Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson Excels as Dual Threat Option in Win over Jets

Starting point is 00:00:00 Anthony Richardson's career best day carried the Colts to victory on Sunday. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of every day. $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Visit Fanduel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your favorite film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. And of course, I'm joined as always by Ben Boris at ColtsFilmRoom on Twitter. And we are over the moon being able to talk about Anthony Richardson again on this weekly early week episode that we do every

Starting point is 00:01:06 single week for you guys. We've been having to talk about other players, about Joe Flacco in recent weeks, Shane Steichen's downfalls, I guess, this season in recent weeks. And it was funny, the last time Ben and I talked face to face was right after last week's episode. And we were both kind of like, yeah, this feels very disciplinary for Anthony Richardson. And I don't know if we see him again the rest of the season. Flash forward to 24 hours later, Richardson is back as the team starter. He rolls into this New York Jets game this past weekend and puts together his career best day. I mean, he was fantastic as a passer. I mean, that's not even me just over-exaggerating. Like he was pretty fantastic as a passer in this one. Again, 20 of 30 for

Starting point is 00:01:52 66.7% completion percentage, 272 yards passing, which was 9.1 yards per attempt in one touchdown through the air, added 10 carries for 32 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. I mean, this was everything you were looking for from Anthony Richardson. So on today's episode, we're just talking all Anthony Richardson. We're going to go through all of it, what we like from his film, what he can build on going forward, and kind of what the expectation is the rest of the year. But Ben, real quick, just to kick off this episode, what were your early thoughts on how Anthony Richardson looked in this past game? real quick just to kick off this this episode what were your early thoughts on how anthony richardson looked in this past game i mean if you're a colts fan this is everything like this

Starting point is 00:02:31 he gave you everything that you were potentially looking for it was almost really impressive because you know we obviously had the handshake bet going in and i i was on from the initial rip i was like yeah yeah from the initial rip like I was like, yeah, yeah. And for the initial rip, like I was like, oh, no, like he'll be back. You didn't feel that way. And then as the weeks continued to go on, it made it harder and harder to believe that because obviously and this is a that's a whole nother discussion for a whole nother time is what the cults said publicly. But it made you harder to believe that. When it did happen, I'm thinking to myself, well, this is great for us who started this segment with the whole point of talking about Anthony Richardson every week, going through this roller coaster. And this feels like the peak

Starting point is 00:03:19 right now. It's almost impressive how he invented himself reinvent it feels like he reinvented himself as a pastor in 14 days when i thought that that was impossible now this is one performance in one situation so i can't say that he's reinvented himself necessarily as a pastor but there's a lot of differences from maybe what you saw early in 2024 when things felt like a train track that was going off the rails and now it feels like he's right back on it again yeah well that's all you can really hope for uh there was a lot of numerous impressive throws that we'll talk about in this segment i'm sure but uh just overall i don't know how you're not super excited as a close friend yeah you know one thing i said right before

Starting point is 00:04:00 he got benched i can't remember if i said to you if i said to jake or whoever i said to because you know i was being pretty critical of Anthony Richardson. You had to be critical of Anthony Richardson early this season. There's an element of being a believer but also calling it what it is and not exaggerating what you're seeing. We never advocated for him to get benched

Starting point is 00:04:18 on this show. You, me, Jake, whoever has been on this show, nobody has ever advocated for him to get benched. But we did say, hey, look, if this is how he's going to look by the end of this season, things might need to change because that's just how the NFL is. You can't have a whole season of just not improving. And what I said right before that, though, was just give me one game. Give me one game that I can hang my hat on and say, this is what I believe that he could look like. This is what he has the ability to be in the NFL. And this is his potential.

Starting point is 00:04:49 Give me one thing I can just say, like he played a good football game from start to finish. I'm not saying this was a perfect game from start to finish. Like there were some issues. We'll acknowledge that. I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:05:00 There were some issues in quarters two through three. I don't think it was necessarily him as a passer, but just more so some of the structural stuff of the offense, like dropping snaps, the fumble, obviously. But I think when you look at the totality of this past game, from start to finish, this was a really strong game for Anthony Richardson. This was the best game of his entire career. I mean, from the fourth quarter comeback

Starting point is 00:05:20 to how he looked even in the first quarter, delivering some passes. The Colts took a little bit off of his plate with some of what they were asking him to do but it's not like they made this like a very very simplified offense like they were still asking him to manipulate defenders with his eyes to read safeties back and rip deep passes like they weren't asking him just to throw screens the entire game they just gave him a couple this time compared to what it was early in the season where every single play felt like a downfield throw. So, yeah, they kind of simplified a little bit, but he was still playing some really good QB football out there. The best thing that I think you can say, and I understand that Anthony Richardson in the public eye is very polarizing from analysts to fans to whatever. The best thing that I could always say is two believers of Anthony Richardson on the show.

Starting point is 00:06:11 When the chips are on the table, this is when he plays at his best. You can say that even in some of his, you know, worst games per se. When you talk about the week one Houston game, the 2023 Rams game, you could even talk about the Jaguars game in his first career start when it felt like he was the only person on that field carrying his team. And that's what he's done since he stepped into the NFL. When the chips – now, can you talk about a second-quarter throw or a third-quarter mistake that got him to a point that he didn't need to be?

Starting point is 00:06:42 Absolutely. But when the chips are on the table, Anthony Richardson seems to be playing at his absolute best. And you saw that on that last drive, and I think that was the epitome of it, where the Colts were continuing to shoot themselves in the foot, but when it really mattered, Anthony Richardson played just as well as any quarterback in the league

Starting point is 00:07:01 could have in that situation. And you've seen a lot of this in the way that the offense has changed as well. Yeah, and one thing we really have to mention too is, and this isn't just like tear down everybody else to make Anthony Richardson better because Josh Downs had a fantastic day. Alec Pierce had a fantastic day. A.D. Mitchell and his couple snaps. Maybe we'll have time to yell about that on here, Ben.

Starting point is 00:07:22 But A.D. Mitchell and a couple snaps did some good things and michael pitman jr you know he was it was an up and down day for him but he had a couple nice catches as well but this was a day where the run game was putrid one of those high floor raising things that anthony richardson brings to the table that we were saying hey at the end of the day the colts be able to run the ball with richardson the jets sold out to stop the run and they obliterated the colts interior offensive line with two rookies starting on there. I mean, they were just killing Dalton Tucker

Starting point is 00:07:50 and Tanner Bortolini in this one, and the Colts couldn't run the ball. So they took away that floor-raising thing. Speaking about the offensive line, when it came to pass protection, the interior of the offensive line was corroding the entire game with Bortolini and Tucker. And again, there were some structural

Starting point is 00:08:05 things that were not perfect around him, but Richardson still found a way. I mean, even, even before those final two drives, I was still looking at this game being like, this is his best day as a passer. Like just in terms of mechanics, in terms of not sailing passes, in terms of how calm he looked as a passer back there. I know he had a quote after the game where he said this was the most relaxed I've ever felt on the football field. And 100%, like if you're watching this on film, he looked very relaxed back there. There were, I mean, there were a couple of plays. I mean, every quarterback has a couple of plays a game where you panic a little bit.

Starting point is 00:08:39 But, you know, we were saying in the early games this season where he panics when he has these open receivers and he sails passes this one it was see open receiver set my back foot and i'm going to rip it a thousand miles per hour and the ball was getting there and he was throwing some some really really good passes in this one so even before those final two drives where he really put a really nice cap on the day and and you know capped off with a victory at the end it was still his best day as a passer in the NFL before those final two drives that really put it over. I don't think it's particularly close.

Starting point is 00:09:11 Like the Rams game, the Rams game was the one game. I think in 2023, you could hang your hat on and be like, this guy can be spent. There were some special plays in that game. Now they didn't win, but there were some special plays.

Starting point is 00:09:23 This one felt like there were some special plays. And then there was a little bit of the simple stuff, too, that he executed and looks like he had control of the offense finally. And those are buzzwords, right? Like everyone's like, oh, control of the offense, look calm back there. But, like, what I really mean to say that is that, you know, the Colts talked all about it's like learning to prepare, learning to prepare the right way a lot of that stuff as a quarterback happens when you've done enough it becomes way more natural on the football field and you don't need to to think as hard it

Starting point is 00:09:55 starts to come to you naturally and i think that that's kind of what we were seeing now i think that it's never going to look like that every time i think that's really important for colts fans to acknowledge and we'll talk about that But like when it is looking like this, there's no reason that Anthony Richardson can't reach the ceiling that we all know he can get to. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think this is part of the roller coaster, this type of game. And this is a really high point. And don't get me wrong. I still think there will be some lower aspects going forward, but just give me the high points like this. And I'm, and I can get excited. I can hang my hat on that. The Colts can hang their hat on that and they can give you a whole nother season starting if you're giving games like this. So this is a great

Starting point is 00:10:32 foundational game for Anthony Richardson, for Shane Steichen, and for this Colts fan base to get excited again. Like I said, on Sunday, the most excited I've been watching a Colts game, especially in that fourth quarter, obviously, but most excited I'd been watching a Colts game, especially in that fourth quarter, obviously, but most excited I've been watching a Colts game in years. And I feel like I'm not just speaking for myself. I feel like I'm speaking for a lot of Colts fans. I think this is the most excited that I've been in a long, long time to watch Colts football. Like it's not, it says it's probably,

Starting point is 00:11:00 you could even make the argument that it's been like that since Anthony Richards or Andrew Luck was a quarterback. Like it's really felt like there's legitimate future and something to be excited about and all it took was four quarters to really show you that right exactly that just shows how desperate we were to be excited about this Richardson project and just giving us one game like this is enough to get us all back on board and all excited again. So coming up, guys, we're going to continue talking about the throws and a couple moments that really stood out to us in particular. And again, keep building on these really positive moments from the Colts young quarterback. But first, pre-alcohol probiotic drink by Z-Biotics is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic it was invented by phd scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking here's how it works when you when you drink alcohol gets converted to a toxic byproduct

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Starting point is 00:13:43 if you win your first $5 bet. That's Fanduel.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fanduel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, Locked on Colts every day as we are back with Ben Boris at Colts Film Room. We're discussing Anthony Richardson's career best day. And we kind of talked about our overall thoughts in the first segment here, but let's go a little bit more specific and talk like the film nerd stuff. And I think the thing that really stood

Starting point is 00:14:12 out to me, Ben, aside from the highlight plays, which we could really talk about, we'll talk about like obviously the whole shot to Alec Pierce, the get off me throw to Josh Downs on third down, which was big and basically stole three points for the Colts and so many other really big throws that he made. I think it was just his efficiency on the middle of the field in the intermediate game. I think I saw a stat in this one that he was nine of 11 throwing on passes between 10 and 30 yards down the field. So again, the Jets, a very similar defensive system to the Colts where they were, you know, they run a lot of cover three, but also some two high stuff. And they were forcing Richardson to take things over the middle and

Starting point is 00:14:49 take things in the intermediate game and take away those deep balls. And Richardson made them pay a lot of really good intermediate throws to Alec Pierce, a lot of middle of the field throws to Michael Pittman Jr., some good ones to Josh Downs in there. And on a lot of these throws, he's using his shoulders, he's using his eyes, he's using his footwork to manipulate linebackers and manipulate safeties to get them out of the way so he can rip the pass over the middle of the field. That's what you want to see from a quarterback. I know some people will be like, oh, this is first read throwing and blah, blah, blah. And oh, he's just going to his first read. Well, he's getting his eyes on his first read. Who doesn't want to throw to their first read?

Starting point is 00:15:26 Right, right. But he's using his shoulders and, again, his eyes where he's moving the linebackers and then getting to that first read. So maybe his eyes are on Michael Pittman Jr. the entire time, but he's using his shoulders to move the linebacker out of the window and rip it behind him. That's not bad quarterback play. That's the first – I mean, you're opening up your first read. That's everything a quarterback wants to do.

Starting point is 00:15:48 Those were the plays that really stood out to me because you can't just be a home run or die offense, but you can be a home run and intermediate passing offense and survive. I mean, no one says you have to be perfect on, like you have to have like 10 screens a game. You can survive just ripping it off on the middle all the time and and going 9 of 11 throwing over that's nearly half of his completions in this game were between 10 and 30 yards down the field he was really feasting on this Jets defense in the intermediate area of the field and it led to great results for this Colts offense yeah I think one of the things that the the way the offense changed the Jets, you know, obviously similar system to Gus Bradley. They played a lot of one spy, so cover one spy.

Starting point is 00:16:30 So you basically have man free and then you have that extra player, which is the adjuster in cover one. And that guy's just going to spy Anthony Richardson, playing a lot of that. And I thought there were times where the offense didn't look so successful, mainly the strip sack, where when the chips are on the table, and this is something that the Colts receivers have inevitably struggled with, in my opinion, is when it's man coverage and you have runaway opportunities and it's not some sort of rub, it's not some sort of pick play

Starting point is 00:16:59 or whatever, some designed man beater, they've struggled to get open in certain capacities. They have. Well, there's one player who to get open in certain capacities. They have. Well, there's one player who could get open, but he wasn't on the field. And he did it when he was on the field. The other player being Josh Downs. And I think what stood out to me is how dynamic they are in the red zone. They have so many options available because they found a way, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:22 like I'm not a fan of putting anthony richardson under center because you lose technically the plus one because he's not you're not he's not a real threat of the runner well the colts pulled out some army navy air force academy offense rollout something or other that they've saw because they basically faked a jet motion and then booted him out on a QB keeper and like got that plus one back so I swear that's good so it's definitely I know that there was an article that Albert Breer put out that they saw watched a lot of Air Force I went back and watched some Air Force just to see where I could see some of the inspiration for some of those plays um didn't see that one I loved it though um but they can really just be dynamic in that area, and that's what wins games.

Starting point is 00:18:08 You can't settle for three in the NFL and expect to win games. If you can punch it in for seven, that's what you want. Now, the other thing I do want to point out, we saw a lot of quarterback run. Everyone's like, oh, Anthony Richardson or Shane Steichen finally calling some quarterback run. I am probably of the belief that you need to do it, obviously. I don't think it's always as sustainable as everyone makes it out to call it as much as he called it, and I don't think that's the end goal. As Anthony Richardson starts to develop as a passer and as an athlete

Starting point is 00:18:36 and learns what plays he can make and what plays he can't make, you never want to see it. Like the truck stick was awesome. Definitely don't want to see that with your throwing shoulder. Just something that when the injuries have piled up, Anthony Richardson still needs to be on the field. So I think a lot of this was game plan. You saw a lot of quarterback pin and pull, which was really just to get these DBs to tackle, and they showed they couldn't do it at all. But I don't necessarily think we're going to see that every single time because it's just not substantial, sustainable,

Starting point is 00:19:09 or sustainable as the weeks go on in a football season. Yeah, but I do think it's important during this season for him in terms of you've got to run him a little bit. It's such a big part of why you drafted him so high was his ability as a runner. So, yeah, maybe not 10 times a game. I still think that's a little bit on the high end but between like four to six to four to seven times a game like get him get him running a little bit obviously you want him to protect himself a little bit on them but uh when it comes to the red zone those gotta have it moments sure don't don't truck them with your right with your right shoulder but

Starting point is 00:19:43 get in the end zone i i'm totally there i'm more saying that like i think one of the plays that we love because it's a great just designed run but like running bash gt which is basically back away from the two guards and quarterback power and you get him in those runs where he's basically running up the a and b gaps i don't think that's necessarily ideal long term yeah um i think that's going to be but i also don't think that you can not run him at all i think there's a there's a momentum i think momentum is real i know there's a debate whether that's real i think it's real and i think it does get him in some sort of a confidence thing that like hey i can gain yards

Starting point is 00:20:17 on and we're moving the ball and now i can get into a rhythm per se. I think that's also really important. I just don't necessarily think that running him to the extent and putting him in those positions consistently is going to be sustainable. And I think they're having those conversations as well. Like I don't think that this is something they've shied away from. Obviously, Anthony Richardson, the biggest thing that's hurt him a lot of the time is he hasn't been able to see the football field injured in multiple games this year. So I definitely think that's something that I'm a little bit wary of, though you need to do it. So it's a double-edged sword.

Starting point is 00:20:52 Yeah. And I will say, keep the QB sweep run that they have. That run is money. The one that they scored the game-winning touchdown on, I love that design so much. Keep that forever. Look, that's a Lamar run. They ran that. Lamar runs that a good bit. They have, they had a pass on the one that was the one there. Yeah. There was one where Anthony Richardson like got out of this weird sack and then threw it away or whatever they had.

Starting point is 00:21:20 They had some cool passes off that too. So that's something that I think they saw from Todd Monken's offense. I I'm almost positive. They're not the only person to ever run that play. But I think what it does is, like, no DB is – if there's a guy – like, Anthony Richardson, unless it's extremely unlucky, is not getting injured by a DB. Like, they just cannot tackle him.

Starting point is 00:21:40 They don't want – like, the Jets didn't want to tackle him, like, out there. And that's and that's his strength so um i think that from a just an identity standpoint you can really see how the quarterback run will always be there and then also like if you can figure out some of these passes around it like we can start to see an arc of being next level dynamic where you don't have to rely so heavy on the the quarterback run the box will be a little bit open maybe you'll get people to to to give jt a little bit more opportunities to run the ball and you get like true true dynamic because right now they found a way to shut down jt there's a lot of quarter winning things were dead it was a lot of quarterback

Starting point is 00:22:22 uh design runs that they were doing a nice job to their credit and then also um just some self-inflicted wounds so i think we're on the path to seeing a true the dynamic offense that we all thought was possible yeah so that it that actually kind of leads to this perfect uh finale of of this episode here is talking about where do we go from here where do we go with our expectations and our hopes for Anthony Richardson? And where do we go with our expectations for this Colts offense going forward? But first, listen up, renters. Do you ever feel like you're stuck in the loop of rent payments, just watching your money vanish into thin air? It's time to turn that rent game around and start earning some serious rewards. That's where Built Rewards comes in.

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Starting point is 00:24:11 All right, LockedOn Colts everydayers, we are back talking Anthony Richardson and all about kind of where do we go from here? I mean, it's been a crazy rollercoaster ride, not in the rollercoaster ride that we expected coming into the season. Which makes it a true rollercoaster. Yeah, this is a fun and chaotic and roller coaster where it looks like the tracks are ending at some points and you might go flying off the ride a little maintenance halfway through like yeah yeah

Starting point is 00:24:36 maintenance while you're like halfway through a loop basically upside down that's the maintenance uh but this is where we're at right now we We're in like the high point of this roller coaster and we're feeling good, feeling excited. They have the Detroit Lions coming into town. Good defense, fantastic offense, one of the best at what we're thinking of this team going forward. I mean, first we can start with the offense, Ben, where, you know, the Colts came out in this past game with a lot of 12 personnel. We're going to have a lot of tight ends on. We're going to run the ball. We're going to stick to the run on the early downs. Even if it's not working, we're going to get ourselves into third and seven if we have to. And that's more convertible than a third and 12. So third and seven works for us.

Starting point is 00:25:25 We'll even run it on third and nine sometimes. We'll be a little bit more conservative with our game plan. Do we think that kind of sticks going forward with the Colts, or do you think maybe Shane Stuy can see something in this final stretch that Anthony Richland just had and said, hey, maybe we can go back to throwing the ball a little bit more? Do you think they kind of stick with, because they were showing some 12 personnel with Joe Flacco too.

Starting point is 00:25:45 They were really starting to move to 12 personnel with Flacco. Do you think they kind of start leaning into the 12 personnel a little bit going forward? Well, they do it a lot versus blitz-heavy teams. Like it was a big thing with the Vikings. Sometimes with the Jets, they were as multiple as ever last week than maybe they have when you look back at some of the earlier games. It's a really good question.

Starting point is 00:26:10 I think the first thing you have to acknowledge is with this offense is that, again, I think an awesome, awesome game-winning drive that cannot be understated. And basically, Anthony Richardson put the backpack on in this game where there are still a lot of things to clean up. Do not get it twisted. and then basically Anthony Richardson put the backpack on in this game where there are still a lot of things to clean up. Do not get it twisted like this, this Colts offense and defense made a lot of critical errors that shot themselves in the foot when this game should have never really been this,

Starting point is 00:26:36 this close or really should have never been down in the game. I think that that's really going to be a premium is limiting a lot of those self-inflicted wounds. Like football is football. Like you're going to throw a pick sometimes. Someone is going to get like a penalty in some capacity. That's just how football works. Like you have those.

Starting point is 00:26:58 Can you limit them? I felt like the Jets were able to creep back in that game for some really bad self-inflicted penalties. And they also got a little bit lucky towards the end of that stretch that the Jets used that last time out. And EJ Speed has the delay game penalty. Had they had a timeout, they maybe are kicking a field goal there. So, again, awesome. Don't want to ever take away from Anthony Richardson's performance or this Colts, the resilient win when the plays matter the most. But I think from an offensive perspective, it's got to find a way to get JT involved. It's got to find a way to get to build off of this from Anthony Richardson. So that's something that you have to either trust Shane Steichen to be able to do, or you just don't

Starting point is 00:27:40 trust him to do it. And I do. So I think that we'll see. We're going to see some quarterback run. We're going to see some things to help out some of this offensive line that inevitably struggled in this game. And hopefully get some RPOs back, which we really didn't see a lot of this year. Yeah, we did see a little bit in this past game, which I was the RPR to Granson that Richardson threw over his head. I was like, oh, OK, we're getting some RPR stuff going stuff going again that's nice maybe to his throwing side might help a little bit but then again defenses are are looking for that so I get it um but yeah I I think it was a good game plan overall obviously the execution was poor at times like you said self-inflicted wounds have been a been an ongoing trend with this team not just Anthony Richardson but from drops to

Starting point is 00:28:23 procedural issues to holdings, to fumbled snaps, like it just can't happen, you know, for an NFL team. And you can survive against the Jets that way. I don't think you can survive against the Lions. And that's what I'm saying, where everyone's loving this up, and they should, and I'm not trying to be like rain on anyone's parade. But I'm saying that, like, in the NFL, you're never as good or as bad as you think you are. Now, I hope they go out and build on this. And I'm not trying to be like rain on anyone's parade, but I'm saying that like in the NFL, you're never as good or as bad as you think you are now. I hope they go out and build on this and that would be awesome. But it's really starting from ground zero because you can't not acknowledge a

Starting point is 00:28:54 lot of the mistakes that could have costed them the game. Yeah. And one more thing I want to end this show on. And I think it's a really big thing too, is I'm not going to ask for Anthony Richardson to repeat this performance next week because this is a really strong performance. And asking a 22-year-old quarterback, yeah, asking any quarterback to repeat a three touchdown day where, you know, coming down,

Starting point is 00:29:15 coming back from eight points down in the fourth quarter, having nearly 10 yards per attempt, which is basically an MVP caliber type of yards per attempt, asking them to do that every single week is too high of a standard. But I do want to see him stack some good games. One good game is awesome. Like a game like this is awesome. And it's enough for me personally to hang my hat on and be excited with him.

Starting point is 00:29:37 But keep stacking them. You know, I'm not saying next week needs to be this, but if next week can be, you know, another 200 yard passing day where the completion percentage is like high fifties, low sixties, and you're somewhat competitive with the Detroit lions in this, that's a big win. You know, just, just stack the positive days, go from here and keep building upon what he built up in this game. Because early in the season, it was stacking negative games and stacking down games. Let's start stacking some positive ones to end the season. I'm not asking for all these final six games to be positive and strong games. I'm a realist.

Starting point is 00:30:12 I know how the NFL works. It's not going to be like that, especially with some tough defenses coming up. But if you can finish this season with four of the six games being good, strong, positive games that you can really lean on and look at the film after the season and say, hey, let's get back to doing what we were doing in those final, you know, five, six games. I can take that and run with that. So just stack the good days. Make sure I think Richardson said everything perfectly after the game, too. He said that like he said after the game, like, hey, this is just one game. We good win, guys.

Starting point is 00:30:45 You guys did your job. I did my job. Let's get to the next one and let's keep stacking this. And that's the perfect mindset for this. Keep stacking those good days. As much as it's important to avoid stacking bad days, it's more important to keep stacking the good days. So let's stack this performance with other good performances and be really optimistic heading into the offseason or or heck, if they really stack the good games

Starting point is 00:31:06 heading into the playoffs. But let's just, let's finish the season strong and keep stacking these good days. And I think that goes for Anthony Richardson. But the one thing I want to add is you would love to take, and good quarterbacks do this, great quarterbacks do this. I mean, look at Joe Burrow all year,

Starting point is 00:31:20 but you would love to have a scenario where Anthony Richardson gets some help from the talented unit that was built around him. And when we looked at the beginning of the year, like, and this is a good offense around him with Pittman, who was coming off a good year, Pierce, who's shown up in critical situations, Josh Downs, who's great. But, you know, again, I'd love to see the offensive line take a step forward, despite how banged up they are. I'd love to get this run game going, and it happens happens sometimes but you would love to have a performance where anthony richardson doesn't have to cover up some of the self-inflicted wounds on all you know from a collective unit so

Starting point is 00:31:55 i totally agree they made all the plays when it mattered this colts team definitely does fight um for all four quarters you can say that about them them. But yeah, I think that that's where I'm looking forward. If you're asking Anthony Richardson, like this is the new standard, Cumberheads will prevail here. He's going to probably have a stinker before the season ends. And that's just how life is. And with any quarterback, really.

Starting point is 00:32:18 I mean, look at Lamar last week. This past week, you can't expect these MVP level performances week to week. Yeah, but great performance. Great performance. Fantastic. There's no reason, and I feel like we're raining on people's parades, so I don't want to do that.

Starting point is 00:32:35 I just want to be calm heads because you're going to get disappointed at some point if someone doesn't say this to you. But again, something to hang your hat on still. We will take that at this point. be excited Colts fans and and like I kind of said in the post game show yesterday let's let's use this week to celebrate rather than have the impending impending doom of the Detroit Lions coming to town this next Sunday let's avoid thinking about the Detroit Lions let's just be excited about what Richardson did this past week and talk about that. But a lot of season left to play, six games left. The Colts are technically not out of the playoff hunt.

Starting point is 00:33:09 They have to win four to five of these next six games, which is very doable if they get quarterback play like they did on Sunday. So great game from Anthony Richardson. Good game from Shane Steichen, Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, A.D. Mitchell and his two snaps out there, whatever it was. Good job from all those players out there, and hopefully they can build on this going forward. But really, really promising game from this Colts team. And again, hopefully they can exchange some punches here with the Detroit Lions.

Starting point is 00:33:35 We do want to thank you guys, though, for making Locked On Colts your first listen today. Now for your second listen, go find the new Locked On NFL with two shows every day. First, the Madman Tyler Rowland kicks off your morning with a double shot of NFL espresso and then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. Find Locked on NFL on YouTube or every list of your podcast. And if you guys want to become a Locked on Colts insider and chat with us directly, get the insider scoop, follow the link in our show notes. And if you don't already, make sure you're following at Locked on Colts, at Jake Arthur

Starting point is 00:34:03 NFL, at Zach Hicks 2, and at ColtsFilmRoom, all on Twitter. We're also on TikTok. We're on Instagram. And even recently, we have LockedOnColts on Blue Sky. So if that's your thing, we're over on Blue Sky as well. Also, subscribe to us on YouTube. I release your podcasts. We love your guys' ratings and reviews.

Starting point is 00:34:19 And we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson Excels as Dual Threat Option in Win over Jets

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