Friday, October 20, 2023

Indianapolis Colts Week 7 NFL Power Rankings Roundup

Throughout the 2023 NFL season, we will compile a consensus NFL Power Rankings that averages the rankings of all 32 NFL teams.

Below you will find a Week 7 roundup for the Indianapolis Colts in our consensus 2023 NFL Power Rankings.

ESPN -- Rank: 22

Lesson learned: QB Anthony Richardson has a future.

From a distance, it's perhaps difficult to assess Richardson's performance given his rash of injuries (he's currently on injured reserve and it's unclear when he'll play again). But this year's No. 4 overall pick has acquitted himself well when he has played, rallying from a 23-0 deficit to force overtime against the Rams and averaging 5.4 yards per carry when he runs the ball. His right shoulder injury could be a legitimate setback in his development, particularly if he misses the remainder of the season. But the Colts can move forward with some confidence that they have finally found their future at quarterback after many years. -- Stephen Holder

NFL.com -- Rank: 21

In his first start following the news that Anthony Richardson will be out an extended period, Gardner Minshew turned the ball over four times in the loss to Jacksonville -- and it could have been even worse. This isn't what we expected from Minshew, given that he entered the game with zero turnovers on the season, but it's a reminder that in his two starts for the Eagles last season, Minshew threw three picks and fumbled four times (losing one). Owner Jim Irsay told ESPN on Monday that Richardson is "probably" done for the season, so it's likely to be Minshew from here on out. The Jonathan Taylor-Zack Moss duo probably will take a bigger share of the load, but the Colts really are entering a tricky stretch facing back-to-back strong defenses in the Browns and Saints.

CBS Sports -- Rank: 18

So much for all the Gardner Minshew hype. He was terrible against the Jaguars, which doesn't bode well since Anthony Richardson is likely done for the season.

USA Today -- Rank: 26

QB Anthony Richardson's shoulder injury will likely scuttle his rookie season, per owner Jim Irsay. Probably an unsurvivable setback ... unless RB Jonathan Taylor displays his 2021 form soon.

The Athletic -- Rank: 18

Let's be honest, the Colts' record isn't the most important thing this season. The development of rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson is, and now Richardson might miss the rest of the season because of a shoulder injury. If that's the case, Richardson would finish his fourth year of football (dating to three years at Florida) with only 477 total passing attempts. (For context, Patrick Mahomes had 648 last season.) That's not the path to development.

FOX -- Rank: 24

This is the way it goes for Gardner Minshew. He's one of the league's best backups in the sense that he is good enough to keep you competitive and even win some games. But over a large enough sample size, he's going to play a three-interception game like what we saw Sunday. With Anthony Richardson now "probably" out for the season, the Colts seem awfully uninteresting — which is arguably worse than being bad.

Yahoo! -- Rank: 20

The explanation for why the Colts passed nearly every down on Sunday, via center Ryan Kelly, was that the Jaguars were in their base defensive personnel and the Colts wanted to pass them out of it. That didn't happen. Then the game script got bad, and Gardner Minshew II threw it 55 times. The Colts better get used to teams loading up the box. They should be an elite running team, but opponents understand that too.

PFT -- Rank: 15

The quarterback curse continues for the Colts.

Previous updates:

More Indianapolis Colts pages:

Check out more of our content:

Keep track of our site's updates: (1) follow us on Twitter, (2) like us on Facebook and/or (3) subscribe to our newsletter.

Posted by at
Labels: ,