Michael Pittman Jr.: Anthony Richardson responded to benching by working harder

When the Colts benched quarterback Anthony Richardson during the season, Richardson didn't pout or sulk. He got right back to work. Even harder than before.

That's the word from Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., who said today on PFT Live that Richardson impressed his teammates by the way he reacted to getting benched.

"He responded well," Pittman said. "He started showing up earlier, he started working harder. He's putting in more hours than what he was already doing, and that's what you want to see. We didn't see him fold, we didn't see him break down, and I really do think he wants to be the best version of himself and he's doing everything the right way to get the right result."

Pittman, who is a team captain, said that team leaders got together to talk about what everyone could do to make the team better.

"We had a leaders' conference that wasn't specifically about him, it was kind of calling everybody up. We don't want to call anybody out, we want to call everybody up and elevate them," Pittman said. "It wasn't about him, it was about everybody. There were things that everybody could do to get better coming out of that meeting."

Richardson still needs to prove that he can become the kind of quarterback the Colts thought he was going to be when they drafted him two years ago. Pittman says Richardson is doing everything he can to make that happen.