Stampede Blue
The offense settled in and found a groove during Friday’s practice.
Westfield, IN — A day hotter than those that came before it, Friday’s morning practice was chock-full of installs in all three phases. Today was the first practice that shot up from one hour long to one hour and fifteen minutes, with tomorrow’s first Saturday practice at camp increasing its duration to one hour and thirty minutes.
Friday was the first time in training camp that either quarterback had outperformed the other. Given that we’re only three practices deep, neither has definitively taken the lead in said race, but today was the first time either has had a leg up on the competition.
As alluded to, if there were daily winners in this competition, Anthony Richardson would be up one game in the series. It wasn’t like the typical Richardson big day either. With only one deep ball attempted all day — a sailed incompletion to Alec Pierce that could very well have been miscommunication — this was a day where the third-year quarterback showed off what he was working on during the offseason. While Richardson’s newfound footwork has been the talk of camp thus far, it hadn’t materialized until today.
We’ve come to know him as the big-armed gunslinger who struggles to connect anywhere on the field shorter than 20+ yards through the air, but today was a different story entirely, with an asterisk. That asterisk is rookie tight end Tyler Warren. As the article’s title suggests, this was indeed a camp-best showing from both Richardson and Warren, and that success goes hand in hand. Warren was hauling in everything that came his way, with each of his receptions being concerted Richardson targets. Those throws were not always on-target, though. Twice today, and for the third time in camp thus far, Warren has hauled in an unlikely reception thanks to his catch radius — plucking one off of the turf, climbing the ladder for one, and then contorting his body for a one-handed snag in the backfield. It’s evident that a rapport is building, and additionally, serves as (admittedly early) proof in the pudding that a top-tier tight end can do wonders for any quarterback.
Aside from the highly anticipated connections between him and Warren, Richardson performed well in the short and intermediate areas of the passing game. His decision-making was calm, cool, and collected, which ultimately led to his best day of camp thus far.
As for Daniel Jones, a big part of why Richardson outshone him today is that he had a forgettable showing overall. While he remained efficient through the air from a completion percentage standpoint, he oftentimes was found locking on to his intended target, which resulted in a plethora of passes broken up. As has been the case with him thus far, Jones has rarely attempted a pass deeper than 10+ yards aside from the random fades he’s thrown in team periods. He did have a couple of splash plays...
