Kirk Herbstreit absolutely buried Anthony Richardson for his pick-six vs. Bengals

Indianapolis Colts fans will hopefully get to see more of Anthony Richardson this year after a shoulder injury cut his rookie season short. Richardson didn't get the luxury of having the preseason finale off, playing until early in the second quarter.

There was good and bad with Richardson in the Colts' final preseason game of the year. The good came right away when the second-year quarterback out of Florida led the offense down the field in a 12-play, 80-yard drive that led to a touchdown. Richardson connected with rookie receiver Adonai Mitchell on a nine-yard score that put the good guys up 7-0.

The bad followed that drive, sadly. Just two plays into Richardson and the offense's second drive, the former fourth overall pick threw an interception right to Bengals safety Jordan Battle, who took the football 14 yards the other way into the end zone.

Kirk Herbstreit, who was calling the game on Amazon Prime, did not appear to be a big fan of Richardson's during the game. At one point, he said that he could see there being a quarterback controversy between Richardson and Joe Flacco this season, which is not going to happen.

After the pick-six, Herbstreit spoke what he believed to be the truth about the young Colts quarterback, noting "That's the issue with Anthony Richardson. Looks great for a drive and then you have a play like that, a pick-six going the other way."

Kirk Herbstreit doesn't seem to believe Anthony Richardson is any good

First and foremost, preseason games don't matter. Richardson was out there playing because he needs the experience as the Colts hope for him to stay healthy in a key second season at the helm. It's better for him to make these type of mistakes in a meaningless game than to do so in a regular season game where the Colts lose because of it.

Richardson isn't going to be perfect at this stage of his career. Heck, even seasoned pros like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen still make boatloads of mistakes. That's how players learn. Richardson will hopefully see what he did wrong on the pick-six and learn from it to ensure it doesn't happen again.

The Colts open the 2024 season against the Houston Texans on September 8 with kickoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. EST. Let's hope Richardson can make Herbstreit and all of the other haters eat their words.