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    Anthony Richardson can’t meet a standard that doesn’t exist

    Pabio Posted on

    INDIANAPOLIS – Colts strategist Anthony Richardson dropped back from his own 11-yard line, spotted his tight end drifting between layers of zone coverage and fired a ball straight to him – between the numbers, into the web of two gloved hands, in the shadow of the nearest defender.

    And Drew Ogletree dropped it.

    Richardson was so sure he had scored a touchdown that he knelt on the sideline to celebrate. And when he saw the ball bouncing lifelessly on the turf, he threw his head back and smiled.

    Sometimes you have to laugh not to scream.

    This had also just happened on Colts first drive of the game, after Richardson drove them inside the 10 and faced a third-and-6. He gave up the shotgun, waiting for an Adonai Mitchell route to develop in the zone goals, only for Za’Darius Smith to spin Quenton Nelson like a top and throw his 270-pound frame into the 22-year-old’s lap. -old quarterback.

    Richardson had just enough time to stand up straight and get out of the end zone before crashing onto his back on the turf. But after running back Jonathan Taylor picked him up, he let out a fierce scream with an intense look at the offensive line.

    “I knew we were in the red zone,” Richardson said after his team lost 24-6 to Detroit“and we’re just not done.”

    Instead, those two red zone possessions created an easy line in the sand where a game against the high-flying Lions would be lost.

    It was so easy to see that a quarterback was screaming and laughing just to drown out the pain.

    This game was meant to be a reminder to what happened seven days ago in New Yorkwhen Richardson returned from a two-week benching and played the game of his life to spark his first comeback win in the fourth quarter. After the most humiliating two weeks of his life, Richardson suddenly had a buffet of positives to draw on after a 20-for-30 performance.

    He was finally the young quarterback this team wanted to see, both in play and demeanor, in terms of consistency and confidence.

    And he was much the same player Sunday against the Lions. However, it is difficult to see clearly in the score when he finishes 11 out of 28, and it is difficult to justify it through the results of a home beating by the Lions.

    But that’s the reality on a day when he recorded a record 75 penalty yards and an afternoon when he took six hits from Lions defenders without a single sack.

    “I don’t think the penalties negated his misses,” receiver Alec Pierce said. “There were a lot of hits and a lot of good balls that were called back, so I’m sure his stats don’t really reflect how he played and threw the ball.

    INSIDER: Colts vs. Lions Thoughts: Anthony Richardson Gets Little Help From Teammates

    This wasn’t the case, but it can happen in a sport like football, known as the ultimate team game. The Lions are proof of that, as they revived Jared Goff’s career after the Rams passed on him by building his confidence and backing him with the league’s best offensive line, featuring a reigning 800-yard tight end. to Sam LaPorta and a reigning one. 1,500 yard receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and two running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery who already combine for 21 touchdowns on youngsters. season.

    It takes two to tango, and as young as Richardson was, he figured it out early.

    “I can definitely get better at throwing the ball and helping my guys get up. But I can’t catch every pass either,” Richardson said at the NFL Scouting Combine, months before the Colts drafted him. . “If I could, I definitely would. But it also helps the guys and helps the guys help me.”

    That’s not a quarterback line to say, especially not at this level, where that position is CEO of a billion-dollar franchise. The purpose of the bench was to make him learn these realities a little more, to spend two weeks in the dark while a nation beat him for his professionalism and focus, all so that he could eventually emerge and rise to prominence. level of those around him.

    But that standard never arrived Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. Some of the issues were new, like penalties that wiped out a number of strong plays, like a 21-yard completion to Kylen Granson, a 7-yard first down conversion to Josh Downs, and an explosive 30-yard gain to Kylen Granson . Downs, all recalled.

    “A lot of our explosive plays were called back,” Downs said. “The game probably wouldn’t have gone the way it did if we had gotten those explosive plays.”

    But they did it, because Colts players who are supposed to support Richardson had to block hands in front of defensive linemen or tackle rushers to the ground.

    They dropped passes, from Ogletree’s missed touchdown to an explosive gain where Ashton Dulin forgot to put his second foot inbounds. They didn’t run around him, allowing his 61 yards rushing to account for 64% of the team’s rushing success. Taylor managed to find just 35 yards on 11 carries, marking the fewest yards he’s had on double-digit carries in his career.

    “I feel like we could have been a lot more physical,” Richardson said. “I feel like we could have played the bully a little more, to say the least.”

    They couldn’t hold up in pass protection, asking him to throw the ball with defenders draped over his waste, turning six quarterback hits into zero sacks. And they couldn’t get open in the middle of the field, with three active tight ends combining for zero catches on just three targets.

    Although the Colts rightly asked Richardson to grow, they failed to grow enough with him. And that left the rest of them where they started this season, turning the run-first personnel into a pass-happy attack without the basic plays to build a rhythm.

    And pace, as Michael Pittman Jr. pointed out, is just a synonym for confidence when it comes to a young quarterback.

    “I think we can just expand and help him by getting easier achievements,” Pierce said. “It’s hard to throw the ball down the field. He has to move back deeper. It’s harder on the O-line. I think we can help him by getting some quicker plays.”

    Pierce is now the third Colts starting receiver to make public suggestions about shorter routes to stay on the field and avoid hits from a quarterback who has missed 15 games with injury over the past two seasons.

    Pierce, Downs and Pittman have all made this point, but they aren’t the ones designing the offense.

    Shane Steichen responded perfectly last week to the opportunity to install a new offense for Richardson’s return that might be better suited to his quarterback’s young mindset and dual-threat abilities. The Colts ran the ball in this game on 20 of their first 27 plays and while the running game wasn’t successful overall, it kept Richardson feeling alive with two rushing touchdowns and minimized the risk of turnovers that had plagued their offense. alive.

    But the task was much more difficult this week, because it wasn’t Aaron Rodgers and the Jets they had to follow. It was the best offense in the NFL, and so when those red zone possessions didn’t find the end zone, the Colts knew they were going to have to make up for it.

    All that caused was panic.

    That came from Steichen, who called just one rushing play for Taylor in the entire second half. That came from his offensive line, tight ends and receivers, who couldn’t make their best plays without committing penalties.

    They were expected to be the more composed, older professionals who didn’t lose their jobs when the offense went five straight weeks without scoring more than 20 points. But Sunday’s homecoming only showed the opposite of balance.

    It was stress, about a unit that wasn’t gelling, about looming questions with no easy answers and about a season that’s on the brink at 5-7.

    The schedule lines up so the Colts could, theoretically, make the playoffs. Just 7-5 for Denver represents a tough game on paper, with the other four games coming against teams from New England, Jacksonville, Tennessee and the New York Giants who are 10-35 overall.

    But in the same way that Sunday against the Lions was theoretically a wake-up call for a refreshed quarterback and a new offensive identity, theories don’t win games. Ogletree was theoretically open and Smith theoretically blocked and Dulin theoretically ready for an explosive gain.

    The Colts need solutions, not theories. And until they find some, their quarterback will carry those frustrations one sarcastic laugh and one angry scream at a time.

    Pabio
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