With two minutes and 41 seconds left on the clock at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Colts cornerback Jaylon Jones walked over to quarterback Anthony Richardson on the sidelines.
The Colts defense had just held the New York Jets to a field goal, making the score 27-22 and giving the Colts the ball back with plenty of time for a scoring drive of their own. It had to be a touchdown, though, if the Colts were going to snap their three-game losing streak.
So, Jones had just one thing to say to the Colts' QB1.
"It's '5' time."
It was the verbal representation of what everyone on the Colts sideline was thinking. They all knew Richardson was fully capable of leading such a drive – Richardson had led the Colts on two touchdown drives earlier in the game – and that the young quarterback wasn't going to shy away from the big moment. So, Jones simply reassured Richardson his teammates had all the confidence in the world in him – just as they always had.
Richardson proved their faith was in the right place as he led a six-play, 70-yard drive that ended in the 22-year-old barreling into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown of the day. That drive proved to be the game-winner and Richardson, in his return from a two-game absence, finished with a career-high 272 passing yards and a touchdown, as well as 32 rushing yards and those two rushing touchdowns in the Colts' 28-27 victory.
"It was amazing to see him out there doing his thing," defensive end Kwity Paye said. "Everyone was just behind him the whole week, encouraging him. He already knew what he had to do, it wasn't like it was anything new to him, so he got his opportunity back and he went out there and executed."
"He was on all day," cornerback Kenny Moore II said. "I feel like he was on fire. And just seeing him play to that standard, to that ability, he brought the defense a lot of confidence."
Richardson exuded and spread confidence, but he also brought a sense of calm; the quarterback said himself Sunday was the most relaxed he'd felt during a game. He was focused on the task in front of him – showing up for his team – and nothing else.
"He's like, I got you guys, I'm going to deliver the play, everybody be where they're supposed to be, we'll make it happen," running back Jonathan Taylor said. "When you got a quarterback like that, especially a young quarterback and he's able to understand that, and he's able to execute like that in moments like this, everyone around just has to do their job and we just have to make sure we're there for him."
"For a guy so young, you never really see him get rattled," tight end Mo Alie-Cox said. "With him back there, even all the other games we lost, we just feel like we have a chance to win with him back there, just with his demeanor and the way he carries himself. He has that will – he doesn't want to lose."
Richardson's refusal to get rattled or overwhelmed helped his teammates just as much as it helped him, with perhaps no one benefiting more than wide receiver Josh Downs, who finished the game with five receptions on five targets for 84 yards and a touchdown.
"It helps us too because when you can sustain drives, it allows you to get more targets," Downs said. "When you have more plays in a drive, there's more targets, more routes run, so you're just in the flow of the game."
But while Richardson's 'typical' quarterback plays – his touchdown pass to Downs and 39-yard completion to wide receiver Alec Pierce come to mind – certainly fired up the Colts sideline, it was his distinctive and atypical style of play that really brought his teammates to their feet and bolstered their confidence in him even more.
Because how often do you get a 6-foot-4, 244-pound quarterback who can run just as well as he can throw the ball? And how often does he truck his way into the endzone not once, but twice? The answer is almost never. So, when Richardson stiff-armed one defender and bowled over another to get into the end zone for the Colts' first touchdown of the day, all his teammates could do was rush from the sidelines to congratulate him.
"It looked like dude got hit by the Holy Ghost the way he went backwards," tight end Mo Alie-Cox said about safety Jalen Mills, who Richardson collided with at the end zone. "But we know what (Richardson) could do with the ball in his hands. On both of the touchdown runs I think he ran somebody over. So, we hear those runs called and we know, even if we don't block it perfect or if we block it perfect and someone comes free, we know he has the ability to go out there and finish."
"Man, look, you stepping in front of a freight train, for real," Jones said. "I would hate to be on the other side of that."
And even when the Jets were able to put pressure on the "freight train," Richardson was still able to evade it enough to get the ball out and make a play, or have a "good incompletion," as Pierce put it.
"I think that's something people don't give him credit for," the wide receiver said. "People might be like oh, his completion percentage is this or this; a lot of times he's throwing the ball away that other quarterbacks are getting sacked. Those are good incompletions when he breaks out of two tackles and has to launch it out of bounds, that's pretty impressive."
Richardson's all-around performance on Sunday was impressive, but it wasn't unexpected. The Colts knew about his natural abilities on the field. What stood out more was his mentality and approach to the game, and the tangible results they yielded.
"It just showed a lot of maturity seeing him these past two weeks attack the week, prepare, make the most – he's playing scout team, he's taking that seriously, he's trying to get better," Pierce said. "So I think it showed a lot of maturity and I'm real proud."
"When he went out, when we inserted Joe (Flacco), he came in much more laser-focused every single day and he didn't let personality show as much," Alie-Cox said. "He was more focused on work. So this week he got the job back, he was laser-focused at work, but when the time came, he let Anthony be Anthony. And today, he went out there and was Anthony."
