Stampede Blue
The Indianapolis Colts (0-2) narrowly fell to the Green Bay Packers at home in preseason, but all eyes were on their two starting quarterback contenders, Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson, in this one.
Alternating between the pair of contenders, Jones got the nod as the starter against Green Bay, completing 7 of 11 pass attempts for 101 passing yards—as the Colts punted on their first drive and then put up their first points of the game on the ensuing drive, with a 25-yard Spencer Shrader made field goal.
Richardson then came in relief of Jones, completing 6 of 11 pass attempts for 73 total passing yards, as well as one rushing carry for 9 yards.
Richardson helped lead the Colts to a 12-play, 90 yard offensive drive on his first series—which was capped off by a 3-yard Tyler Goodson rushing touchdown. With Richardson under center, the Colts then had another consecutive scoring drive, which was capped off by a 29-yard made Shrader field goal.
On Richardson’s final drive, the Colts had a 3-play, -5 yard drive, as he was sacked, with 59 seconds left in the first half, before rookie Riley Leonard took over the quarterback reins.
For what it’s worth, Richardson best throw of the day didn’t count because of an AD Mitchell penalty on that final offensive drive before halftime:
Neither Colts starting quarterback contender was spectacular today, but both options were relatively sound.
Richardson was the slightly better of the two options purely from an on-the-field performance standpoint. He hit the layups, made smart decisions with the football, and was even denied a big play, through no fault of his own.
That’s seemed to have been the general theme throughout this year’s training camp as well. That Richardson has arguably been the slightly better on-the-field performer, and at the very least, Jones hasn’t outplayed him.
That being said, Colts fans and the local media only get to see what happens on the practice field and in preseason games, as we do not get to see a lot of the off-the-field work that goes on quietly behind the scenes. It’s possible that could be the difference between the two starting quarterback options, if everything else is considered relatively equal. If it’s indeed Anthony Richardson right now, it’s only by a nose of the football.
Other key takeaways from the Colts’ Week 2 preseason game:
