Stampede Blue
Westfield, IN — The Indianapolis Colts concluded their last training camp practice before scrimmaging the Green Bay Packers earlier this afternoon. After a recent slew of injuries to a number of its key players in recent days, staying healthy and executing at a high level was pertinent today, and the Colts did just that.
Particularly from an offensive standpoint, and more specifically regarding quarterback play, Indy slowly but surely stacked a promising performance. Although some mishaps certainly occurred throughout the team period-heavy practice, both quarterbacks had strong showings overall.
It’s important to note that the Colts’ CB room is currently down bad, as everyone atop the depth chart who is not named Charvarius Ward is dealing with various degrees of injury. Zaire Franklin has since returned to the fray, but additional injuries to Kwity Paye and Nick Cross make it difficult to assess quarterback play. Regardless, both quarterbacks showed up today.
It was a massive rebound for third-year QB Anthony Richardson, a near necessity after two subpar showings that came before it. Of course, the revisiting of his injury-prone status after dislocating his pinkie finger on a play that he was responsible for didn’t help his case.
Richardson began the day with a couple of slight misses to Ashton Dulin — a throw behind that could’ve netted a defensive pass interference call and a true overthrown end zone shot. He started to find a groove after checking it down to Jonathan Taylor in the flats and then finding TE Will Mallory twice for big gains. One of the two throws was a textbook example of staying calm in the pocket, climbing, and then rolling right before dropping into Mallory’s hands, whereas the other throw was a 50-50 ball that Mallory mossed the defender for.
That groove continued into his next 11-on-11 session with the backups as Richardson was quick and efficient through the air. Thanks to a couple of option rushes that helped set the tone, Richardson went 3-3 to Dulin and Mallory. Finding both on quick hitches for two of three completions, his other hookup to Dulin was a seamless connection on a wide open corner route.
That momentum quickly came to a screeching halt after DC Lou Anarumo got into his head via exotic pre-snap looks. Even though on the play prior, aka Richardson’s first snap with the starters on the day, Jonathan Taylor broke one for a legitimate 80-yard TD rush after a beautiful jump cut set him free, Richardson let the aforementioned look from Anarumo play him. It looked as if 7-8 defenders were rushing the passer pre-snap, but after Camryn Bynum and Zaire Franklin fell back into coverage post-snap, Charvarius Ward baited Richardson into throwing Michael Pittman Jr.‘s way and came down with the easy interception.
Richardson would find Tyler Warren on a designed TE screen, but a DeForest Buckner sack on the next play rattled the young quarterback. Visibly frustrated, Richardson immediately punted the ball into the Grand Park woods. He would 2-3 on...
