The Denver Broncos host the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15, and their starting QB, Anthony Richardson, has put up some interesting numbers in 2024. Both Denver and Indy will be coming off of their byes, so this could be a rare occurrence in the NFL where two opponents are coming off of a ton of rest.
Denver is 8-5 and sits in the seventh seed in the AFC Playoff Picture, and the Colts come into this game at 6-7, right behind Denver. The Broncos winning this game in Week 15 would effectively knock the Colts out of the postseason, as they would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker over Denver and would then only be able to win-out for nine wins. Denver would have nine wins on the season with the win.
Anthony Richardson is not an efficient QB
Indy doesn't blow teams out or get blown out, but they aren't a very good team. Their defense often can't get off the field - the unit allows a ton of yards on the ground, and their QB, Anthony Richardson, has not been efficient this year. Actually, it's kind of shocking how inefficient he's been in 2024.
On the season, Richardson has completed just 47.4% of his passes for 1,511 yards, seven touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a passer rating of 64.3. The one redeeming quality about Richardson is that he is very hard to sack, having been sacked just 11 times in nine games.
He's also added 383 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. He never completed 60% of his passes even in college and has not done it in the NFL, either. The weird thing with the second-year QB is that he really struggles to complete passes that aren't deep shots down the field.
I would imagine that coming into this game, the Denver Broncos are going to try and force Richardson to work the intermediate part of the field and strive to defend the deep passes, so we could see some two-high safety looks, almost daring Richardson to work the middle part of the field and that 10-15 intermediate range.
However it slices out, it's abundantly clear that this is yet another must-win game for the Denver Broncos here in 2024. After dropping to 5-5 in their Week 10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Broncos go for their fourth win in a row here in Week 15 over the Colts.