Stampede Blue
Westfield, IN — The Indianapolis Colts concluded training camp festivities at Grand Park Sports Campus with a scrimmage-centric joint practice with the Green Bay Packers.
While both teams were gearing up for their preseason matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium this Saturday, the joint practice was an invaluable evaluation period for the Colts’ ongoing quarterback competition. Unfortunately for Colts fans, media, and personnel alike, little to no headway was made in this department. However, reading the tea leaves suggests the starter has already been named, and the competition is just being played out.
As is tradition for any NFL joint practice, the scrimmage-heavy day was split into two fields of work. On one side, the Colts offense scrimmaged against the Packers defense, and vice versa. As a result, I was only able to focus on one phase of the game — I was hyper-focused on the illustrious quarterback competition — though I did catch a few 11-on-11 sessions between the Colts’ starting defense and the Malik Willis-led Packers offense.
It was an honor being able to cover the Colts’ training camp at Grand Park in full, but this marks the last time I’ll be a credentialed media member this season. Without further ado, here are my notes from the Colts’ last training camp practice of the year, a quarterback-focused observation:
To close out training camp, instead of one quarterback separating themself from the competition, we saw more of the same. Not only was it the goal to have someone deemed the winner by this point, but progression was the main objective. That isn’t to suggest that Anthony Richardson hasn’t improved, because he certainly has, even if marginally, but some of his biggest concerns have resurfaced in recent weeks. It’s especially disappointing when you consider how strong a camp he had been having up until the team’s preseason opener. Since sporting a freshly dislocated pinkie finger, Richardson has maintained his newfound footwork and established decisiveness as a passer, but has devolved into lacking consistency with precision while inviting his injury-prone status back into the fray. Regardless, it’s evident that Richardson is more comfortable and subsequently more successful during his run with the starters than he’s been with the second unit.
It’ll inevitably get brought back up, but the slew of inconsistencies from Indy’s offensive line was an additional obstacle for both quarterbacks. From false starts that may or may not have been a byproduct of cadence issues to erratic center snaps and poor pass protection overall, it was an uninspiring showing from what’s been touted as a top unit leaguewide.
Richardson began the day slinging it across 1-on-1s. I have to preface, it is just 1-on-1s, but Richardson’s arm talent was on full display. He had a couple of legit misfires, but was otherwise dotting up the Packers defenders. In particular, Richardson was throwing with great touch and layering on multiple occurrences, most of which were on intermediate to deep throws outside the numbers. To cap off an impressive start, Richardson found...
