Westfield, IN — After being victim to an explosive outing from Indy’s offense in the team’s first-ever night practice at Grand Park, the Colts defense rebounded in a big way this morning.
After returning All-Pros at each level of the defense — DeForest Buckner, Zaire Franklin, and Charvarius Ward — the Colts tightened up in today’s red zone-heavy practice. It began with the starting unit but continued with the reserves.
As a result, both quarterbacks struggled, with Richardson having by far his worst
showing of camp thus far. To be fair, a dropback-centric red zone period is one of the most difficult sessions that a quarterback can be thrust into. Regardless, it was an overall poor showing from both signal callers.
QB Competition
Anthony Richardson kicked off the day with the starters, and this is where the shakiness began. On the opening play, he threw behind rookie tight end Tyler Warren, which resulted in an incompletion, despite Warren’s best efforts at yet another one-handed grab. Richardson then overthrew a wide-open Mo Alie-Cox while rolling left before concluding the period by getting picked off by Kenny Moore II on an underthrow. Daniel Jones and the second team followed that up with a poor showing of their own, going 1-3 through the air, with the lone completion being a quick RPO find to Anthony Gould.
In the following period, the first 7-on-7 session of the day, Richardson and the starters found a little breathing room to work with before ultimately finishing the period on a low note. He began with a quick connection to Jonathan Taylor in the flats, but then missed Ashton Dulin on a mesh concept, which saw Drew Ogletree free him up with the rub action. Richardson then connected with Josh Downs for 10 yards on a play that motioned him pre-snap into a texas route that lost the linebacker. The final two plays were both passes broken up by Kenny Moore II and Charvarius Ward, respectively. The play by Moore II came on a well-thrown 50-50 ball to Josh Downs in the corner of the end zone, a great effort by all parties involved.
Jones and the backups found their footing in the corresponding 7-on-7 session, going 2-3 through the air. An incomplete deep ball to Anthony Gould that Samuel Womack III broke up kicked off the period. Jones and Gould would connect on a quick-hitter in the flats the following play, before ultimately scoring on a ball fitted to Drew Ogletree on an intermediate out-breaking route.
Switching with Richardson for the following red zone team period, an 11-on-11 session, Daniel Jones continued his momentum found in the previous period with the starters. The starting offense scored twice in this session, both on play-action finds in the flats to Ashton Dulin and Tyler Warren, respectively. Each touchdown was preceded by big chunk gains that set up the offense for said easy scores. One of which was a big chunk gain on the ground by Jonathan Taylor, while the other was a similar gain through the air to Tyler Warren.
The same 11-on-11 session with the second unit saw Anthony Richardson’s struggles continue. Samuel Womack III started the period with a near INT near the goal line, playing perfect coverage throughout the rep. Richardson would connect with AD Mitchell in the intermediate portion of the middle of the field on the following play before ultimately concluding the period with a would-be sack off the right side from rookie DE JT Tuimoloau.
Daniel Jones’ upward trajectory of the day came to a screeching halt as he started the next 7-on-7 session by throwing an interception directly to LB Joe Bachie. Two plays later, Jones took a would-be sack and then ended the session with a would-be sack turned Nick Cross interception from over the top. The only redeeming moment of Anthony Richardson’s poor showing was in the following 7-on-7 period with the backups, a re-route mid-play that eventually found a toe-tapping AD Mitchell in the corner of the end zone for the score.
Finally, the last team period of the day saw Daniel Jones regain some of that earlier established momentum. Although he had two poor throws in this session, he would go on to hit Josh Downs thrice on quick-hitters, as well as two out-breakers to conclude the period. As for Richardson, his final team period solidified what had shaped up to be his worst throwing performance of camp thus far. He was simply not on the same page with AD Mitchell on two separate occasions, while also struggling to connect with Laquon Treadwell in the last attempt of the morning.
Defense Locks Up
As alluded to, the Colts' defense had a heyday in today’s red zone-heavy affair, thanks in big part to the return of DeForest Buckner and Charvarius Ward (Zaire Franklin returned as well but was limited to individual work amid a team-heavy practice).
Kenny Moore II, Nick Cross, and Joe Bachie all had an interception today, while rookie DE JT Tuimoloau had a quick sack to end one of the latter half team periods. Samuel Womack III was also impressive in his run today, nearly picking one off and coming away from the day with a couple of PBUs to show for.
The Colts’ secondary did its part today amid a pass-heavy red zone script, though a portion of the defense’s successful outing was due to the quarterback’s lackluster days. The pass rush had its moments, and the defensive backfield locked up, but this was as much of a poor showing from the offense as it was a strong showing from the defense.
Miscellaneous
- Kicker Spencer Shrader is sitting at an 87% kicking clip while UDFA Maddux Trujillo sits at a 74% rate. STC Brian Mason said after practice that the goal is to be at 90% at the conclusion of training camp.
- Josh Downs was the favorite target today. Hauled in just about everything that went his way (nearly double-digit targets).
- AD Mitchell's recent hot streak continues.
- LB Joe Bachie continues to flash in coverage.
- Rookie Report: Tyler Warren continues to be the security blanket that he was chalked up to be; JT Tuimoloau starting to heat up, had a quick sack on Anthony Richardson today; Justin Walley remains quietly impressive in coverage; Jalen Travis is getting a lot of work at both LT/RT as he vies for the swing tackle role; RB DJ Giddens gets high praise from OC Jim Bob Cooter; UDFA Jonathan Edwards began to get some run with both the 1st/2nd unit in team period(s).
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