Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Anthony Richardson, Laiatu Latu Shine in Joint Practice vs. Arizona Cardinals

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Arizona Cardinals have come to town and Anthony Richardson greeted them quite rudely. 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. All right, thanks for tuning in and making us your, your team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel.

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Starting point is 00:00:58 This is Jake Arthur from HorseshoeHuddle.com, your boots on the ground credentialed media member for this site, giving you the inside scoop from training camp. And if you guys want to become a locked on Colts insider, just go ahead and follow the notes in follow the link in the show notes there. But today we are recapping last night's Colts Cardinals joint practice. The first of two. The second one will take place later tonight. And it was entertaining. We've seen a preseason game now with the Colts and the Broncos last weekend, but that was only two drives with the starters. This is really how teams treat the closest thing to regular season games because it's their guys, their starters and their twos going out there for two hours against the other team's competitors as well.

Starting point is 00:01:47 So what you really desire to see in a preseason game that you don't get to, it's kind of what you get during these joint practices. So it was pretty entertaining. Just some housekeeping, you know, to set the table before we dive into some specifics. The Colts have started to make some roster moves as they deal with injuries and things like that. Just this week, they signed free agent defensive end Derek Rivers and wide receiver Greg Ward. In the corresponding moves, they waived safety Kendall Brooks and designated Ethan Fernia as waived injured.

Starting point is 00:02:21 Now, Rivers and Ward. Rivers is 30 and Ward is 29. Neither player has played since 2021. So for this, my gauge on it is they are just veteran depth pieces that the Colts don't have to worry about getting guys super up to speed. These are players who have been there, done that. They're going to be in the right spots. They know what to do. So they're going to take probably minimal coaching. They're there to fill their role and just kind of do their jobs. Otherwise the Colts waived injured running back,

Starting point is 00:02:56 Trent Pennix who left Sunday's game earlier with a groin injury. And they claimed running back Dimitri Felton off of waivers from the bears. Now let's talk injuries going into last night's practice. DeForest Buckner and Juju Brents both returned. They missed last Friday's practice and the game. Jalen Carlisle is finally back. He'd missed the last six practices in the preseason game with a hip injury. Jannard Avery returned. He had a wrap on his upper leg and had missed a couple practices in the game. And then Clay Fields III, the cornerback, returned as well. Ashton Doolin, Trey Sermon, Titus Leo, and Liam Anderson all were out for the practice. So how they had it structured, you know, lots of special teams work there.

Starting point is 00:03:45 They did some one on ones between the O-line and D-line, as well as receivers versus defensive backs. That's primarily what I was watching there during that period. And then, of course, seven on sevens and 11 on 11s. So we'll start out talking about Anthony Richardson because he performed exactly like you would want him to. So he started out slow and I'm beginning to sense a theme and I'm really, I'm really starting to adjust my expectations for him during different periods of practice. So during routes on air and seven on sevens, he's a little bit delayed and he's not as accurate. Just to put it bluntly, He did start out slow yesterday. But then when it came to 11 on 11s, he turned it on.

Starting point is 00:04:30 And, you know, the accuracy was better. The playmaking was there. He got rid of the ball quicker and wasn't as delayed and late on throws. And I think he's just a guy who needs the pressure. He needs the pass rush to feel comfortable and like he's playing football. Like, I just think he's got a different internal clock than everybody else. I mean, there are other guys like that. Don't get me wrong.

Starting point is 00:04:56 But he never looks more comfortable than when he's in 11s and he's moving around. He's got someone, you know, providing pressure or breathing down his neck. I think that's just what we're going to have to come to expect from him. And Shane Steichen kind of acknowledged it last night as well. He's like, you know, he just, he kind of flips a switch when, when the lights come on. So if you go out to the practices and you think he looks a little rusty or off early on, just wait for the 11s because he's coming. So during the 11 on 11s, he was officially six of eight, which is 75% completions. All his completions went to Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce, and Jonathan Taylor. All of them each had two receptions. During seven on a sevens, he kind of peppered it around, but we don't really chart that just because there

Starting point is 00:05:46 is no pass rush there. And it's purely a passing simulation. There were definitely some big plays in there in seven on sevens and 11s. So his first two completions of the day went to Alec Pierce. The first one was a nice like 15yard little comeback at the sideline to Pierce again. So it's good to see those guys really getting comfortable with each other. In terms of personnel, Pierce, Pittman, and A.D. Mitchell, it's still pretty much the same thing we've been seeing for about the last week. Anthony Gould does get some occasional reps out there as the slot receiver as well, but primarily it has been A.D. Mitchell still. So let's see. The first

Starting point is 00:06:31 really big play of the day was during seven on sevens, and Anthony found Anthony Gould just streaking down the field on a deep post, hit him for about a 60-yard touchdown. Gould didn't have anyone in his neighborhood. So the pass was perfect. The route was perfect. All of it was great. And then at the final 11-on-11 session from Richardson in the first-team offense, they simulated an actual drive, and they ate it up. They torched the Cardinals' defense.

Starting point is 00:07:06 They went 75 yards and six plays, the final one being a 35-yard touchdown to Michael Pittman Jr. Pittman just got the track, you know, bumped him to the outside and just kind of rode the boundary up. And then I don't know that I've ever seen a more perfectly placed ball from Richardson than what he did there. He threw it on a rope. It was a deep ball, but he threw it on a rope. Timing was perfect. Landed right in Pittman's, you know, right under the shoulder there, right in the front of the end zone, in stride. Absolutely perfect. And that's something that's

Starting point is 00:07:43 been a little bit of work in progress. I don't know if he's been testing things out or what, but he had been hanging up some of his deep balls recently and it just didn't look quite right, but it looks like he's really getting things calibrated because really all throughout the day, his deep ball was absolutely clicking. I mentioned the bomb to Gould, that final touchdown to Pittman. During one-on-ones, he had a few touchdowns, two of them to Pittman. Again, from about 35 yards away, it was Pittman just beating his man and going up the left sideline and Richardson just perfectly. These ones were rainbows.

Starting point is 00:08:21 They weren't necessarily on a rope like that but they weren't delayed like Pittman didn't have to wait for it they weren't too far like they were just perfect and so for an offense that severely lacked a downfield passing game last year absolutely tremendous to see the quarterback the receivers all of it just absolutely clicking so definitely a good thing to see there he also had a nice little run. You could kind of tell based on everybody's body language and how the other players celebrate what the success rate of a run is going to be. Plus like, where are the defenders in relation to the actual ball? And it looked like Richardson had a legitimate, nice, like 20-yard run during 11-on-11s as well.

Starting point is 00:09:06 So he did it with his arm. He did it with his feet. Richardson looked exactly how you would hope he would against a defense last year that was one of the worst in the league. Arizona's defense was like 32nd against the run. I feel like 31st in scoring. They were 25th maybe overall on defense. So a really bad defense who has made some personnel moves this offseason. But Richardson and the Colts offense definitely made them look like you would hope to see them do.

Starting point is 00:09:37 So next we're going to talk about the rest of the offense because, I mean, it wasn't just Richardson being successful. You know, other guys kind of had their day as well. So we'll get to that in a moment. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? Maybe you never skip leg day at the gym. Maybe you never skip your really clutch bubble bath at the end of a brutal day. Just soak it up, spread out your toesies, and just let

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Starting point is 00:11:33 Visit BetterHelp.com slash locked on today to get 10% off of your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash locked on. And thank you guys again for making Locked On Colts your first listen today. For your second listen, enjoy the Locked On Fantasy Football Podcast. Get daily insight to the best fantasy draft strategies so that you can actually win your league this year. Part of the Locked On Podcast network, your team every day. All right, so offensive players not named Anthony Richardson. Let's start with his direct backup, Joe Flacco. So Flacco has only thrown a couple of picks

Starting point is 00:12:13 throughout camp and he had one of his worst ones last night. I'll give him a pass for it because it's pretty uncharacteristic of him. It was during 11 on 11s. He was going through his reads. You could tell he wanted someone in the middle of the field, but I think they were just maybe covered up. So at the last second, he tried to just throw a little quick dump off to Evan Hull, who was along the left sideline. But as is commonplace sometimes with throwing out to the boundary, it's dangerous territory. And the Cardinals linebacker just saw it coming and jumped the route and took it back to the house.

Starting point is 00:12:48 So Joe with a pretty ugly pick six on the play. But he did have some really nice passing plays. One of them to Will Mallory. It was about a 25-yard crossing route. Mallory came from the left side over to the right. And Joe hit him for about, again, 25 yards along the right side. And a guy who is very sneakily being productive throughout camp and the preseason, really, is DJ Montgomery. He's a receiver who it doesn't really matter which quarterback it is, whether it's starting one-on-ones, seven-on-sevens, 11-on-11s.

Starting point is 00:13:26 Anthony, Joe Flacco, Sam Ellinger, they all seem to have a good rapport with this guy. And so he caught about a 10-yard slant in traffic, but Joe led him perfectly. And so he kind of split a couple defenders right there and had what would have been a pretty decent game. We've seen Montgomery's run after catchability even as recently as Sunday in the game. So he's someone who, if he doesn't make the Colts roster, he is going to be one of their toughest cuts. And I'm sure they'll try like hell to get them on the practice squad. But I mean, if you're looking at six receivers, it's, I think we all think Ashton Doolin is going to be a part of the team.

Starting point is 00:14:09 But, man, DJ Montgomery is going to be a really tough cut. So that was Flacco's day. I mentioned that Pittman and Pierce both had a couple catches. I think Pittman, Pierce, and A.D. Mitchell as the starting three with Josh Downs out, they're looking really good. Mitchell had a play during one-on-ones that the referee technically ruled out of bounds. I mean, when you marry the feet and the hands and securing the ball and everything, I don't think he had everything 100% down.

Starting point is 00:14:42 It was real close. But he beat the defender deep downfield along the right sideline and made just a really tough catch falling to the ground, you know, falling out of bounds. Again, it wasn't complete, but it was a tough catch for him to make in totality. He had a play during, I think it was 11 on 11s where he caught a real quick ball and immediately spun away from the defender like it was like it was such a boom boom thing and for it to be a spin move and not just like a simple juke get out of the way it shows you the potential that this guy is going to have with yards after the catch just his ability to process things and do them so quickly.

Starting point is 00:15:25 And just another little side note on A.D. Mitchell here, we talked to Michael Pittman after practice, and he said that Mitchell's releases are some of the best that he's ever seen. And I mean, that's a guy that's worked with some really good receivers, worked with good receivers in the offseason. Pittman said that he's actually started studying Mitchell and like going to Mitchell to figure out how he gets those releases and gets away from defenders so crisply. So it seems like Mitchell is getting a lot of fanfare from his peers, which you love to see.

Starting point is 00:16:00 But no, he's really turned it on in the last couple weeks of camp. Again, we've talked about, you know, having success in one-on-ones and things like that is a given when you are bigger and more athletically gifted than the guy going against you. But when it's in a team setting and 11-on-11s and it's 11 players working as one unit, it's harder to stand out. But Mitchell has really started to do so lately. And I think he's kind of closed that performance gap a little bit where Alec Pierce was having like head and shoulders a better camp in terms of 11 on 11 work. I think it's getting a little more even now. And you hate to see Josh Downs be out, but for the Colts to have that top

Starting point is 00:16:43 three of Pittman, Pierce, and Mitchell, it's looking pretty good so far. Like I think they'll survive however long they gotta be, gotta be without down. So outside of, of those guys, this was a big day for Evan Hall. You know, with Trey Sermon out,

Starting point is 00:17:00 Jonathan Taylor, you gotta think he's probably not going to play on a, on Saturday against the Cardinals. So it could be the Evan Hull show on Saturday. It seemed like he got the bulk of the work ahead of Tyler Goodson. Hull even got some work with the first team, ran a ton with the second team. But during seven on sevens and 11 on 11s, he caught a bunch of balls. He had at least two or three runs

Starting point is 00:17:25 that looked like they would have been legitimately productive like they weren't just diving in into the trenches and you know coming up empty like it looks like there was actually some real productive runs from hole so it was arguably his best day at camp so far which this is a huge opportunity ahead of him again with sermon outon may not have had a huge workload against Arizona on Saturday, but for Hull to have two days in these joint practices where he gets to essentially take over Sermon's role and kind of separate himself from Tyler Goodson a bit, I think it's going to be really important for him. So it was a productive day for the offense,

Starting point is 00:18:06 but there were some hiccups aside from Flacco's interception. The Colts did give up would be sacks on Richardson by Cardinals defensive lineman, Victor do Demu KJ. A lot of new names. I'm learning this week. Flacco also got a sack from Dante Stills. And then Drew Ogletree near the end of practice lost a fumble.

Starting point is 00:18:31 He got hit pretty hard by Cardinals linebacker Papo. I forget his first name. But that was kind of a theme throughout the day was the physicality. The coaches had agreed, or at least Shane had, had agreed that it was, they weren't going to be like hitting overly violently. It wasn't going to be live where they were tackling and everything, but the Cardinals throughout the first half of practice, the defense in particular, they were being far more physical than I think everybody had agreed to. And it really seemed to be irritating Shane Steig.

Starting point is 00:19:08 And there was a couple of times where Shane had to yell. And the very last time it happened, it was during 11 on 11s. And he walked up to the line of scrimmage and just stared at the Cardinals defense. And after that, I don't recall it being an incredibly physical display by the Cardinals after that. So hopefully they got the message loud and clear that they're not trying to get guys killed out there during these practices. So coming up next, we will talk about the defensive side of the ball in a display that maybe wasn't as pretty as the offense. I love sports, guys. I love them so much that I never want them to stop. You can probably agree with me on that. But as the playoffs wind down, the Olympics are

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Starting point is 00:20:50 of Major League Baseball. All right, let's get defensive. So I'll be honest, we're going to applaud Nate Atkins from the Indy Star on this one because I think he was the only one of all of us in the media really watching the Colts defense against Arizona's offense yesterday obviously Anthony and how he performs is the most important thing so most of us are watching that so I cannot trumpet enough what Nate Atkins covered for the defense yesterday. So go over to Indy Star and check out his stuff. But just based on what I heard, brief glimpses of what I saw, and then just kind of looking at what Nate was able to provide us. In a nutshell, it was a good day for the Colts pass rush, primarily the first team.

Starting point is 00:21:41 Latu, Latu, Latu, DeForest Buckner, and EJ Speed all got would-be sacks on Kyler Murray. Buck and Latu in particular, also Quitty, apparently consistently producing pressure on Murray, keeping him running throughout the whole time. The problem with that is the pass rush was doing their part, forcing Murray to run all over the place and forcing him to kind of ad-lib is one of his strengths. The pass defense had a day, and it wasn't a good one. So I guess in particular, Juju Brents just did not look comfortable out there.

Starting point is 00:22:19 Obviously had the shoulder issue, the shoulder slash rest that he'd been dealing with, you know, from Friday, last Friday through the game. Apparently did not look very comfortable out there and was kind of picked on, gave up some big plays. I guess Cardinals receivers Chris Moore, Michael Wilson, and tight end Trey McBride all had big days for Arizona's offense. A good day from Adetome Adeboware, our guy who we keep talking up here. Recently, he's kind of getting a little more buzz. His teammates are talking about him a little more. He had a really good day being disruptive right up the middle. There's no doubt at all how powerful he is and the anchor that he can get and how much

Starting point is 00:23:04 he can push guys back. But he's really starting to get up to speed and become a little more versatile when it comes to rushing the passer from the middle as well. So that's really great to see from a guy like that. Guys who had some big performances or made some big plays for the defense. Stop me if you've heard this before before Julian Blackman had an interception uh so he had a pick on Kyler Murray in seven on sevens I guess he was matched up against former Colts receiver Zach Paschal and almost how Nate Nate Atkins described it was Blackman just basically ran Paschal's route form and intercepted the ball at the ateline. Dallas Flowers, who had quite the rough Sunday

Starting point is 00:23:45 in his first game action back since his Achilles injury, he had an interception in 11-on-11s versus backup quarterback Clayton Toon. So good to see Flowers with the ball production because that is something he can do. You know, the Colts don't have a ton of corners with, you know, gaudy pass breakup or interception stats. But Flowers is one of the guys that can take the ball away.

Starting point is 00:24:11 So in a nutshell, pass rush good, pass defense bad. Layout to law to another really productive day. This is now how many different quarterbacks are we seeing him do this to? He's a pain in the side for Anthony Richardson, Joe Flacco, Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham, Kyler Murray. We're at the point now where no matter the blocker, no matter the quarterback, he is making life difficult. And I mean, Latu is having, you know, just a star studded summer. Exactly what you would hope to see from the first defensive player taken in the draft. And, you know, for the Colts, an incredibly productive summer for a player that they took at 15th overall. So that's good.

Starting point is 00:24:55 Definitely good news for them. Special teams news. Zach isn't here today yet, so we're going to talk special teams. Spencer Schrader, the undrafted kicker behind Matt Gay, he went four of five on field goal attempts. He hit him from 38, 40, 48, and 50 yards. He missed from 55 yards. That's about his limit. Throughout camp, anything beyond 50 yards for him seems like a little bit of a mess. He's got just enough leg to hit from about maybe 50 to 52. But most of his misses, if not all of them during the summer have been beyond 50 yards.

Starting point is 00:25:32 They did a lot on the kickoff return drills, which they're going to keep doing a ton of as the league kind of gets up to speed and learns this new thing. Tyler Goodson got three returns, Anthony Gould got two. Dallas Flowers got two. And then DJ Montgomery got the last one. One of the biggest special teams plays of the day. Again, I mentioned that this started out as a pretty physical practice, at least from the Cardinals side of it. Cardinals running back DJ Dallas returned to kickoff and just impaled Isaiah Landon to the ground.

Starting point is 00:26:03 Just a huge thud right off the bat. Might've been the biggest hit we've seen in camp at all for the Colts. Again, because the Colts aren't trying to get guys killed out there. But no, Land got absolutely decleted on that one. And yeah, a lot of restraint from the Colts. There were a few moments yesterday where I thought, you know, the Colts may need an enforcer on this one to try and, you know, stop the BS from the Cardinals side, because clearly

Starting point is 00:26:31 the Cardinals were not getting the message that the Colts were trying to send for a minute about being overly physical. So they're going to get back after it tonight, again, six o'clock. I will, I'll report to you guys after this one. Last night, it just was not working out being able to do the show right after a practice, but I'll have my full notebook on horseshoehuddle.com. I will hit you guys up on here as well. So we're going to, we're going to kind of drown everybody in content today because Zach and I are also going to try and get out a Q and a episode. You guys absolutely flooded us with questions on Twitter yesterday. We love to see that.

Starting point is 00:27:09 So we want to get out a Q&A episode here coming up soon as well. So again, thank you guys for making Locked on Colts your first listen today. Now go listen to the Locked on Fantasy Football podcast. Get your daily insight to the best fantasy draft strategy so you can win your league this year. Because be true to yourself. You're not always bringing home the trophy, are you? But if you listen to Locked On Fantasy Football, they can definitely help you out. If you want to become a Locked On Colts insider and chat with us directly and get the inside scoop,

Starting point is 00:27:38 then follow the link in our show notes. And if you don't already, follow at Locked On Col Jake Arthur, NFL, and as Zach kicks to you on Twitter, we're also on Tik TOK and Instagram now as well. Please subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. And we would love your ratings and reviews as well. We're starting to do really well on the charts now that the season is picking up. So boost us up a little more.

Starting point is 00:28:01 We would definitely appreciate it. And with that, you guys have a great day and shoot. We'll see you in a little bit.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Anthony Richardson, Laiatu Latu Shine in Joint Practice vs. Arizona Cardinals

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