When shoulder surgery sidelined him after four weeks, the quarterback got right to work so he could still gain as much experience as possible during his rookie season.
The Indianapolis Colts’ coaches all come back to the same moment. Anthony Richardson, ball in his hands, three starts into his NFL career, and having just started a comeback from a 23-point deficit against a playoff-bound Los Angeles Rams team. The rookie was front-and-center after a listless first half by the home team, a start he’d somehow compartmentalized, and, after capping a four-play, 74-yard drive to cut the Rams’ lead to 23–6, Indy needed him to put on a cape.
Rams linebacker Ernest Jones IV then closed on the quarterback, leaving Moss open in the flat. Richardson deftly drew Jones in, then flipped an exaggerated shuffle-pass-looking forward lateral to the tailback, who was waiting for it by the pylon. • A look at how the Cardinals vetted Marvin Harrison Jr. and firmed up their decision to take him fourth.
Because of the sorts of offenses he’d run before his draft day, with a foundation that looked pretty different from what you’d normally see in the NFL, the Colts last year chose to meet him halfway schematically.
Second, Richardson was flashing progress that had little to do with how Steichen and Cooter were scheming things up. Indy saw something in the Rams’ defense that pushed the coaches to go heavy on a four-verticals concept , and within that concept, the quarterback was finding the open guy consistently, different guys on different snaps, based on where the coverage was.
In time, the hope would be that the 21-year-old’s ability to play the position that way will help to manage the third thing that was noticeable in Richardson’s four starts. Which was that, in leaning on him in the run game, the issue Richardson had staying on the field at Florida cropped back up. In two of his four starts, Richardson had double-digit carries. In the other two, he didn’t even make it to halftime before leaving the game injured.
“We really put our heads together to try to come up with a good plan to give him the best shot to succeed the next year,” Cooter says. “And it was, I would say, a process where we tried to put a good plan together, where we had to always stay willing to upgrade and update that plan as rehab things popped up, which they do with any sort of injury. But it was important to give Anthony the best shot to continue learning as the year went on, so that he could have a great shot to succeed this year.
“When we’d get to some of the walkthrough things, some of the schematic things of the team periods, the 7-on-7s, you’re able to watch those things from a certain vantage point, 15-to-20 yards back as a quarterback,” Cooter says. “You’re not getting the rep, but you’re able to watch the play develop. You’re able to see the thing happen.
The back-and-forth was constant, as Richardson got to watch Minshew, who’s been vocal about his aspirations to one day coach, run a more evolved version of the offense that the rookie had led in September and October. The physical reps were missed, to be sure. But the Colts and their quarterback were doing all they could to maximize the mental reps he was getting, as Richardson’s notes, and experiences, mounted.
“There is real value in getting away,” Cooter says. “Anthony was so into what he needed to be into with the meetings and the practices and the games, that it was valuable for him to sort of get away and recharge mentally at the end of the season and focus on his health. And before too long, without us prodding, Anthony, he starts asking us what he can do. What can he look at? What can he do to get better? He’s ready to talk about this pass concept.
Just as last year the staff built the offensive scheme to highlight his strengths, take things off his plate, and get him playing fast, now the idea is to put things back on his plate to help him play the type of football that’ll be more sustainable over time. Which goes right back to that tricky element in having a guy like Richardson as your quarterback.
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