Mike Wells, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Trent Richardson's return will help balance the backfield

INDIANAPOLIS -- Barring a setback, running back Trent Richardson should be on the field when the Indianapolis Colts play the New York Giants on Monday.

Richardson missed last weekend's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a hamstring injury. Richardson was active for the game as the emergency third running back, but it wasn't surprising he didn't play because he didn't practice last week.

"Didn't want to throw him out there without a good week's worth of practice," Colts coach Chuck Pagnao said. "He'll be ready to roll, back in the lineup this week."

Richardson's absence impacted the balance of the playing time in the backfield.

Ahmad Bradshaw started against the Steelers and played 48 of the 66 (72 percent) of the snaps. Daniel "Boom" Herron, who backed Bradshaw up played the other 18 snaps.

Go back to the Cincinnati game a week before that and Richardson played 38 of 79 (48 percent) of the snaps and Bradshaw played 33 of 79 (41 percent) of the snaps against the Bengals.

For the season, Richardson has played 266 snaps (47.9) and Bradshaw has played 263 snaps (47.4). That's the type of balance the Colts prefer. They don't want to have to depend on one running back to get the majority of the snaps like against the Steelers last weekend because it impacts their running game. The Colts, who are 13th in the league in rushing at 115.8 yards a game, only ran the ball 10 times against Pittsburgh because they trailed by as many as 25 points in the second quarter.

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