by Daniel Jones started.
Anthony Richardson did not play a snap.
Baltimore left Lucas Oil with a 41–23 win and 506 yards. That is the game. The depth chart is the story underneath it.
How the Colts got run over
Indianapolis punched first. Jonathan Taylor scored from a yard out. The extra point missed. Colts 6–0.
It lasted two minutes and thirteen seconds.
Lamar Jackson ran one in from five. Derrick Henry scored from four, then from 32. Zay Flowers took a 54-yard ball. Henry scored again from three in the fourth.
Henry finished with 24 carries, 144 yards, three touchdowns. He moved past Marcus Allen for third on the NFL rushing-touchdown list.
Jackson went 17-of-25 for 324 yards, one passing touchdown, one rushing score, 43 yards on the ground.
Flowers had five catches for 150 yards and the long score — then a hamstring took him out before half. Rookie Ja’Kobi Lane left with a wrist. Baltimore still piled it on.
What Daniel Jones actually did
Jones was 19-of-31 for 166 yards, one touchdown, one interception. The Ravens hit him 10 times and sacked him twice. Malaki Starks ended it with a fourth-down sack.
Taylor ran 19 times for 98 yards and two scores. Jones found Tyler Warren from nine yards out with 10 minutes left. That made it 38–23. Tyler Loop’s 45-yard kick made it 41–23. The building never got the other quarterback.
Yards: Baltimore 506, Indianapolis 251. Time of possession: 35:20 to 24:40.
What QB2 looked like from the sideline
Shane Steichen named Richardson the backup on Sept. 3. Jones was the present. Richardson was the hedge.
Sunday is what the hedge looks like when the present is getting cooked and still finishes the game.
This is not a case for pulling Jones at 28–13. It is not a case that Richardson should have started. It is the first Sunday data point on a decision Sportimatic already wrote down: he asked out, the trade never came, he won the bench, and the bench is where he spent Week 1.
The box
- Final: Ravens 41, Colts 23.
- Jackson: 17-of-25, 324 yards, 1 pass TD, 1 rush TD.
- Henry: 24–144, 3 TDs.
- Jones: 19-of-31, 166 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.
- Taylor: 19–98, 2 TDs.
- Richardson: active as QB2. No snaps reported.
What it means
For Baltimore, Jesse Minter’s first Sunday was loud. The receiver room is the next problem. Flowers and Lane both left.
For Indianapolis, Jones is still the starter. The numbers were not a starter’s afternoon. They were also not a benching.
Richardson is one injury from a start. Last month that sentence sounded like a threat. After 41–23 it sounds like the same unfinished first-round pick, still on the 53, still waiting for a game that is not this one.
QB2 is not a parade.
On this roster, after this score, it is not a promotion either.
Desk note. Final and box from the Sept. 13 CBS window. Henry’s place on the rushing-TD list from league tracking in the same game. Richardson’s title from the Colts’ Sept. 3 announcement. Monday night still open: Denver at Kansas City.
More: Richardson named QB2 · Week 1 board · Kelce and Mahomes, Monday
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