Anthony Richardson's "very serious" back spasms sidelined him for Week 17

Colts second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson was not able to play in Sunday's loss to the Giants due to back and foot injuries.

During the practice week, head coach Shane Steichen noted that Richardson's back was more of an issue than his foot, but he characterized the issue as soreness. After Sunday's game, however, Steichen gave some more detail about Richardson's injury, saying that the quarterback was dealign with back spasms.

“Yeah, it was back spasms, and it was bad,” Steichen said. “Like, he wasn’t able to go I mean otherwise he would have been out there. He just wasn’t able to go today, and we didn’t want to put him in harm’s way."

Asked why he said it was soreness and not spasms, Steichen said, “Yeah, I should have said spasms. I mean, yeah, it was bad soreness/spasms back there.”

Steichen added that he initially explained it the way he did because “I like to keep a lot of things in-house, you know what I mean? And that’s part of it.”

But the lack of transparency and clarity is becoming an ongoing problem, as Steichen’s communication on Richardson’s benching earlier this year was an issue earlier this season. Stephen Holder of ESPN reported on Sunday night that Richardson’s back spasms were “very serious” and for Steichen “to characterize them as ‘soreness’ was ridiculous.”

Now eliminated from postseason contention, the Colts will host the Jaguars on Sunday afternoon in Week 18. We’ll see if Richardson is able to participate this week to cap his second season.