Stampede Blue
The first padded practice of Colts training camp saw complementary quarterback play in return.
Westfield, IN — The Indianapolis Colts put the pads on for the first time in training camp, resulting in a high-spirited affair of clean football between both sides of the ball.
It was a run-heavy day that ended up benefiting both quarterbacks and the offense as a whole. Although individual mishaps were still at the forefront of an otherwise great start to padded practices, it was a complementary day overall.
This was by far the best showing from both of the quarterbacks in the running for the team’s starting job. As previously mentioned, the heavy dose of runs in turn saw both Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones have their most efficient days of training camp to date.
Their strong showings began in the lone 1-on-1 period of the day, when chemistry with their passcatchers started to show itself. Aside from Richardson’s only poor throw of the day, which was an underthrown interception intended for Michael Pittman Jr., it was evident this period was when the two QBs in question started finding a groove. Jones connected with Adonai Mitchell twice, once for a perfect touchdown up the right sideline, while Richardson completed a perfect fade to Ashton Dulin before eventually doing the same with Pittman Jr. to conclude the session.
The team periods (7-on-7, 11-on-11) are when their hot starts began to materialize into efficient showings. Jones quickly got his lone interception out of the way for the day after a tightly fit ball wound up in linebacker Joe Bachie’s hands. This initial 11-on-11 team period featured two quick-game dropbacks and two rushes for both quarterbacks to work from, with Jones struggling at first and Richardson connecting with DJ Montgomery for both of his attempts.
The following team period, a 7-on-7 session, opened up the passing game. While Daniel Jones went 2-4 in this session, the two incompletions were eerily similar in that they were on-target throws to rookie tight end Tyler Warren that fell incomplete after terrific defense at the catch point was played. He rebounded after these back-to-back plays with a great shot to Michael Pittman Jr. up the right sideline, and then followed the up with a patient connection to Adonai Mitchell on a 15-yard in-breaker. Anthony Richardson’s session with the backups was a flawless 4-4 showing through the air. The first play of which was perfectly dropped into a bucket to Will Mallory up the right hash. He then rounded out the rest of this period with three straight short-game connections to Anthony Gould, DJ Montgomery, and Ashton Dulin.
The final two 11-on-11 team periods of that flipped the script, with Anthony Richardson running with the starters and Daniel Jones with the second team. The actual script continued its original game plan of a run-centric day, and the quarterbacks used this to their advantage.
It was a 3:2 run-pass ratio during the first session with the starters, with the two...
