Stampede Blue
After suffering a pinkie injury vs. the Ravens, Anthony Richardson got a chance to make an impression last Saturday in the midst of this ongoing QB battle. Let’s breakdown some of the key plays from his performance.
The first attempt of the game came in a backed-up scenario on the -10. The Colts are running a Smash-Drive concept. Smash (Corner+Out) is the concept that Gould and Mitchell are running, while Drive (Shallow+Basic) is the concept Dulin and Ogletree are running. Without being in the meeting room, my best guess is this is a pure progression read. That means that Anthony Richardson would read the play by going 1-2-3-4 and moving off each WR once he confirmed they were not open.
Anthony Gould is running an “Omaha” route which is a 6 yard out route. As soon as that corner gets depth, Gould should be open on this play. In a backed-up scenario the goal is to get the ball out fast. No sacks, no turnovers.
Watch AR throw this ball on time and in rhythm, and most importantly, with accuracy.
The Colts on the next play ran a Glance RPO. What is that? An RPO, which I’m sure many people are familiar with, is a run-pass option where the QB has to the option to give the ball or throw the ball based on how the defense responds.
In this case it’s a very easy read for Anthony Richardson. The Packers move their DL pre-snap and drop their safety into the box to fit that C gap. That creates a 7 man box for 6 blockers which is an easy read for AR.
To me, this is definitely not an easy throw with the safety right in your face trying to swat the ball down, but I also think it’s accurate enough that it probably should be caught (I didn’t watch the game live so I’m just judging from the All-22. Someone feel free to correct me if the TV copy showed a different angle).
Next the Colts call a Naked-Keeper. These throws into the flat are ones that he’s struggled with in the past that looked easy for him this time around.
Next up is a double-move to AD Mitchell off of play action. Now it’s definitely defensive holding, but I’m going to guess this is not the footwork they want Richardson to play with. It’s definitely some poor pass protection from the guard (which makes it really hard to play QB), but watch his feet on this play. Instead of hitching and then throwing, he hitches then jumps backwards and resets his feet to make the throw. That split second made him late on the throw and gave the safety a chance to break on the ball well before he threw it.
Either way it’s defensive holding.
My favorite throw from the day was this corner route to Ogletree. The goal of this play is to get a Hi/Lo read on that corner to the bottom of the...
