The Pittsburgh Steelers play the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4. In the lead-up to the game this week, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin was addressing facing veteran quarterback Carson Wentz, who has a strong arm but isn't very mobile. At the same time, Tomlin decided to insult Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson.
You might ask yourself how this even came up. After all, Richardson is no longer the Indy QB1, and the Colts and Steelers are not scheduled to play each other until Week 9. But Tomlin's overall point made sense, though his verbiage about AR5 was not needed.
Second-year quarterback JJ McCarthy is supposed to be Minnesota's quarterback, but he is injured and won't play against the Steelers. This means Pittsburgh will face the older Wentz. Tomlin would rather take on a young quarterback still finding his way than a veteran.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin appears to take unnecessary cheap shot at Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson
When the Colts and Steelers played last season, Richardson's backup was Joe Flacco. Flacco, of course, had many years more experience in the NFL than Richardson. Tomlin wanted to play against the younger quarterback.
The issue is that when speaking to the press this week, Mike Tomlin possibly accidentally insulted Richardson with the words he chose.
The coach said when comparing playing the Vikings this year and the Colts last season, "I told the guys last year keep Richardson upright, don’t let Flacco in the game."
This could be taken as Tomlin thinking Flacco was the better quarterback and would rather he not enter the game. That isn't what the coach meant, but simply how it sounded.
The ironic part was, and maybe something that Tomlin has forgotten, that Anthony Richardson was very good against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, though in limited action. Richardson was injured in the game after starting three of four passing and running three times for 24 yards.
Of course, Flacco entered the game after Richardson's exit and torched the Steelers. He led Indy to a 27-24 victory and threw two touchdown passes.
Flacco is gone now, of course, and Richardson is a backup to Daniel Jones. Still, Mike Tomlin's words likely will be bulletin board material ahead of the Indianapolis Colts' Week 9 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Any extra motivation helps. (Let's just hope that nothing happens to Jones before then, and Richardson is back to being the starter.)