If you watched the Indianapolis Colts contest with the Washington Redskins this last Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, you, of course, were thrilled by the 49 yard touchdown gallop by Daniel “Boom” Herron. Herron has seen more action at the running back spot since Ahmed Bradshaw’s injury, and against the ‘Skins he made the most of his opportunity. His performance also underscores the lack production by fellow running back Trent Richardson. Richardson’s stats this year are little better than his stats of 2013. As of this writing, Trent’s production from the Horseshoe backfield in 2013 is 445 yards on 135 carries for a 3.3 yard average per carry, with 3 rushing touchdowns and a long run of 27 yards. That is just not acceptable for a feature back in a pro offensive. Richardson does have 22 receptions for 203 and a healthy 9.8 yards per catch average. Three attributes that a running back needs are quickness, power, and speed. Of the three, quickness is the most important for a running back. The ability to take the ball and get to the hole that the offensive line has opened is essential for the play to be successful. Richardson processes power but he lacks quickness and speed. His limitations at the running back position have become more apparent as the 2014 season has progressed. He heard boos from the Lucas Oil crowd after being stuffed for the second time near the goal line.
Richardson is a nice and sincere young man but he is not working out as a professional athlete. He isn’t the first and won’t be the last to suffer that fate. Daniel Herron has pro level talent but he also has fumbling issues. At this time, however, he is the most talented and productive back on the Colts roster and he should be in the starting lineup.
Trent Richardson was an All-American running back at Alabama and a member of both their 2010 and 2012 BCS National Championship teams. In 2012 he was drafted third by the Cleveland Browns after Andrew Luck and RGIII. He was the last first round pick of the Mike Holmgren administration. The Brown’s Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown was not impressed with Richardson’s selection, calling the young man an ordinary talent with nothing special to offer the team and lacking quickness and speed. People thought he was being a bit hard on the kid at the time. Richardson gained 950 on 267 carries for a 3.6 average and scored 11 rushing touchdowns. He had some injury issues his first pro season and missed playing time due to them. When the 2013 season opened for the Browns, Richardson was expected to be the workhorse back for them. The Colts lost starting back Vic Ballard in the first quarter of the first game of the season against the Raiders. Ahmed Bradshaw was still nursing some injuries for the 2012 season so the Colts went shopping for a running back. To the virtual shock of everyone, the Browns traded Richardson away to Indianapolis for their 2014 first round pick. At first the “experts” castigated Cleveland for throwing away the player that the franchises offense was supposed to be around, but as the season progressed and Richardson failed to emerge as a serious running threat, a number of people started to believe that the Browns may have known what they were doing when they made the deal and that the Colts were on the wrong end of a bad trade. There were injury problems with the offensive line and Richardson was not fully recovered from his 2012 injuries so the jury was still out on whether or not Richardson could make the grade. Jim Brown’s observations about seemed to be right on target.
As the 2014 season has progressed, however, Richardson has simply not produced at a starting level. Fans breathed a sigh of relief if he made it back to the line of scrimmage after taking the hand-off from Luck. On those rare occasions that he does crank off a five or six yard gain he often negates the effort by fumbling. One blogger paraphrased an old saying: “the definition of insanity is to keep giving the ball to Trent Richardson and expecting different results.” So why are we still seeing so much of Trent Richardson? Most likely because offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton wanted to feature a strong running game and thought he could do it with number 34. Even more likely is that Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson just can’t bring himself to believe that the trade is a bust. It has turned out to be an even worse deal than the Marshall Faulk trade with the Rams as far as value for the Colts and will go down as the worst trade in franchise history, and probably one of the 20 worst deals in NFL history. No GM would want that albatross hanging around his neck. There was a rumor that the Colts were considering signing Ray Rice after his suspension was lifted. They denied it and I hope that is the case. Talk about an unneeded distraction! Grigson has brought some useful talent to the roster through the draft and free agency. There are some solid pro prospects in the running in this year’s college draft crop. I hope the Colts wait until the 2015 college draft to address their running back needs. As for Trent Richardson, I genuinely wish him all the luck in the world in the next phase of his non-football related life.
New Palestine Champs
Congratulations to Coach Kyle Ralph and his New Palestine Dragons on winning the Class II-A State football championship. Leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind, the Dragons steamrolled New Prairie 77-42 to pick up their first state championship. This was the crowning glory of a perfect 15-0 season for the New Pal Dragons. Here’s hoping this is the first of many state titles for New Palestine.
snicewanger@yahoo.com