JACKSONVILLE.- The Indianapolis Colts finally turned to Anthony Richardson on Sunday, November 1, and the moment said more about where their season is going than about the 11 minutes he played. With the Jacksonville Jaguars ahead 42-7 at EverBank Stadium, head coach Shane Steichen pulled Daniel Jones with 11:45 left in the fourth quarter and sent Richardson in for his first appearance of the season.
The change was not for an injury. NBC Sports reported that the move came after a Jaguars punt, with the game already decided, and the Indianapolis Star noted that Steichen had doubled down on Jones as his starter during the week, saying he would remain the starter until the head coach said otherwise. On Sunday, the head coach said otherwise, at least for the rest of a blowout.
What happened in the game
Jones finished 19 of 28 for 144 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions, and he was sacked three times. His touchdown, a 6-yard pass to Josh Downs, only kept Indianapolis from being shut out. One of his interceptions was returned for a touchdown by Rayuan Lane III on a 92-yard pick-six, and a second interception early in the fourth quarter, by Branson Combs, ended his day.
Richardson went 2 of 2 for 8 yards and ran twice for 4 yards in garbage time. The numbers were small, but the context was not: it was his first regular-season action since garbage time in a 40-7 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on October 5 last season, after a season-ending eye injury, and his first extended playing time since the 2024 season. In training camp he had beaten out Riley Leonard for the backup job.
For Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence completed 10 of 14 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns, and Bhayshul Tuten piled up 159 all-purpose yards. The Jaguars, now 5-2, rolled to a 28-0 halftime lead in the rain and extended their home winning streak in the series to 12 games. The win was their first divisional victory of the year.
A team in the middle of a rebuild
The quarterback change closed a brutal week for Indianapolis. Five days earlier the Colts traded two of their best players, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and longtime guard Quenton Nelson, to kick-start a rebuilding effort. The 42-7 loss was their fourth straight defeat and left them at 2-6, a record the Indianapolis Star described bluntly as a season that is, for all intents and purposes, over.
That is why the Richardson cameo matters beyond the box score. The Star's analysis asked the question now hanging over the franchise: with the season slipping away, is it time to see what else Indianapolis has in the quarterback room for the rest of the year? It also warned that the answer is not simple, noting that Richardson's career completion percentage is nine points worse than Jones's 2026 average and that over 15 career starts he has 21 total touchdowns against 25 turnovers.
Steichen has not announced a permanent change, and nothing in Sunday's cameo settles the job by itself. What Sunday did settle is that the Colts are no longer waiting for this season to turn around on its own. Indianapolis hosts the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday, November 8, while Jacksonville plays at Baltimore on Thursday night.
Fuentes: NBC Sports, 1 de noviembre de 2026; Indianapolis Star, 1 de noviembre de 2026; Associated Press vía TSN, 1 de noviembre de 2026.