Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson did not play in the Week 17 matchup with the Giants due to a back injury and revealed on Wednesday just how bad things got last week.
While Richardson told reporters he’s hoping to play in Sunday’s season finale, there was a point last week where he could barely move due to a disc issue in his lower back.
“Last week was tough,” Richardson said, via James Boyd of TheAthletic.com. “I couldn’t even stand up on Tuesday, I couldn’t even stand up on Tuesday, could barely even walk, crawling around the house. But I’m here. I’m standing now.
“If I can do everything in my power to get on the field, I’m going to do so. That was my mindset last week as well. But I could barely move.”
Richardson noted that he’s been dealing with issues in his back since he was in eighth grade but they had never been this severe.
“I got an MRI. They checked it out. They said it’s a disc thing that’s been there for a while,” Richardson said. “But I guess it got triggered the wrong way last week and it did what it did.”
“I never viewed it as a problem,” Richardson added. “I thought it was more so just muscle tightness from just working out and running a lot. But it might be chronic. But there’s other ways to prevent it, going on in the future. And now that I know what it is, I can find certain ways, stay out of certain positions and make sure I’m healthy, 100 percent.”
At this point, Richardson does not need surgery and noted he hopes the disc issue never becomes that severe.
“I just hope I can keep playing for the rest of my career with no problems,” Richardson said.
In 11 starts this year, Richardson has completed 47.7 percent of his passes for 1,814 yards with eight touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He’s also rushed for 499 yards with six TDs.
