Colts Wise to Ditch Trent Richardson, Bet on Dan Herron

The Indianapolis Colts chose Wild Card Weekend to finally make a move that was a long time coming: exiling running back Trent Richardson to the bench. 

Richardson was deemed questionable before the game with an illness, but was active. The Colts simply stapled him to the bench as America learned Richardson's illness was "not being a competent running back." 

It quickly proved to be the right move as former practice-squad back Dan Herron took the reins of the offense and delivered a stellar performance against the Bengals. Herron rushed for 56 yards on 12 carries, while backup undrafted free agent Zurlon Tipton added 40 yards rushing of his own after Herron was benched for fumbling.

This simply continued the pattern that was established last season, when Richardson was on the field for just 35 snaps in the playoffs en route to rushing for one yard on four carries. Whether it's Herron or Donald Brown, the Colts know better than to give Richardson carries in a big game. And, as much as I have knocked the coaching staff for keeping Richardson on the field during the regular season, I have to give them credit for realizing he shouldn't touch the ball in the playoffs. 

Indianapolis' running game had its way with the Bengals, but the Denver Broncos should prove a much more daunting task for Herron and Tipton than Cincinnati did. The situation set up rather perfectly for the backs against a pass defense that was at its worst against backs, lost linebacker Rey Maualuga to injury during the game and had a poor rushing defense to begin with.

Game	Run defense DVOA	Run game production	Receiving DVOA against RBs	Pass game production to RBs
v. CIN 1/4	1.3% (28)	25 carries, 114 yards, 1 TD	26.5% (29)	11 catches, 91 yards, 12 targets, 1 fumble
@ DEN 1/11	-23.7% (3)	??	-2.1% (15)	??

Still, at this point, there's not much of a reason to believe Richardson can produce anything other than coaching-staff excuses for his presence. Herron isn't a star, and his tendency to fumble (three in 126 touches) is scary, but he's shown he can be a competent committee back. That raises the overall offensive upside for the Colts. 

Indianapolis doesn't need a running game to make a run for the Super Bowl, but every weakness it successfully papers over goes a long way towards raising the margin of error for quarterback Andrew Luck. The way Cincinnati played, Indianapolis was going to beat the Bengals with or without a superlative Luck game. That it got one just made the game completely lopsided. 

As we saw the last time the Colts won a Super Bowl, a personnel-driven playoff improvement can mean a lot for a team. Safety Bob Sanders came back from an injury and drastically changed the way offenses could play against the Indianapolis secondary. 

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While Herron usurping Richardson's job is not quite the same in that Herron is not one of the most talented players at his position, Richardson also provided a floor that was much lower than what the 2006 Colts had been working with. The Colts were routinely donating downs to the defense every time he touched the ball. 

Now, they aren't. 

I have my doubts the Colts can paper over their weaknesses well enough to unseat the Broncos in the divisional round but, finally, they have at least stopped shooting themselves in the foot by handing 10 plays to the opposing defense every game. That is worthy of acclaim. Let's hope it actually sticks this time and the Denver game doesn't start with another eight Richardson runs into the backs of his offensive lineman.

The Colts can't do much about the position their roster is in at this point in the season. But by benching Richardson, at least they've stopped making things worse. 

Rivers McCown is the AFC South lead writer for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Three-Cone Drill podcast. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.