INDIANAPOLIS — Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. provided words to the nervous murmurs echoing across Lucas Oil Stadium. Oh, sh**! Less than six minutes remained in the first quarter Sunday afternoon, and Anthony Richardson faked out 66,000 fans and the Pittsburgh Steelers defense with a non-handoff to running back Jonathan Taylor, who gathered a crowd as he headed for the right edge. Richardson kept the football, ran through a huge hole to the left, suitable for a semi, and began chewing up yards. At the end of his 14-yard run, he was blasted by safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Initially, it didn’t matter that Richardson fumbled or rookie center Tanor Bortolini recovered it. What mattered was Richardson immediately grabbed his right hip. He remained down for a few minutes as the medical staff converged. Pittman looked on and wasn’t at a loss of words. “Yeah, immediately I go, ‘Oh, sh**!’’’ he said. “I said that out loud. “Then Joe came in and settled us down and the rest is history.’’ Quarterback Joe Flacco finished what Richardson couldn’t because of the hip injury. And let’s be honest, this is getting to be an issue. Sunday’s 27-24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers was the fourth time Richardson has been unable to finish a start because of hip, knee and shoulder injuries and a concussion. Sunday was his eighth NFL start. It was an inspirational afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium that saw Flacco pass for 168 yards and touchdowns to wideout Josh Downs and tight Drew Ogletree, Taylor give the offense balance with 88 yards on 21 attempts before missing the final minutes with an ankle injury, Pittman and Downs combine for 14 catches and 195 yards and an injury-depleted defense — five starters were out, and it got worse as the game unfolded — do enough to deny a closing Steelers’ drive with 29 seconds remaining. “Great team win,’’ Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “I’ll tell you what, the guys were resilient all the way through. Took all four quarters. “We knew it was going to be a fistfight going against those guys. To come out and finish the way we did — our defense out there, getting the stop there to end the game — was huge.’’ The importance of evening their record at 2-2 heading into next Sunday’s always-perilous trip to Jacksonville can’t be overstated. But neither can the concern over Richardson. According to a source with knowledge of the situation, he’ll undergo an MRI to determine if any damage was done. The team is confident Richardson will be OK, although it’s uncertain if that means he’ll be back under center against the Jaguars. Even Richardson was unable to offer any insight immediately after the game. “I’m feeling a little sore,’’ he said, “but feeling good we got the W today. “I think I’ll be good. Just a little soreness.’’ And next week at Jacksonville? “I don’t know,’’ Richardson said. “Just gotta see what they say. But my hip is a little sore right now.’’ The Colts have relentlessly drilled into Richardson the need limit the on-field risks by sliding at the end of a play whenever possible. In hindsight, does he wish he had gone down to eliminate Fitzpatrick’s hit? “Nah, not really,’’ Richardson said. “It’s just football, and I feel like he was going to hit me regardless. “So, it was head-on right there. It’s football.’’ It’s also a recurring theme. Pittman knew it at the time, and so did Richardson. Shoot, not again! “Yeah, of course,’’ Richardson said. “People gonna talk about injuries. People gonna say, ‘Injury-prone, blah, blah, blah.’ “Nobody wants to get injured. Everybody wants to stay on the field. So, of course, I was like, ‘Man, damn, not again.’’’ Yes, again. There was a minor knee injury that kept Richardson from finishing his first career start against Jacksonville in week 1 as a rookie. Then a concussion at Houston in week 2 that forced him to miss the next game. Then, the Grade-2 sprain to his right shoulder in week 5 against Tennessee that required season-ending surgery. The extent of the hip injury wasn’t immediately apparent. After missing two plays — a 10-yard Flacco-to-Pittman completion and a 13-yard run by Taylor — Richardson returned for a first-and-goal at the Steelers 6-yard line. “I said, ‘You good to go?’’’ Steichen said of his sideline exchange with Richardson. “Boom. Yeah, came back in, then he felt it again on the next one.’’ The Steelers stuck with their base defense, and another Richardson keeper to the left was the appropriate play, according to Steichen. But no sooner had Richardson headed for the left edge than he pulled up ever-so-slightly. That’s when Fitzpatrick delivered another hit at the end of a 1-yard run. “I tried to go back out there but I just couldn’t accelerate the way I wanted to,’’ Richardson said. “So, coach was like, ‘Try to mess up the team right now.’ “So, I was like, “I’ll just sit.’’’ It’s uncertain how hard Richardson lobbied at halftime to return. Clearly, it wasn’t hard enough. “Yeah, for sure I was looking forward to going back out there with my squad,’’ he said. “I wanted to contribute to the W. I think I did a little bit.’’ Before being sidelined, Richardson completed 3-of-4 passes for 71 yards, including a tight-window completion to Pittman that gained 32 yards on the game’s first play. “It was basically just a deep cross route and he threaded it right through,’’ Pittman said. “He threw probably the only pass that could have got through there. It was really a great throw.’’ Richardson also ran three times for 24 yards, but he wanted more. “I wanted to be out there the whole time,’’ he said. “They really just asked me how I felt trying to throw and stuff like that. “But we both just agreed it wasn’t best for me to go back out there.’’ Richardson made the best of the frustrating situation. With action stopped at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Colts led 17-10 and faced a first-and-10 at the Pittsburgh 15. Richardson trotted onto the field and offered moral support. “Not necessarily to boost them up, but tell ‘em, ‘We’re still in the game,’’’ he said. “ . . . ‘just keep striving, keep going.’’’ Done and done. After misfires to AD Mitchell and Pittman, Flacco hit Ogletree for a 15-yard touchdown. That pushed the Colts in front 24-10 and gave them cushion to deal with the Steelers’ 14-point fourth quarter. If Richardson is forced to miss a game or two, the Colts should be comforted by Flacco’s presence. They signed the 39-year-old veteran to a one-year contract in March as Richardson’s insurance policy. It has $4.5 million in guarantees and can max out at $8.7 million. “Veteran presence,’’ Steichen said. “He was out there slingin,' running around a little bit,’’ Richardson said. “Shout out to Joe, man.’’ Flacco appeared in his 189th career regular-season game and is in his 17th season. He’s always prepared, but it’s still never as easy as just pulling on the helmet and running onto the field. “It was different,’’ Flacco said. “It definitely took a little bit of time for me to kind of just settle down. And it's kind of like I kept telling myself, just do the simple things. And it’s definitely a different experience when you come in like that.” Flacco was at his best on the drive that ended with Ogletree’s 15-yard TD. He converted a third-and-10 with a 12-yard pass to Pittman, then found Downs on a deep out for 25 on third-and-7. The TD to Ogletree came on third-and-10. Midway through the fourth quarter, Flacco hit Downs for 10 yards on third-and-7. Downs was short of the chains on his catch, but spun inside and eluded the DB for the necessary yardage. Kicker Matt Gay gave the Colts a 27-17 lead with a 35-yard field goal. The Colts converted 8-of-15 times on third down after going 5-of-21 the past two games. “I mean, when you’re me, when you kind of come in and you get thrown into those situations, you just trust your guys to do the right thing and see what happens in the end,’’ Flacco said. “I think my personality probably lends itself decent to this type of situation because, yeah, it’s like don’t overthink it, don’t overdo it. It’s just a game of football. Go out there, if a guy’s open, throw it to him and hit him. “Just keep it simple.’’ But will it be simple with Richardson moving forward? “It’s all good,’’ he said. “It’s God’s plan and I’m trusting it.’’ You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.