Indianapolis, IN
Who Caused Colts’ Loss to Lions? Not Anthony Richardson
Way too often in the NFL, the quarterback receives too much credit for a win and too much of the blame for a loss.
But that is exactly the opposite of what we will be doing today. Anthony Richardson is not the reason the Indianapolis Colts lost to the Detroit Lions, 24-6. Richardson’s supporting cast failed him too many times to count as the offense repeatedly shot themselves in the foot against arguably the best team in the league.
“We lost, so it wasn’t good enough,” Richardson remarked about his performance. “Just got to get back to the drawing board. Like I said, focus on the details and just be better as a whole, not just individual.”
Richardson’s performance was, admittedly, not one to write home about. The quarterback was 11-of-28 (39%) for 172 yards with zero touchdowns or interceptions while adding 61 yards on the ground. But as has been the case for most of the season, the box score does not tell the whole story.
Richardson was under constant duress as the offensive line produced their worst game of the season. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Richardson was pressured on 46.7% of his dropbacks yesterday. Despite taking zero sacks due to Richardson getting rid of the football or evading the rush, he hardly had any time to deliver the football to his receivers.
Anthony Richardson took zero sacks vs DET despite being pressured on 46.7% of dropbacks per @NextGenStats
There have been three instances this season where a QB is pressured on 45%+ of his dropbacks in a game but has taken zero sacks: Anthony Richardson is two of them (Wks 7/12)
— Noah Compton (@nerlens_) November 25, 2024
The offensive line also had killer penalties that negated big plays or stalled drives. Quenton Nelson, who may have played the worst game of his career, was called for three penalties. Holding calls on Braden Smith and Dalton Tucker eliminated plays of 21 and 19 yards, respectively.
Altogether, the Colts had eight offensive penalties on plays that totaled 98 yards. 79 of those 98 were passing yards on four completions by Richardson. That is a lot of yardage and big plays erased by self-inflicted wounds.
“As a team, it hurts us,” Richardson admitted. “Whenever you’re out there playing a good team like that, you can’t beat yourself and try to beat the other team at the same time. So, the penalties definitely hurt us, but that’s just getting back to the drawing board, just understanding the minor details and discipline between each and every play. Just want to make it work.”
It was not just the offensive line that failed to provide any help. The tight end group was abysmal as Drew Ogletree and Kylen Granson continued to waste opportunities.
Ogletree was called for a hold that negated a 21-yard gain by Granson and then proceeded to drop a wide-open touchdown pass. Granson failed to look for the ball when he was a wide-open hot read and then cut off his route when he was not supposed to, causing two more incompletions.
While the play of the tight ends was as bad as it has been all season, causing the position to become the top need this offseason amongst fans, Richardson tried to take some heat off of Ogletree after the game.
“Just stick with it,” Richardson said when asked what he told Ogletree after the drop. “He’s not going to catch every pass. I’m not going to throw a great ball every time. So, like I said, it’s the nature of the game. Whatever the game throws at you, you’ve got to just adjust and just play ball. He dropped the ball – so what. I don’t throw great passes all the time, so it is what it is. We’re going to get the next one.”
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Combine the disappointments from the offensive line and tight ends with a failure to get Jonathan Taylor going, not getting two feet inbounds on a dime from Richardson to Ashton Dulin, and continued miscommunication from AD Mitchell, the offense was a brutal mess.
Richardson did his best to take the blame after the game and not single anyone out, but the film does not lie. Michael Pittman Jr. (six catches for 96 yards) and Josh Downs (three catches for 27 yards) showed up to help their quarterback, but that was about it. The supporting cast has to be better.
“Just execution, dropped passes, delivery,” Richardson explained. “I could’ve thrown some better passes, especially the one to the left, to JD (Josh Downs) right there. But just execution, no penalties in the red zone and just finishing. We didn’t finish play calls that we did have. We just didn’t execute.”
The failure to execute and undisciplined penalties also falls on the coaching staff. Offensive line coach Tony Sparano Jr. and tight ends coach Tom Manning did not have their groups ready to play on Sunday. But the buck stops with head coach Shane Steichen, who must get his unit better prepared and ready to execute.
“Penalties hurt us. Starts with myself,” Steichen stated. “We’ve got to get those cleaned up. We had a season-high 10 penalties I believe for 75 yards – that’s on me. We can’t have that. We’ve got to play clean football going forward.”
Those who only look at the box score, did not watch the game, or are trying to push a narrative, will say that Richardson’s accuracy issues reared their ugly head yet again and it doomed the Colts. It is the same lazy analysis that the FOX halftime crew, particularly Michael Strahan, put forth at the break.
Those who know ball and watched the game know the group around Richardson failed him. They failed their quarterback by taking away opportunities or failing to convert plays that legitimately could have changed the course of the game. And when playing a team like the Lions, that cannot happen if you hope to win.
“We’ve just got to execute,” Richardson proclaimed. “We knew that was a great team right there, but they didn’t really do anything spectacular to beat us. They played that game the right way and we didn’t go out and execute the way we knew that we were supposed to.
“We let them throw a few penalties on us because (of) our discipline and our details. We’ve just got to keep playing, play complimentary football, keep the details the details, and keep trusting the process and just going out there and trying to find a way to win.”
The difference between a good team like the Lions and a lesser team like the Colts was evident yesterday. One was disciplined, executed, and took advantage of their opportunities. The other could not stop tripping over themselves.
The Colts are now 5-7 and seeing their playoff hopes dwindle by the week as they look more and more like a mediocre team yet again. Since Richardson’s return, he has been one of the few players contributing at a high enough level to win games. But football is a team sport, and one player cannot do it alone when his teammates are failing to hold up their end of the bargain.
Maybe it is time for accountability to be enforced at other positions too, not just the quarterback position.
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Hogsett promised this would be his “final term.” But in weighing another run, he may be looking to overcome scandals and project delays, experts say.
Tony Cook and Peter Blanchard on their reporting of Mayor Joe Hogsett
Indy Star reporter Tony Cook and Mirror Indy reporter Peter Blanchard talk to Mirror Indy’s Ibby Ahmed about reporting on Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.
As Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett openly considers a fourth term, political experts say that Hogsett’s musing shows he may want to exit office on stronger footing after a third term dogged by scandals and development delays.
With three Democrats already running for Indianapolis mayor in 2027, Hogsett, 69, refused to rule out a reelection bid when reporters asked him about his plans on April 29.
“Any mayor who has put enough time into the development of our downtown would like to see it completed. So it’s one thing to shovel in a new development. It’s another thing to open the doors and welcome people in and see them enjoy it,” Hogsett told reporters with WISH-TV and WRTV.
“So that tugs at my heartstrings,” he added. “But ultimately, I’ll make a decision that’s based on whatever legacy I’d like to leave our city and how far along we are in promoting that legacy.”
Hogsett did not agree to IndyStar’s request for an interview April 30, made through campaign spokesperson Emily Gurwitz. In a statement, Gurwitz said the mayor remains focused on finishing out his third term by delivering investments in roads and public safety, as well as stewarding the Indianapolis Public Education Corp., the state-mandated entity tasked with reshaping public education in Indianapolis.
“Mayor Hogsett made it clear in his comments yesterday: with the 2027 election still more than a year and a half away, he is focused on the work immediately before him to continue shaping a safer and more vibrant Indianapolis,” Gurwitz said. “This includes developing the 2027 City-County budget, moving forward the critical work of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, delivering on important infrastructure investments with triple the funding in the strip-patching budget in 2026, and continuing to drive meaningful public safety improvements for neighborhoods across the city.”
When he announced his reelection bid in 2022, Hogsett said multiple times that he was seeking his “third and final term.” But the mayor’s recent comments and campaign finance reports have sparked curiosity about his intentions now. Hogsett raised more than half a million dollars in 2025 and ended the year with $1.2 million on hand.
Hogsett, who would be 76 at the end of a fourth term, told reporters that he will announce his decision toward the end of this year, ahead of the May 2027 city primary election.
If he enters, he’ll compete with fellow Democrats Indianapolis City-County Councilor Vop Osili, Indiana Sen. Andrea Hunley and Department of Public Works official David Bride.
Each mayoral candidate told IndyStar April 30 that the mayor’s remarks don’t affect their plans.
“I’m running for mayor. I’m talking with residents, visiting every corner of our city, and focused on affordability, housing, roads, and public safety,” Osili said in a written statement April 30. “Everyone has the right to decide their own political future, but the real question isn’t about one candidate, it’s about the future of our city.”
Will Hogsett move beyond ‘third and final term’ he promised?
The 2022 speech where Hogsett announced his bid for a third term — which came after he’d previously called for mayors to be limited to two four-year terms during his 2015 campaign — may shed light on some of the unfinished business he has in mind.
Addressing a crowd gathered inside City Market in November 2022, he mentioned several major redevelopment projects that he hoped to see finished in a third term, after the COVID-19 pandemic brought the “train of progress” to a “screeching halt.”
“Over the next three years, a historic public-private partnership will revitalize the historic City Market while transforming an entire city block,” Hogsett said.
“New development next to old City Hall? It’s on its way,” he later added. “Downtown heliport redevelopment? Won’t be far behind. The old downtown jail? It’s coming down and we’re going up.”
Of that partial list, the only projects that may wrap up by the end of Hogsett’s third term are downtown’s two jail redevelopments. Jail I was demolished and the Indiana Fever are building a $78 million practice facility, set to open in 2027. Although construction started years late on the Jail II redevelopment, it’s expected to bring more than 200 residential units to downtown’s east side by 2027.
The delayed or failed redevelopment plans, meanwhile, have stacked up.
Earlier this month, the city backed out of plans to build a museum hotel, housing and office space at old City Hall. The renovated City Market won’t open until at least 2028, after the city cut ties with the initial developers.
While the downtown heliport — eyed as a potential site for a Major League Soccer stadium — has closed, Indiana Senate leader Rodric Bray recently dashed hopes for an arena on the site in the near future, saying it “doesn’t look like there’s much chance there.”
“We are confident that Major League Soccer puts Indianapolis at the top of its list of places it would like to see a club,” Hogsett Communications and Policy Director Aliya Wishner said in February in response to Bray’s remarks. “We realize there is still challenging work before us to provide the framework for how state and local support will accomplish this goal.”
Scandals, delays could sway Hogsett to seek reelection
Experts say Hogsett may want to secure more wins to overshadow scandals tied to his handling of sexual harassment allegations within his administration and his oversight of city development deals involving conflicts of interest.
An IndyStar/Mirror Indy investigation dubbed “Mr. Clean” found that Hogsett allowed his former chief of staff Thomas Cook, whose sexual misconduct allegations the two outlets investigated in 2024, to cash in on millions in city incentives overseen by a city official with whom he had a romantic relationship. The stories also showed that the Hogsett administration routinely awards no-bid contracts to former staffers and top campaign donors.
Hogsett has said he’s confident that multiple layers of legal, administrative and legislative oversight ensured that tax incentives and no-bid contracts were in the best interest of the city and taxpayers. Cook, who has not been charged with any crime, has apologized for “consensual relationships that violated a trust placed in me” but denied that he used his professional role to further those relationships.
Still, experts say, the incidents may mar Hogsett’s record.
“He has not been able to cement his legacy in the way that I think he hoped,” Gregory Shufeldt, an associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis, told IndyStar in an April 30 interview. “The sexual assaults and corresponding cover-ups, the Mr. Clean series of articles and kind of broader insights into corruption, I think have really weakened his political capital. The types of things that he has tried to make the capstone or kind of lasting contributions — for example, the MLS team — have not really seen significant progress.”
By keeping the door open to a fourth term, Hogsett can maintain influence over the debate about who will replace him, Shufeldt said. If a candidate wants the mayor’s endorsement or access to his campaign finance largesse, Hogsett can persuade them to focus on issues that further his legacy.
Paul Helmke, who served as mayor of Fort Wayne from 1988 to 2000, told IndyStar he thinks Hogsett has to weigh whether he may want to hold onto power for the right reasons. Helmke, now 77, said his decision not to seek reelection to a fourth term in 1999 was tough, even though he felt he’d accomplished his major goals.
About 50 years old at the time, Helmke chose to devote his next few decades to pursuing other work. He led an organization working to end gun violence and in 2013 became a faculty member at Indiana University, where he founded a civic leadership center and teaches courses on law and public affairs.
“If Hogsett has things he wants to accomplish that he’s making progress on, that he’s not sure will go well if he’s not there, that’s a reason to run again,” Helmke said. “But if you’re just doing it because you don’t know what else to do, or you get to the stage where you’re not sure you’ll have the energy or enthusiasm, then you probably shouldn’t do it.”
Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@indystar.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.
IndyGo serves 22,000 riders daily who rely on it for jobs and healthcare. The funding is voter-approved and separate from road budgets.
IndyGo paratransit services have possible 57% rate hike
Ryan Malone appreciates IndyGo paratransit rides. He has vision impairments and MS. He talks about the rides and the proposed 57% fare increase.
The April 14 letter titled, “Indianapolis doesn’t prioritize pothole repairs” raises a fair frustration shared by many drivers, but it misrepresents priorities, ignores dedicated funding streams, cherry-picks numbers and overlooks how IndyGo delivers broad, measurable value that helps roads and the city overall.
The 2026 Indianapolis city budget directs unprecedented funding to roads. The Department of Public Works’ most recent capital plan included $218 million for transportation infrastructure in 2026, in addition to key investments in additional snow removal and road maintenance equipment. DPW’s transportation capital funding has nearly tripled since 2016. Since that time, the city has resurfaced 1,279 lane miles and strip-patched 1,169 more.
The city is prioritizing basics; roads got a massive boost even with tighter revenues.
The state funding formula has disadvantaged Indianapolis by using two-lane road mileage and ignoring urban complexity. But House Enrolled Act 1461 shifts to a lane-mile formula and provides $50 million extra annually to Marion County — and state law restricts those funds to construction and reconstruction of local streets.
There are several points aimed at IndyGo that are worth correcting and adding important context the public should understand about this critical city service.
The claim that IndyGo’s $432 million budget “could go a long way toward streets” is the most misleading. The 0.25% income tax was voter-approved in 2016 — with nearly 60% voting yes — specifically and exclusively for public transit. These locally raised dollars leverage up to a 400% federal match, multiplying their impact several times over and ensuring Indianapolis captures funding that would otherwise go elsewhere. Diverting them would break a voter promise.
The “less than 2% uses the bus” stat is a classic distortion. IndyGo’s 2025 ridership included 6.7 million trips, or nearly 22,000 riders Monday through Friday. Transit serves disproportionately low-income, senior, disabled and car-free residents who rely on it for jobs, healthcare and school. It isn’t a luxury — it’s mobility infrastructure.
Public transit isn’t in competition with roads; it complements them. Every $1 invested in public transit generates $5 in broader economic activity. The Red Line alone delivered more than $7 per $1 invested, and IndyGo’s BRT network has already attracted more than $1.2 billion in corridor development.
By completion of the Blue Line, IndyGo will have paved more than 90 miles of Indy streets and built or repaired more than 1,300 ADA ramps. Nearly 7 million riders take cars off the road — fewer vehicles mean less congestion and less wear-and-tear on pavement, directly reducing potholes.
Potholes are real, but scapegoating IndyGo distracts from the actual balanced progress underway. Indianapolis is a world-class city with a great future, and the best is yet to come.
Richard Wilson is treasurer of the IndyGo Board of Directors.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — Purdue University has received a $20 million commitment from the Ricks Family Foundation to establish the Purdue Institute for Healthcare Systems Innovation at the Indianapolis campus.
The institute in the Mitch Daniels School of Business aims to improve health care efficiency and effectiveness, the university said in a news release issued Wednesday afternoon.
Dr. Christina Ricks and her husband, David A. Ricks, the chair and CEO of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., are the primary leaders of the foundation.
James “Jim” Bullard, a dean for the Daniels School of Business, said in the release, “Considering the health care situation in the U.S. today, there is a clear need for rigorous, market-informed research that challenges conventional thinking and drives new solutions. This institute will allow Purdue to lead that work and make a lasting difference.”
As Purdue works to develop its relatively new Indianapolis campus, the university recently announced that plans for a 12-story apartment building on recently acquired canal property in Indianapolis are now on hold as the university develops its campus, Mirror Indy reported.
This story was formatted for WISHTV.com using AI-assisted tools. Our editorial team reviews and edits all content published to ensure it meets our journalistic standards for accuracy and fairness.
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