Colts QB Anthony Richardson aiming to play 'smarter,' excited to rejoin 'great' team

The Indianapolis Colts made a run at the playoffs despite their first-round quarterback, Anthony Richardson, landing on injured reserve after only four starts. Now that Richardson has made strides in rehabbing his shoulder injury, he is ready to take over as the Colts' QB1 in 2024 and beyond.

Richardson even believes he could have taken the Colts to the postseason had he not been injured, and his focus has now shifted to getting that done in the 2024 season.

"Oh yeah, for sure. No doubt," Richardson said Thursday. "I believed that when I walked through the door, just looking at the pieces we have. ... I'm going to compete every chance that I get, and we don't want anything short of the playoffs. We want to exceed the playoffs and go to the Super Bowl -- that's the main (goal) -- go get rings here and win championships.

"I do believe if I did play, we go to the playoffs, but even when I didn't play, we had opportunities to go to the playoffs. This team, despite me -- just leave me out of it -- this team is great. We have weapons, as you can see. Playoffs (are) right there in our hands, we just have to execute every play."

Richardson made clear he wasn't throwing Gardner Minshew, who started 13 games and had one of his best seasons, under the bus. In fact, Richardson said that if there was a silver lining to missing most of his rookie season, it was that it allowed him a chance to observe the game from a different perspective, even if he said he balked initially at having the surgery and shutting things down for the year.

"It's been a great season for me," Richardson said. "The injury definitely opened my eyes to the fact that I could be healthy for the team, everybody in this building, but it allowed me to slow my mind down a