momentum? 3 time outs could of stressed the Seahawks. We should of won that game but I will always stand by my team. Loyalty means the world.
JJ Stankevitz: Interesting thought here from Becky. I didn't have an answer, so I looked up if icing the kicker actually has an impact. I found a statistical study here, which shows for veteran kickers (like Jason Myers), there isn't much of an impact. As for impacting the offense, with the Seahawks facing a second and 10 from the Colts' 46-yard line, Lou Anarumo had eight defenders walked up to the line of scrimmage in an attempt to confuse Sam Darnold and force an errant throw or generate a sack; calling a timeout would've given him a clearer picture there. Darnold, of course, picked out Rasheed Shaheed on an out-breaker to the sideline, which set up Myers' game-winner.
Zachary Barron (Indiana): I was very happy to see how Philip Rivers performed in his first game back in nearly 5 years. However, one issue that I did take was the fact that we ran the ball on every first down except for the final Hail Mary pass. I understand the need for a heavy run game, but it was very obvious that us running the ball in first down would be the play when Seattle's defense turned Taylor's 3-5 yard gains in 1 yard gains or even losses, yet we continued with that play anyways. Can we expect something similar on Monday, or will we try to be less predictable next time?
JJ Stankevitz: Good observation here, Zachary. For the sake of being completely accurate, the Colts did run three passing plays on first down prior to that Hail Mary. First, they tried to run a play action swing pass to Josh Downs, who went in orbit motion, but Seahawks safety Coby Bryant flew downhill and blew up the play, leading to Rivers throwing the ball away. The second one was a straight dropback where Rivers slipped and took a sack. The third was a play-action tight end screen to Tyler Warren that was stopped for a loss of one.
Still, the four dropbacks the Colts had on first down is tied for the second-lowest total in any game this season (the New York Jets had three dropbacks on first down in Week 10 against the Cleveland Browns, per Pro Football Focus). The game plan for the Colts was to run the ball and chew clock, and running on first down was important in accomplishing that.
It's also worth noting the Colts, in the first half of Week 15, had a positive EPA per rush on first down (+.044). Seattle did some things different, but a factor here too is the Colts being without left tackle Bernhard Raimann, who exited the game just after the two-minute warning of the first half with an elbow injury. In the second half, that first down EPA per rush dropped to -.370. That can't be explained only by Raimann's absence or the Seahawks doing more to key on the run; it probably was a combination of factors there.
Either way, I wouldn't expect the Colts to be as predictable on first down going forward. Playing the Seahawks at Lumen Field in any year is a tall task; this year's Seahawks have one of the NFL's best defenses, which led to a grind-it-out strategy from head coach Shane Steichen. Moving forward, you might see more passes on first down – and maybe even Rivers being a bit more aggressive, too. We'll see.
Stevan Findlay (Greenfield, Ind.): Please quit playing not to lose, you lose every time. Instead of kicking 60 harder under 1 min to go, go for it 4th and 3, make it and run the clock down. Same thing at KC. Hate to say this, but ask yourself WHAT WOULD DAN CAMPBELL DO!!! Take the risk, you'll fire everybody up, I'd much rather lose that way, show some guts on coaching staff. Love those guys, but go for it please! Hope someone important reads this.
JJ Stankevitz: Sorry to disappoint on the last part of your question. The Colts were struggling to move the ball in the second half last weekend, and I'm not quite sure going for it on fourth and three would've given the Colts a better chance to win than blasting a 60-yard field goal and seeing if their defense could make a stop. This is one of those things where if Steichen goes for it and doesn't get it, he gets excoriated the day after. Also, Dan Campbell has never been put in a situation where he needs to call a 44-year-old quarterback off his couch to steady a late-season losing streak. Just to be fair.
