This Indianapolis Colts’ Anthony Richardson film study was WILD

when I sat down to watch Anthony Richardson's rather short-lived rookie season in the NFL I didn't expect it to hold such a rich storyline Not only was there so much to learn from such a limited amount of playing time but I came away from it feeling robbed I will explain as today's video unfolds but if you're new here my aim for this channel is to tell stories of our favorite athletes using the purest form of explanation for every Nuance of the game today we're covering one of the most unique athletes the NFL has ever seen especially at the quarterback position Anthony Richardson's story sent me on quite the journey but how can we pull so much from such a small sample let's roll the week one tape and I'll show you and I hope you enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed making it the Indianapolis Colts opened the season against the Jacksonville Jags in a division rivalry game that meant an early Advantage the rest of the way Shane styken and the offensive staff did a really good job in helping AR settle and on the opening drive of the game they let him throw the football on three straight plays that said it is worth reminding ourselves that Indie were without both Jonathan Taylor and Zach Moss for this game leaving the Run game significantly short-handed Dion Jackson started the game fumbled twice on 13 carries and never saw the field again in a Colt's uniform he was cut a couple of weeks later if you need a reminder as to how brutal the NFL can be that'll do it so with a depleted Run game Richardson had plenty to do but the Colts kept everything pretty compact throughout there was a lot of take what the defense defense is giving you playing it relatively safe no deep shots no real low percentage throws one of the components of the Colts offense that I spotted in studying AR's film was the Reliance on these short yardage curl routes often the inside receivers will run the same route mirroring one another on a 5 yard curl just inside the numbers there were a ton of short yardage throws High completion percentage throws finding running backs and tight ends on screens or hitting the wide receivers on Crossing routes coming underneath they ran a whole bunch of rpos o ing Richardson to read the defense and move the football as he saw fit the Colts were tactical and reserved with their throws downfield but when AR had the chance to do so he was hitting his receivers in the hands nearon every time separation did seem to be a slight issue at anything beyond 10 yards down the field but the inclusion of AD Mitchell should help to change that for the offense in 2024 AR's one mistake came on one of these throws downfield attempting to hit Moi Cox on a corner route and leaving it a little short the Defender reads his eyes and backs up closing the window he has to throw into outside of that Richardson played a remarkably clean game for a rookie quarterback there were several things he did really well they drew up several designed runs for him out of a range of different looks there were multiple QB options and rpos allowing AR to pull the ball out of the running back's stomach and take off with it he did quickly learn that Josh Allen is a freak of nature and trying to run away from guys like that in the NFL isn't going to be easy but largely the Colts quarterback was able to Scamper for positive yardage when he did tuck the football and go one of those was the touchdown earlier in the game which came out of a funky formation with three men lined up almost in the backfield a formation that you'll see again later in this video against the Rams this formation proved pivotal in the week four second half comeback against LA and it's interesting to see just how many different options Shane styken is able to draw up using it here when the motion man takes off to the right and the ball is snapped guard will Fri pulls and Andrew ogal Tre leads AR through the Gap to make sure that the path to the end zone is clear this is a really clean play call down in the Red Zone utilizing Richardson's freak athleticism to find paa he found Michael Pitman on several slant and drag routes but one thing I spotted here was the throws leading mpj into contact a couple of times as I learned with puker and Matt Stafford their chemistry to sit these routes down in space and avoid unnecessary hits and allow the receiver to then turn up field was one of the biggest reasons that they worked so well together in 2023 if Anthony Richardson can get that down with his receivers namely Michael Pitman Jr knowing when to slow them up or throw to their inside shoulder it should further support the momentum of the offense for the most part AR looked very comfortable when flushed out of the pocket he kept his eyes downfield found an open man multiple times and on a couple of occasions eluded pressure effortlessly before maneuvering downfield to turn a lost play into positive yardage barring a couple of rookie errors including this heave downfield that he might have got away within college but certainly won't in the pros his play when forced to extend plays was really nice but it wasn't the thing that impressed me the most I really didn't expect him to be so clinical and precise throwing over the middle of the field but he was this is a 6'4 quarterback who can run with the very best athletes in the game but if he can do this with any kind of regularity I don't see how you set up a defense to slow him in the Colts down with any real success he threw into Tight Windows on multiple occasions and I really liked this throw up the seene to ogal tree which then drew a whole family of flags for the following contact but that's a really clean throw finding the open man and laying the football in there moving him up field it was almost as good as this completion to Josh DS which turned into a major gain up the Middle with pressure in his face AR threw a strike unfazed and allowed his receiver to get up fied with an inride throw for a big game then his first passing touchdown as a pro came on one of those screens that I showed earlier only this time it was a beautifully drawn up play to Michael Pitman Jr I already came into this film study a fan of Shane sten's offense but watching it in more detail only furthered kylin granson motions across and acts as the furthest outside Blocker on this play Pitman cuts inside at the snap to receive the football and as he does so left tackle Bernard Raymond flies downfield to take the safety out of the play then both guard and Center stay back to seal off any incoming Defenders from the middle of the field and as it's so beautifully crafted and executed Pitman gets free down the sideline the rest is just a race to the end zone the game against the Jags was strong on Anthony Richardson's part while he had a tendency to try and toss the football to somebody out of a sack something that I noticed in multiple games and did look dicey at times everything else was very positive he did everything the coaching staff asked of him including throwing between the hashes spreading the football around and using his legs as a driving force for the offense when he felt it necessary but I saw this game as a confidence Builder a comfortable game plan that instilled the belief in the Young quarterback that he could in fact compete at the highest level it was far from the complete picture of what Anthony Richardson is capable of but in a matter of days I started to see it AR not have lasted all that long in this week 2 game against Houston but he did score twice in the first quarter giving his team a lead that they managed to hold for the remainder of the game already here you can see what feels like improving chemistry when hitting mpj over the middle of the field he leads him up field rather than pulling him across further into trouble it's a nice throw Under Pressure where they are taking a hit as he releases it his ability to throw under pressure was something that stood out to me multiple times he is unfaced having a man in his face and he doesn't let it affect his throws here's that hitch route again to joshh DS and now into enemy territory styen Drew up yet another great play for his brand new quarterback this time the Texans defense is in a cover one with a linebacker either in a spy or a manfree Zone Zach Moss's route drags the linebacker out of this play over to the right and granson does the same with this defender on the near side at the snap will FR is going to pull again charging downfield to seal off the manfree linebacker that leaves Anthony Richardson one-on-one with this safety who takes a bad angle perhaps underestimating the quarterback's athleticism he finds the end zone untouched marking his second rushing touchdown of the Season already and the first of two in this game moments later following a forced turnover by the Colts defense he does it again this time on a fake end round to Josh DS the various ways in which styken set Richardson and the offense up for Success when running him in enemy territory was pretty impressive to watch this time granson motions out in front while Michael Pitman Jr Cuts in to seal off the edge leaving a space for Richardson to run into again 's block leaves AR in acres of space and once again the safety doesn't get there in time at least not in time for the score sadly the concussion that followed this hit took AR out of the game and we had to wait until week four until we saw him again already though there were elements of improvement even in a short stint in week two the first two games were certainly encouraging but the week four performance against the Rams had me sitting up in my chair now I will pause here to reflect on the concern with injuries it is of course a facto they are being a player who has seen seemly had some sort of niggling injury or ongoing issue in every season of his young career he had a miniscus tear in high school that eventually required surgery at Florida and a lingering hamstring issue in college that kept cropping up throughout the 2021 season and even bled into 2022 as a cult he featured in just four games and three of those he didn't finish that's a problem he hobbled out of game one against Jacksonville in the fourth quarter suffered a concussion against the Texans in week two that held him out through the third week against Baltimore more and saw his season cut short in week five with a season ending shoulder injury I do believe that sometimes we use the term injury-prone a little too often sometimes freak incidents happen broken bones it's a physical game and guys can get unlucky however if the injuries are constantly reoccurring in the same area of the body the term does come into play like Debo Samuel's hamstring and lower body injuries have held him back constantly and Christian Watson has dealt with very similar issues lately in Green Bay for Anthony Richardson the concern about his throwing shoulder is legit but we can only hope that When the Smoke Clears that he is in fact back to 100% and able to feature as a pro for a decade or more so back to week four and the first play on display here is AR sliding to avoid any unnecessary contact controversial perhaps but I'd rather see him save himself to Barrel through a Defender close to the goal line if he needs to it showed maturity and I was here for it if you remember this game and I'm sure Colts fans will the Colts ended up down 23 to nothing they were shut out in the first half but a rookie Anthony Richardson led a magnificent comeback in just his third start in the NFL it was a true game of two halves and in the second Richardson and the Colts won the only reason this game isn't perhaps talked about a lot more is because puka Aura ended it before the Colts could get the ball in overtime still Richardson looked remarkably comfortable as this game played out and by the time he was hitting his stride in the second half the Rams defense had no answer for it the designed runs and rpos were back with a mix of plays drawn up to run AR both between the tackles and out wi the athleticism once again jumps right off the page and while one of these unfortunately ended in a fumble the threat he posed on the ground very clearly had the Rams defense hesitating at points in the game I can't stress how composed he looked consider the position he's a Young quarterback starting his third game as a Pro and he's down by 23 points at home there were no forced throws he made next to no mistakes in the second half and was carving up the Rams without it looking like he was even breaking a sweat he really got himself going with this beam to Josh Downs down the seam this throw is superb it's in the exact spot it needs to be to take the defender out of the play and throw his man open over the shoulder this throw got me excited when you have a freak athlete at quarterback who can do this too that's special that throw unlocked something in him he was lights out from there look how effortlessly he climbs the pocket here rolls to his right and throws a strike on the move to Mo Cox who rumbles into the end zone for the Colts first touchdown of the game once again he was making it look easy and now the Colts were rolling this strike to Alec Pierce had me hitting rewind too with pressure in his face this ball is on a rope and yet another example of AR's arm talent and quick release proving deadly for the defense as much as anything else throughout all the film I watched I loved Richardson's maturity in decision- making in the Red Zone he didn't throw a bad ball down there and that combination of making the right call with the Excellence that is Shane sten's play design led to some pretty impressive results check out these two plays these are two different plays out of the same look that we saw earlier in the video down in the Red Zone Shane Sten is in his bag with this and here shows us two more plays out of the same formation the first time he showed it to the defense it was a QB keeper with ar slipping through a gap in the defense for the Colt second touchdown of the day when the Colts then got down there again with less than 2 minutes to go in the fourth quarter they threw out of the same look this time hitting ogul tree for a touchdown that put them down by two and with a two-point conversion tying the game they schemed Michael Pitman wide open for the score that they needed consider the pressure on a Young quarterback leading three scoring drives in the second half and hitting on two two-point conversions when it mattered the most he was putting on a clinic I can't stress it enough executing sten's plan in the second half to Perfection but it wasn't just that when he needed to scramble and make a play he did and again he constantly looked effortlessly calm when flushed out of the pocket against a Hall of Fame defensive tackle and friends AR showed that he could slide out to the left and throw across his body he can pull the ball down and beat you to the sideline and just the threat of him running here freezes a Defender allowing Richardson to drop the ball in over his head to Michael Pitman setting up a first and goal what I was watching was Flawless second half football from a kid that we all thought didn't have anywhere near enough experience to play let alone play well at the NFL level he was proving us all wrong in real time and when I finished watching the tape on this Rams game I couldn't load up week five's reps against the ten he Titans fast enough see the more of him I watched the more maturity and composure I saw in AR's game and we're not talking year to year here we're talking from the first half to the second half in a single day plus the development from Week 1 to week four was remarkable and going into week five Richardson was more than hitting his stride and that's why I feel like I've been robbed imagine watching a movie where the director spends the first 20 minutes laying the foundations for a magnificent plot and just as it starts getting good the power goes out that's what Anthony Richardson's rookie season was Colts fans football fans and myself were robbed of seeing the rest of the movie even in the early goings against Tennessee the maturing process continued now he's getting more comfortable and checking into a run play here that leads to a touchdown for Zach Moss he motioned a man from right to left showing the defense's hand in man coverage and then Richardson made an adjustment the result was a house call and then here you can see on this one play that Shane Steen and Anthony Richardson are building chemistry and the head coach started to open up the Playbook and have AR throw downfield the one thing missing from the early tape in week one against Jacksonville and week two against Houston was a chance to show off Richardson's deep shot but against Tennessee they were starting to mix it into the cool sheet they tried it here first in what would have been a touchdown had Anthony Richardson hit Michael Pitman on the post a little later they draw one up to Josh DS and just as he has done with everything else so far in this young season Richardson answered the call and threw a strike it was like watching Shane St and push the boundary on his quarterback further and further and further and every single time Anthony Richardson delivered this is the deepest completion that he threw in any of the games that I watched this ball travels from the 35 yd line to the opponent's almost 15 yd line that's a 50 yard ball through the air and Richardson throws it out there with ease again the release is so pure and the football just flies effortlessly at this point I was enjoying myself I felt as though I was seeing something special come to life right in front of my eyes and all I wanted to do was keep watching so this play broke my heart a little it hurt when it happened because you never want to see a young Talent go down but watching it back having seen how well he was developing it was only worse I just hated seeing a young man succeeding as a pro and enjoying himself the way he was only to have it all ripped away in a single moment as fans when injuries happen we quickly adjust our fantasy lineups and start talking about the next guy for the team it's next man up and the conversation switches quickly to Gardner muu but just for a moment consider Anthony Richardson and the mindset a Young quarterback has to have to take one on the chin like that and keep rolling for me I can only hope that now with a whole year in the quarterback room even if you didn't get it on the field that the 2024 season allows us to switch the movie back on and finally see how it ends and I hope that movie will play until AR is well into his 30s I can't stress enough that we shouldn't take an athlete like this for granted if I'm honest with you I expected to come into this film study and find an elite level athlete trying to force himself to play Field General in the NFL I thought his rookie status would be more obvious and I thought it would be Messier I was wrong and I'm so glad I was so here's to Anthony Richardson having a healthy 2024 season and Beyond and if he does I vow to Colts fans and to myself that I will watch every single rep of that season and make a much longer video about it let's finish the movie

Channel: Alex & the NFL

Views: 11,921

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Id: CUPjY536qfw

Length: 17min 3sec (1023 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 15 2024