Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Anthony Richardson Showcases ELITE Potential vs. Los Angeles Rams
Episode Date: October 3, 2023Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson showcased his sky-high potential against the Los Angeles Rams. The rookie may not have finished with an elite stat line, but he made multiple throws t...hat few in the NFL can make. He was simply dealing down the stretch during the Colts' late-game comeback efforts.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFLFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN!Catch the Locked On Colts pregame show at Nevermore at Union Station before every Colts home game! Info here: https://www.tailgateplanet.com/indianapolis-colts-tailgatesDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/NFL today to get 10% off your first month.birddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNFL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNFL for a water bottle with any order. You won’t want to take your birddogs off we promise you.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Colts star rookie nearly led a shocking comeback, but the second half surge came at a steep price for one starting defender.
Let's get to it.
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What's up, everybody?
I am Jake Arthur.
He is Zach Hicks.
And you know the two of us from horseshoehuddle.com
i'm your regular credentialed media member from the site reporting to you from the stadium on
game days and it is christmas every week now because the film has been crunched uh zach is
going to give you his thoughts you didn't get to give those to you yesterday. So you're getting all new hot takes here on today's show. On some
unfortunate news and notes, some bittersweet stuff, I guess, that we learned from Shane Steichen on
Monday afternoon with his post-game press conference conference call, you know, kind of
settled the day after the coaches have had some time to watch the games again as well.
So we'll talk about that.
And then we're going to dive more into Anthony Richardson.
What did he do really well yesterday or on Sunday against the Rams?
What does he still need to work on?
And then what are some things we really want to see done with him moving forward?
So we'll go ahead and start with this.
The biggest news of the day, Colts starting cornerback Dallas Flowers
is now out for the season with an Achilles injury.
Coach Steichen announced that on Monday.
That's a big bummer because that's someone who kind of defied the odds.
The Colts invested heavily in cornerbacks this offseason,
and they could have just taken every opportunity to just yoink him out of the lineup.
Juju Brent, Darius Rush, here you go.
Do whatever.
Daryl Baker Jr.
But Flowers, he started earning some playing time defensively near the end of last season
and never gave it back.
Earned a starting outside cornerback spot.
And now here we are.
You know, he started all 14 games, had a decent
season, his 300 defensive snaps, fourth most for the Colts defense. But ultimately, it is now over
within the first quarter of the season. Yeah, and Dallas Flowers playing pretty well. You know,
if you're looking at this Colts cornerback room, it was very much a mixed bag. You know,
Darryl Baker Jr. obviously had his struggles.
Kenny Moore has been mostly solid.
Juju Brents is still getting his legs under him,
but he's doing some good things out there.
Dallas Flowers on the other side, though, was pretty consistent.
You know, he had some poorish moments.
He had some learning moments.
But for the most part, you know, he had three pass breakups
in those games he played, those four games he played.
Was coming downhill and making some tackles in the run game too.
So I was really liking what he was doing.
And unfortunately, we all kind of saw on Sunday
when he went down with that injury,
and we saw it was a non-contact injury,
and he was reaching for that Achilles.
Yeah, it was kind of, you know, right.
He was on the wall there with that.
So unfortunate for him.
I mean, it's a big opportunity for Jalen Jones going forward to step in there potentially as a
starter and maybe we'll see the Colts work out some more corners or maybe try to bring in a
veteran just to have another voice in the room. But yeah, losing Dallas flowers, you know,
it's something where if you would have said that before the season or at the end of last season,
like, Hey, the Colts be out, we without Dallas flowers next year, it wouldn't sound like as big
a deal, but because of how the Colts' cornerback room is
and how he's played this year,
it's a pretty massive deal to lose him this early in the season.
Yeah, definitely a bummer.
Andrew and I talked about this in the pregame show.
He has the right mentality for the position
because it's not always great for him,
but he's a cocky cornerback, very confident.
He's going to go out there and compete and play tough every snap,
no matter if he just gave up a 50-yard bomb or whatever.
Really liked what I saw from him this year, but it is next man up now.
Juju Brintz was already inserted into the starting lineup.
Jalen Jones got some action late in that game, obviously.
Darryl Baker Jr., you have to imagine he's going to start getting some action
once again after being a healthy scratch two weeks in a row. But just for the sake of depth
and everything, Darren Hall, they let him go. Darius Rush was also a casualty as well.
So it seems like they've got to bring someone back just at least for depth. I don't think
they're going to bring someone to compete to start or anything like that but they they just need more bodies now because it was already one of the shakiest or at
least most unproven positions on the roster yeah yeah no they just need another body in there i
think for sure i mean they do have tony brown out there on the roster so maybe you get kenny more
some more outside snaps and tony brown could play a little bit in the slot. Or maybe this leads to more playing time for Nick Cross in the slot
to have Kenny Moore more on the outside.
There are some ways that could go with this,
but I do think they'll probably bring in another veteran
that has some experience in this type of scheme.
Yeah, some other injury notes.
Shane Steichen mentioned that Quiddie Paye reported some concussion symptoms
after the game.
He is now in the concussion protocol as well.
Seems like a rash of concussions for the Colts lately,
or maybe it's just more awareness from the players
to actually report symptoms rather than just say it's fine.
So I guess it's good from that instance
that players are recognizing when something's not right.
First and foremost is his health,
but it's,
this is happening early enough in the week where perhaps he clears the concussion protocol and can play on Sunday against the Titans.
If not bigger workload for Dio Adango,
Jake Martin has done some nice things as well.
I know they'll do some shuffling between big end and Leo and this and that.
But with quitty payout last year, it was definitely a bigger load for, for Daiya Dengbo. So we'll see
some more of the depth guys get, get snaps probably regardless if I had to guess.
Yeah. Yeah. And Quidipe was kind of quiet this past game. We don't know when that concussion
actually happened. It could have happened early in the game and he just didn't report symptoms
till late. It could have happened at the very final play. You know,
you just never know what these types of things here, but I'm glad he reported.
I'm glad he got,
got out in front of it and the Colts can, you know,
work them through that that protocol and get him back healthy. I know I,
like you said,
I know there's a lot of concussion injuries or brain injuries coming up for
the Colts right now, but again,
I'd rather guys over report this thanreport this. So it's unfortunate.
It sucks.
And hopefully they can get some of these guys back and cleared through the protocol.
But it is what it is.
I'd rather have guys protected from these brain injuries and a really violent sport here.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And then the last little piece of news and notes that Steichen mentioned,
or at least of significance, Jonathan Taylor,
they confirmed he is going to be back practicing on Wednesday, by all
accounts, or at least what Steichen is saying.
They've had good conversations.
Taylor is happy to rejoin his teammates and get out there.
There's an outside chance he could play Sunday if they feel he's ready.
They'll rotate him in there and just see where it goes from there.
Steichen has already said early in the season,
whoever's leading the backfield, they'll go with the hot hand.
You and I are kind of taking a cautious approach with Taylor.
Like there's really no need to get him out there yet. Like whenever he seems like he's ready,
because he's got to get in football shape now.
Because I mean, we saw with Zach Moss,
he was out for six weeks with his broken arm.
And then he practiced for like a
week or two before actually getting back onto the field. So no rush. They have the three-week window
to activate him. It sounds like he will be activated at some point, but will we see him Sunday?
We'll see. Yeah, I'd be shocked if he plays this Sunday. Just like you say, get back in football
shape, get acclimated in the offense, get some with the offense I mean we saw Juju Brents was a healthy scratch
for two weeks because he didn't have enough practices in the offseason now obviously it's
a very different story with a veteran player like Jonathan Taylor who's done this for years but
it still can be that hey we want to get this guy acclimated in the offense acclimated in
football shape acclimated just in our system that we have going here before we throw them
out there.
There is a way that they could have them out there for,
you know,
like a 10 snap type game,
get them out there for a few,
like potentially explosive plays,
maybe like a couple of screen passes or some quick runs.
But I don't know.
I don't really know anything still about this Jonathan Taylor situation.
I'm hoping that we do see him still for the Colts.
I'm hoping that,
you know,
everything looks like it's trending towards him playing for the Colts this year, but we'll see. We'll see that this has
been a crazy saga throughout the whole season, the whole off season, and who knows how it's going to
end, but it does look like he's going to play for the Colts. I just, it's like a see it. I have to
see it to believe it type thing right now. Cause I just, it's been such a crazy saga that I still have no clue yeah not to mention he has never practiced under Shane Steichen before so I mean I'm sure
he's done plenty of studying and has been in meetings and everything uh but he actually has
to like be in the system on the practice field and get his bearings there he's always been a
smart player so I don't think it's going to be any huge hiccup. But like there is that whole hurdle as well.
He's got to get used to playing with Anthony Richardson.
You know, the RPO game there, like there are some things that aren't very highly discussed, just some little nuances.
But he'll be in there eventually.
It sounds like coming up, we're going to talk about specifically Anthony Richardson. Zach is going to be able to dive into everything he saw from not only watching
the game Sunday, but then re-watching it, the All-22 and everything today. But first, a word
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back here tomorrow morning to continue talking about this Colts game
against the Los Angeles Rams and then previewing the big matchup against the Tennessee Titans
coming up. So every day is make sure you're tuning in tomorrow morning as we continue this
conversation about your lovable Indianapolis Colts. All right, Jake, so we're diving into
this past game for Anthony Richardson. Obviously, there's a lot of things we could talk on film about this overall team and how the Colts are able to start so slow,
but then somehow work their way back into the game and nearly pull out a very improbable win at the end.
But Anthony Richardson is the man of the hour when it comes to this game.
Like outside of him, I really don't think there are too many other players that we could highlight in a very positive light from this game.
I mean, Dio Dangbo had a fantastic game on defense.
A couple other defenders showed up a little bit late in the game, obviously late in the game there.
Drew Ogletree did some things on offense, but for the most part, this was an Anthony Richardson coming out show.
And it wasn't like a statistical masterclass by him either.
44 percent of
his passes he completed 11 of 25 for 200 yards and two touchdowns 10 for 56 on the ground for
another touchdown but it's just what he did late in this game that really brought the Colts back
into it you know they he started 5 of 15 for 82 yards he finished the game six of 10 for 118 yards in a score late that obviously brought
them back into it. So it's just, I love the resiliency from not only this team, but from him
to where like, hey, he's not having this game where he's completing 70% of his passes like he
was in week one, where he's completing a lot of his passes. But he came out in this one and just
finished so strong.
A lot of big time throws,
a lot of huge passes down the field that we haven't seen from a Colts quarterback since Andrew Luck that just get you excited about his potential.
So overall, you know, it's probably like not an A caliber game.
It's like a B plus type game from him, but you saw the aggressiveness.
You saw the arm arrogance. You saw the anticipation.
You saw the big time throws. And it anticipation. You saw the big-time throws.
And it's like that is what the Colts' future is right there.
The future is Anthony Richardson.
He showed it on Sunday.
So, again, not all sunshine and rainbows in this past game,
but a really solid game from him.
Yeah, absolutely.
He was just – for how many lows there were,
and I felt like the offense couldn't do anything in the first half,
and it was all just based off him running the ball.
What he was able to do afterwards and help dig them out,
I'm going to think about just all these seeds that he threw.
He had some spectacular plays.
And again, like you mentioned, this is what the future is.
This is why they drafted him.
He probably had five or so plays out there And again, like you mentioned, this is what the future is. This is why they drafted him. He did.
He probably had five or so plays out there that other guys in the league just can't make even some simple things.
Like I keep coming back to the Zach Moss two point conversion, like his way to navigate
out of all that trouble and that traffic there and get out.
And then he just had this like tomahawk throw to get it in there.
Not everyone can do that.
The touchdown pass to mo alley cox that was just on a rope as he's like falling to the ground aaron donald is wrapping him
up he's leaping up and tossing it perfectly to alec pierce like he just did so many things
that checked off the oh this is this is magic this is why he's the alien right here yeah and that's just stuff
you cannot account for um i mean there there are there are other things that he's gonna have to
iron out for sure that we'll get to in a bit but man that's what i'm gonna think about in this game
and it was a loss and it was it was a first half you just want to totally throw in the toilet um
but man it goes back to show you that he is someone who
learns in game from mistakes and makes adjustments yeah and there are also things like think of the
things that you know incompletions or penalties that weren't called or whatever his stat line
could have even been better than that you know the the kylan granson uh back shoulder on the
sideline the michael pittman one in the back of the end zone
where Pittman gets his face mask tugged,
like there were other missed opportunities there.
Like this game could have looked even better.
Yeah, and you know, I don't want to make excuses
for having a 44% completion percentage
because at the end of the day, that's what it was.
You know, but-
That doesn't just come down to a couple plays.
Like it was going to be an ugly,
an ugly completion percentage regardless.
Right, right.
But one thing I did want to add with that completion percentage
and with the amount of misses in this is it really wasn't –
I don't think there were many errant throws in this game.
And if there were errant throws, they weren't like miles off target.
The couple that come to mind are that out route to Michael Pittman Jr.
early on third down where a little bit of
timing issue but also he just didn't set his feet properly and threw it slightly high to Michael
Pittman Jr. slightly high just above the fingertips and went out of bounds there was one to Isaiah
McKenzie and early in the second half where he just waits on the throw too long and he throws a
little bit too high and that ball is not brought down and then you can get a little ticky tacky
like the Alec Pierce one late could have been a little bit more outside but Pierce should have caught that
one the one to Zach Moss in the flat probably put a little too much heat on it but he was trying to
get that ball out quick so Moss could turn and run up field it's like things like that like if
those are the big misses from him in this game I don't think he was overall overall like super
inaccurate like i know 44
percent completion percentage says uh super duper inaccurate player but it was a 12.5 a dot average
depth of target he was throwing the ball deep down the field there was a lot of long developing plays
that the colts were trying to exploit in this one and he was getting hit on a lot of his throws so
there were a handful of throws where he's getting hit as he's throwing it and the ball is just going
short because he's getting hit and also i don't think it was this overall game where
he's dropping back and he's trying to find a guy and he's throwing like a like a horribly errant
pass I think he was trying to make a lot of things happen on deeper developing routes and some of the
timing and a little bit of the accuracy is off but I don't think it was like this horrendously
inaccurate day from him I thought he delivered a lot of really good passes.
Some defenders made plays, mostly the pass rush for the Rams.
I mean, Aaron Donald was all over it in this game.
There were multiple other opportunities. There was a seam shot to Kylan Granson in the third quarter,
or early in the fourth quarter that should have been a touchdown,
but Donald got home.
There was another one on a third down before the fourth and seven conversion
attempt where Granson was all by himself on a corner route.
That would have been another 15 yard gain for an easy first.
And Aaron Donald got home.
It's just,
it's just what it was like.
The game plan was ruined by Aaron Donald,
but Anthony still made magic happen.
He's,
he's a arm arrogant player,
super aggressive player that actually attacked down the field.
And for a player who was kind of passive in week one and in his couple snaps in week two, this is what we needed
to see. We needed to see him breaking out of his shell. And maybe that's what Shane Steichen was
kind of doing in this game because almost every single play design was a deeper developing play,
like down the field. It was almost like Anthony, like throw the ball down the field. We want you
to take these shots down the field, even if the completion percentage is not there.
So overall, I think it was a really positive game.
We saw him taking chances down the field.
We saw him delivering ropes down the field.
The Josh Downs seam shot was fantastic.
The Drew Ogletree seam shot was fantastic.
The Moelle Cox throw, like you said, great.
Alec Pierce to fight through Aaron Donald to throw a 38-yard dot down the field.
We saw some really, really good plays from Anthony Richardson.
And then when he was extending plays, he was keeping his eyes down the field.
He was getting the ball out when he was extending plays.
And he was buying time in a pocket that was so muddy and disgusting all day long
that I think you have to look at this game and say, yes, there are room for improvement.
There is still ways that we can get him better in rhythm
and get the offense moving a little bit smoother but it was such a positive day
overall for Anthony Richardson and you saw the potential you saw the big time throws and
and honestly they are a defender's hand just barely getting in the way of Kylan Granson back
shoulder on that final drive away from winning that football game. Like the defender didn't see that ball coming.
Richen threw it, you know, against leverage,
the back shoulder of that defender, back shoulder of Kylan Granson.
Granson had late hands.
Everything was lining up to be this massive, massive gain
for the game-winning field goal.
And the defender's hand just happened to be there.
Like he wasn't even playing the ball.
It just hit him in the hand.
Like it's just what it is.
So I think it was a great game from Richardson. I think want to see obviously more consistency early in the game but I'm taking
a lot of positives away from this past game from Anthony Richardson but coming up guys we are gonna
you know skew away a little bit from the super positive talk here and talk about where he can
get better some areas that he can improve and how he can take that next step as a passer. But first, guys, snap into action this
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the NFL season. FanDuel.com, official partner of the NFL. All right, guys, so we're going to dive
into some negatives or maybe not some negatives,
just some areas that we still need to see some improvement on with Anthony Richardson,
because, again, this was his third start in the NFL.
This is only his you know, when the game ended, it was his ninth quarter played in the NFL.
So we're still super, super early into his NFL career.
And there's still a lot to work on, you know, for for such a positive game where he was able to drag his team back into
contention late in the game where they had no business even being somewhat close. There are
still a lot of areas you want to see cleaned up again, the 11 of 25. Sure. Some of it can be a
little fluky, but there are still some, some issues in the passing game. You got to clean up.
And I think the biggest thing is just timing. You know, it's just timing with the receivers,
timing, and just cohesion with the offense,
getting the ball out when it needs to be out, recognizing certain matchups that he needs to exploit, finding your number one receiver a little bit more, Michael Pittman Jr., finding those
advantageous spots. There was one late in the game where it was the second down on that final drive
that the Colts had where they could have gone down to kick a game-winning field goal where you know you want to see Richland ID that hey Pittman Jr. is being covered by
a linebacker on this drag route here that's a lot of free yards they're giving you free yards
he did eventually get back to it but he got back to it so late the ball was knocked down at the
line of scrimmage you just got to see that a lot quicker you know there's just things like that
uh he he singles out Kylan Granson a lot like Like when in doubt, he goes to Kylan Granson. Even if there are other leverage plays that he can attack, there are other situations where it's like, okay, Granson of habits, just building an overall more consistent and clean game
and continue to grow as a passer.
I think we've seen kind of the two far ends of the spectrum so far
for Anthony Richardson, where this game was a lot of vertical shots,
a lot of getting the ball down the field, a lot of big-time throws,
but it lacked the underneath consistency.
And then week one against the Jacksonville Jaguars,
it was all underneath consistency but no shots
down the field and no chances down the field now we need to see these next couple weeks just those
two things coming together to make a legit passing quarterback i think you can obviously do it it's
still early but you just want to see those two kinds of games and game plans welded together
to make the quarterback that anthony rich become. Yeah, something that you hear,
you think back to like pressers and stuff
that guys do weeks or months ago,
and you notice something on film sometimes.
And I was reminded about what Ed Dodd said
after they drafted Richardson.
And it's like, why are you only at your best
when it's like chaotic or like you're rolling
out or you're under pressure or whatever because like sometimes if he's got a clean pocket or he's
not being pressured that much it's like he rushes things or just gets the jitters doesn't throw
you know he doesn't step into his throw since you know exactly what I'm talking about
um but I I saw that a bit and I feel almost nitpicky about it because overall he had a pretty decent game.
But something smart coaches do, and I think Shane Steichen is more than capable of this,
is they ride that line of like accentuating the player's strengths with also trying to like iron those things out, like getting Richardson out on bootlegs and getting him mobile and making those types of plays that that needs to still happen because like he does excel in those areas.
And especially if the pockets collapse and he's got to go find stuff.
So like that shouldn't go away.
But like he does need to get a little more consistent getting used to it not being chaotic.
Like in this this game, you know, Aaron Donald made things chaotic constantly. a little more consistent, getting used to it not being chaotic.
Like in this game, you know, Aaron Donald made things chaotic constantly.
But to me, that's just something I've noticed a little bit.
And I think that's where his accuracy, that's probably one of his biggest areas of improvement when it comes to accuracy is just, I guess like Chris Bauer would say, just like make
some of those layups, you know? Yeah. I think a lot of his pocket presence and his pocket pocket feel there's so much good and
so much bad at the exact same time with him, where the good is that he's constantly able to make
plays happen. He's able to, you know, when he's rolling out the pocket, he's able to reset,
find his receiver down the field. He keeps his eyes down the field a lot, which is great.
He finds those exit lanes at a really high level. And those are all really great things to have for a quarterback.
But there are a lot of times where he's not planting that back foot because he gets a little
bit antsy in the pocket. He gets a little bit rushed in his mechanics and it causes balls to
sail on him, which we've seen quite a bit. You know, he's not planting that back foot and not
driving the ball down. He's throwing off that back foot and driving it high. You know, he's not planting that back foot and not driving the ball down. He's throwing off that back foot and driving it high.
You know, he's not really driving into it.
He's driving just off that back foot.
So you want to see that clean up a little bit, obviously.
You want to see him, I guess,
I guess want to see him hang in there a little bit more sometimes.
Because again, there are times where it's like, all right,
you didn't really need to drift there,
but that was a big issue in college that he had.
And I don't think it's as big an issue right now.
So I do think he's cleaning that up a lot.
But the other thing is just when he's getting through his reads
and he's getting through finding guys open,
there are certain times where if it's not that first read,
that first, like that first initial read,
and I'm not saying like he's staring one receiver down.
I'm saying like, if it's not that one read that he wants to open up early,
he will sometimes get antsy when he is working back to that second read,
because he's still figuring out the timing of the NFL. There's so much timing still in the NFL
where he's thinking, you know, in week one, he was like, okay, I have all the time in the world.
Then he gets chased down by Josh Allen three times. And he's like, wait a second. I don't
have all this time in the world anymore. So now you're seeing a little bit of an over correction where he's going from read one he's like okay I'm gonna look off this safety
I'm gonna rip this seam shot okay seam shots not there let me work down to my second option
oh wait I need to get out of the pocket now because by the time I'm working to my second
option I'm gonna get chased down so let me get out of the pocket oh no like I'm not getting to
the second option quick enough I can't get to a third option. I got to run now. You know, you want to see just the more comfortability in that pocket
where it's like, Hey, sometimes you have to have that awareness to where I do have time to get to
second or third. It's not going to be all the time because that's the NFL. He's absolutely right in
thinking I can't wait for four seconds every single play because I'm going to get chased down
because all these guys are super athletes in the NFL. But there are a lot of situations where sometimes you got to go pat one, pat two, pat
three, get the ball out, set my feet, be comfortable in my mechanics. You can't be pat one. Oh no,
pat two. Oh no, pat three. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to get hit and I'm going to get sacked.
You know, like there has to be that, that kind of balance there. And I still think he's trying
to find that happy median. So I don't think this is necessarily a negative thing. I think he's making some really good strides in that, but it's
still just finding that median and consistently hitting that back foot down, driving through
passes, getting to a second and third reads and being comfortable with the time he has to get to
those second and third reads. So overall, really positive again from Anthony Richardson, but just
some areas to clean up. You knowon but just some areas to clean up you
know there are some things to clean up especially as a passer as a runner protect that ball high
and tight but for the most part as a runner uh doing some really good things there um and i kind
of put this on on social media after the game but look we're again we're nine quarters into anthony
richardson era in indie and he's got seven touchdowns two turnovers uh like 500 total yards or whatever
it is or yeah like 500 total yards of offense if this is the baseline that we're starting with
with Anthony Richardson like this is the base I'm not saying it's the floor because
you know quarterback development's not linear it could go up and down any given week but if this
is the baseline just the foundational floor we're
starting with with Anthony Richardson oh man like oh man this could be something special and I'm
telling you there were four five six throws in this past game along with a couple runs where
you're thinking we got Cam Newton 2.0 we got Josh Allen 2.0 and again I'm not trying to say this is
a one-to-one comparison but it's like he's making throws and making plays in this past game
that is just made by elite special talents.
And he's in quarter nine of his NFL career.
It's not normal.
So just got to clean up some things.
But the arrow is pointing way up for him right now.
And I think it's only going to continue pointing up with him and Shane
Steichen getting more comfortable with this offense and getting more
comfortable with each other.
Yeah.
I think starting with Sunday with Tennessee,
I think the quickest things I would like to see done is probably,
you know, some more decisiveness.
You alluded to that with, you know,
with his reads if it's not right there and thinking
he has too much time that because like i think the michael pitman connection was a example that
he probably could have gotten to that to him a skosh earlier the one where they couldn't connect
in the back of the end zone yeah he should have lofted that one to the corner instead he wanted
to wait for pitman to get there and drive it it It's like, you got to look, it's a corner route.
That's wide open.
You've got to throw that to the corner of the end zone.
It still should have been a touchdown,
but yeah,
I know exactly.
I know exactly what player you're talking about there.
Yeah.
That's a,
that's a young quarterback thing.
Like they almost all hold onto the ball a little too long.
And then the fumbling,
that's just something we've noticed since training camp.
And that's very correctable.
That's just all about how you hold the ball.
And he's going to be running a lot.
I mean, so again, that's correctable, high and tight, whatever.
It is something we have seen happen a little too often.
He can take hard hits.
That's awesome.
It's not like it's on the Matt Ryan level.
But yeah, obviously losing fumbles and stuff can be backbreaking,
especially when it's in the worst timing and worst context.
But overall,
holy crap.
Thumbs up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think the,
the arrow is pointing way up right now.
I'm excited for Anthony Richardson.
You guys should be excited.
And every day is,
we'll be back tomorrow morning to talk more Anthony Richardson,
talk more Indianapolis Colts and get ready for this big Tennessee Titans matchup.
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