BEREA (92.3 The Fan) - Sore ribs and a lack of production Sunday won’t prevent Trent Richardson from practicing or playing this week.

Richardson intends to fight through the pain and stay on the field as much as possible this week when the Browns host the San Diego Chargers.

“They already know [what] my mindset is,” Richardson said. “I’m not going to sit down. It’s just never been in me to sit down.

“I’m going to go out there and see what I can do. If I can’t finish the game, Montario [Hardesty] is going to be there and do what he does every week when I’m not in the game.”

3 of the Browns’ 4 running backs appeared on Wednesday’s injury report – including Richardson.

Hardesty was limited with a knee injury while Chris Ogbonnaya has a chest/rib injury but was a full participant in practice Wednesday.

Hardesty ran for 28 yards on 7 carries in Richardson’s absence against the Colts.

Coach Pat Shurmur said that Richardson did not sustain any further injury last week in Indianapolis.

“We wanted him to compete, and he competed in there for about a half,” Shurmur said. “He didn’t re-injure himself.”

He ran for 8 yards on 8 carries in the first half of Sunday’s 17-13 loss to the Colts before sitting out the remaining 30 minutes.

“From my perspective I thought I was going to be better,” Richardson said. “Of course I didn’t have contact going into the game so I thought it was going to be better.

“It was a little worse than I thought it was going to be as far as pain and taking hits so coach made the right decision [to sit me].”

Richardson claims to be feeling much better this week.

“I can tell a big difference,” Richardson said. “Last week it was fresh and this week it feels much better than it did last week. It’s making progress and I can really tell a big difference.”

With the bye in 2 weeks, it might not be a bad idea to shut down Richardson and let him get healthy but Shurmur disagrees.

“What’s important is if he’s healthy to play, he plays,” Shurmur said. “And if they tell me that he’s at no risk to hurt it further, we’re playing ball. As I watch him in practice, just as like we watched him in the game, if (resting Richardson) is something we can and should do, then we’ll do it.

“Otherwise, we’re getting ready to play.”

Richardson has departed each of the last 2 games and has rushed for just 45 yards on 22 carries since sustaining the injury but has not regrets about trying to play through it.

“I would never wish that I didn’t play,” Richardson said. “I had to make sure that I could go out there and try to do something. In my mind I always feel I can go full speed.

“When it got to the contact part, I really couldn’t go at 100 percent. My game is a physical game and the way I play, I’m not really the type of person to just step out of bounds.”

He feels that his production will pick up this week.

“It’s just the mindset and being around my teammates,” Richardson said. “My teammates tell me the I looked way better than I did last week and at the end of the week I will look way better at the beginning of this week than I did at the end of last week. That’s a big plus and coach has come to me telling me, ‘You look way better.’ In my mindset I feel way better, I feel much stronger.”

The No. 3 pick in the draft was hampered early in the season after recovering from a second surgery in 6 months on his left knee which cost him the preseason.

And now this.

“It’s frustrating because I want to be out there all of the time,” Richardson said. “I want to be 100 percent and the league hasn’t seen me at 100 percent yet.”

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