With 5:42 left in the first quarter on Sunday, Lucas Oil Stadium fell silent.

Not again.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson lay on the field in pain after a 14-yard scramble. Richardson was tackled by Pittsburgh Steelers safeties DeShon Elliott and Minkah Fitzpatrick, with Fitzpatrick’s hit landing directly to the hip of the Colts’ quarterback. Trainers surrounded Richardson as the crowd intently watched on.

Eventually, Richardson got up and walked off under his own power. Richardson did return for one more play, but his hip was not right, and the Colts held him out for the rest of the game.

With Richardson sidelined, it was up to Joe Flacco to take the offense’s reins and help lead the Colts to victory. The veteran quarterback did just that, as Flacco steadied the offense, and the Colts took down the undefeated Steelers 27-24.

“It was different. It definitely took a little bit of time for me to kind of just settle down,” Flacco admitted. “And it’s kind of like I kept telling myself, just do the simple things. And it’s definitely a different experience when you come in like that.”

Flacco has been a starting quarterback for most of his 17-year career. Out of 189 games, Flacco has started 185 of them. Coming off the bench has been a fairly new experience for the former Super Bowl MVP.

But Flacco hardly has any experience being thrown into the fire mid-game, especially as a backup who hardly receives any reps throughout the week. Backup quarterbacks always have to be ready in case this situation occurs. Flacco’s secret to staying ready is not to overthink things and rely on his countless years of throwing the football.

“You can’t overthink it,” Flacco explained. “It’s football. And I think everybody’s personality is a little bit different. So, some guys love to think about every little thing and everything that can go right, everything that can go wrong, and that’s how they play best. That’s how they stay locked in. I think my personality probably lends itself decent to this type of situation because yeah, it’s like, don’t overthink it, don’t overdo it. It’s just a game of football.”

Flacco finished 16-of-26 (62%) for 168 yards and two touchdowns to help bring the Colts to 2-2 on the year. Just like he has done over the years, Flacco came up huge in the biggest moments of the game. The Colts were 8-of-15 on third down, sustaining drives that gave Indy their longest time of possession this season.

Flacco often found Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Downs to convert those crucial third downs. Pittman had easily his best game with six catches for 113 yards after struggling to get going over the first three games. Downs looked back to his old self after the high ankle sprain with eight catches for 82 yards and a touchdown of his own.

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Combine the performances of Flacco, Pittman, and Downs with Jonathan Taylor adding 88 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and the major pieces of the Colts’ offense came together to pull out a victory in Richardson’s absence.

“The third down conversions were huge,” Flacco said. “I think I hit Pitt on the first one. Hit Josh on the next one. … I think everybody came up big. That’s what you’ve got to do it. I mean, when you’re me, when you kind of come in and you get thrown into those situations, you just trust your guys to do the right thing and see what happens in the end.”

“Obviously, he’s played a lot of football,” head coach Shane Steichen mentioned about Flacco. “Went in there and operated pretty darn good – threw two touchdowns. Moved the offense up and down the field. Did a nice job for us, for sure.”

While Flacco kept the offense moving, all eyes will be on Richardson throughout the week as he deals with the hip injury. Early indications are Richardson suffered a hip pointer and that it is not a serious injury. Richardson tried to return to the game but could not accelerate like he wished. The Colts took a cautious approach and decided to hold Richardson out, trusting Flacco could bring home the win.

Richardson was off to a great start before the injury, going 3-of-4 (75%) for 71 yards with 24 yards on the ground. He looked much calmer than in the previous three games, leading to accurate throws to all areas of the field. Richardson was trending towards his best game of the year, and the type of performance he showed early is what the Colts want to see consistently out of their QB1.

Richardson did offer encouraging words on his injury after the game, suggesting he could return as early as Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I’m feeling a little sore but feeling good we got the W today,” Richardson said. “Great execution by everyone on the field today. I think I’m going to be good, just a little soreness.”

If Richardson cannot go next week or has to miss time in the future, the Colts now have proof Flacco can come in and handle the job. Sunday was a big win for the Colts over the Steelers as the team is beginning to grow momentum. But now is not the time to rest on their laurels, as the team will need to continue finding ways to improve throughout the long season.

“You really do have to take each week individually in this league,” Flacco remarked. “There’s really no – not much correlation. I mean, when you get on a roll, you can obviously get on a roll, but I kind of alluded to it a little bit earlier, it’s still so early in the season, four weeks in. We’re still trying to figure things out both ways, deal with what we have to deal with, and then go out there and get a victory.”

On a day when the Colts had to roll with the punches, they overcame adversity and beat one of the lone undefeated teams left in the NFL. So no, thankfully, it does not look like Richardson suffered a major injury.

But if his number has to be called again, Flacco is ready to come to the rescue.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Pittsburgh Steelers came out slow against the Indianapolis Colts and paid the price for it, falling 27-24 in a valiant comeback attempt. However, Pittsburgh still sits at 3-1 and will be atop the AFC North, so it’s not all bad for the Steelers. Regardless, this loss highlighted a lot of issues that bubbled to the surface despite some very good play all around the team through their first three wins.

Here are the winners and losers from the Steelers’ loss to the Colts:

Loser: Linebackers

You can put Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson in this bucket, especially. The Steelers’ linebackers have struggled throughout much of the year, but a dominant defensive line has made most of the issues. With the Colts having the offensive line to neutralize Pittsburgh’s defensive line. In the second half, the linebackers did step up their play against the run, but with consistent miscommunication across the defense, some of that comes back to Queen. Queen himself missed a few keys and struggled to fit the run early. Wilson struggled in coverage mightily, getting caught being too aggressive on too many reps.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen did an excellent job pitting the linebackers in conflict, which sank the defense for much of the day. Without the linebacker play to stay afloat, Pittsburgh could not secure themselves a win.

Winner: Darnell Washington

Washington continues to prove that he is fantastic. He has taken a second-year leap as a blocker and cleared out numerous lanes for the Steelers running backs, but the plus ones in the box, which we will get to in a bit, prevented much of that from mattering. As a pass catcher, there is untapped potential, and he can be deadly after the catch when given space.

Washington is a solid player who gets better each week. The Steelers will want to acquire that type of player as they continue to build their team into a contender.

Loser: Coaching Staff

The entire Steelers coaching staff deserves some flack. Mike Tomlin does for a poor challenge and awful clock awareness throughout the game. From that perspective, the way he called the game made no sense. Tomlin failed to challenge a third down where Najee Harris clearly got a first one. The Steelers came out extremely flat and that goes to the head coach.

Defenisve coordinator Teryl Austin struggled to adjust after the quarterback switch due to Anthony Richardson’s injury. The Steelers never blitzed or disguised their coverages, and instead let the Colts dissect their vanilla Cover 3 scheme. Pittsburgh needs to go deeper into its bag of tricks against clever offensive coordinators, something they have struggled to do. For the predictability, that falls on Austin.

Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith called a brutal game that put his team in tough spots. The Steelers ran on second-and-long five times throughout the game, and Smith’s insistence on running the football in bad situations hurt the team significantly. Pittsburgh’s run game continues to run in the mud, and their play-action game has shown no life down the field through four weeks of the season. All of that falls on him, and Pittsburgh’s struggles are, to a large point, on him.

Winner: DeShon Elliott

Elliott played well in this game, and the Steelers have themselves a legitimately solid safety. In a game where many players, including Joey Porter Jr. and Minkah Fitzpatrick, uncharacteristically struggled, Elliott was like a shining diamond in the sea. He continues to make the Steelers’ investment in him look smarter by the day.

Loser: Najee Harris

Harris averaged less than two yards per carry, posting 19 yards on 13 rush attempts. He did have a big play on the screen, but it did not make up the day. Harris is not a great schematic fit and Smith has done little to nothing to tweak it to him, even when the Steelers showed they could be a deadly pulling team last year.

However, Harris continues to show that his lack of burst, especially getting downhill with zone runs, is a huge issue for the Steelers. The icing on the cake was Harris not going out of bounds on the final drive, forcing the Steelers to rush their final play. He is a loser in this one, and is off to a disappointing start.

Winner: Cordarrelle Patterson

Patterson is efficient and fits this offense like a glove. Before his unfortunate ankle injury, the Steelers were working extremely well with Patterson taking much of the work from Harris, and his explosive, hit-it-quick style is just what the Steelers need. If he can get healthy, Patterson should take up even more time.

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From food trucks to community resources, Citizens Energy Group is preparing for its second annual Community Day.

Jeffrey Harrison, the President and CEO of Citizens Energy Group, says the event’s goal is to help community members solve problems with paying their bills and accessing resources. In addition to healthcare resources and educational assistance, financial resources will be made available to Citizens customers who need assistance.  

With music and food trucks on hand, Harrison says, “This should be a really fun day.” The first 500 attendees will receive a food voucher. “It’s important to bring people together,” Harrison says. He wants customers to walk away from the event with information and resources to reduce their utility bill.  

Citizens Energy Group Community Resource Day is free and open to the public. It will be held on October 5th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Spanish, Frech-Creole, and Burmese language translators will be available on-site to help with translation. 

To learn more, visit www.citizensenergygroup.com.