Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson initially sustained a hip injury on a 14-yard scramble with just under six minutes left in the first quarter of Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. After two plays on the sideline, Richardson felt good to return to the game. He then took off on a running play and was hit as he was giving himself up by Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, felt the injury a little bit more and went to the Colts' locker room.

Richardson ultimately returned to the sideline but was ruled out for the rest of the game early in the second quarter of what wound up a 27-24 Colts victory at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Richardson said the injury prevented him from accelerating how he wanted to, so he and the Colts' training staff decided it was best for him to stay on the sidelines for the rest of Sunday afternoon.

"I'm feeling a little sore, but feeling good we got the W today," Richardson said. "... I think I'm gonna be good, just a little soreness."

Steichen said the play that ultimately ended Richardson's day called for him to run the ball against a base (three linebackers, four defensive backs) look from the Pittsburgh defense. While Richardson was trying to give himself up, officials ruled Fitzpatrick's contact was incidental and did not throw a flag.

Richardson, though, wasn't upset with how Land Clark's officiating crew saw the play.

"I don't really care about it," Richardson said. "I was trying to make sure I got down for the team because I couldn't really accelerate how I wanted to. I was just trying to gain a little bit of yards and get down to the ground. I don't know if they should've thrown the flag, I didn't really care about the hit."

While the Colts were certainly pleased to exit Week 4 with a win – which brought the team to .500 on the season – it did come with some mixed emotions with Richardson exiting about 11 minutes into the game.

"People are gonna talk about injuries or say he's injury-prone, blah blah blah," Richardson said. "But nobody wants to get injured. Everybody wants to stay on the field. So of course I was like, damn, not again. But it's all good. It's God's plan. I'm trusting it."

Neither Steichen nor Richardson would predict if the second-year quarterback would be available for next week's AFC South matchup against the 0-4 Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. Richardson certainly hopes to play, but he and the Colts will take a wait-and-see approach to how the next few days go before the team's first practice of Week 5 on Wednesday.

"It's tough," Steichen said. "Obviously we'll see how the week goes, but we want him out there."

Veteran Joe Flacco came off the sideline in place of Richardson and delivered a backup quarterbacking masterclass, completing 16 of 26 passes for 168 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 105.9. Flacco's third-and-10 touchdown to tight end Drew Ogletree and a third-and-seven completion to wide receiver Josh Downs, both of which came in the fourth quarter, proved to be key plays in a narrow Colts victory.

"He didn't play like an old man today," Richardson said of the 39-year-old Flacco. "He looked like he was pretty young out there. He was slinging it, he was running around a little bit."