Anthony Richardson has a shaky Saturday practice after a strong week

Yahoo

17 hours ago

Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson's practice work is being watched closely this summer and word from reporters during three practices this week was that Richardson was doing some of his best work.
Saturday's session didn't earn the same kind of raves. The Colts had a red-zone heavy practice and Richardson struggled to complete passes while also throwing an interception. Reporters noted that Daniel Jones, who is competing with Richardson, also had a hard time.
After the practice, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said the focus was on dropback passing and that is difficult in the red zone because of advantages the defense can deploy to stop it. As a result, Cooter said he found positive signs amid the overall performance.
"The defense squeezes those zones, the man coverage is tighter," Cooter said, via the team's website. "We're trying new plays. We want to be really, really good at all that stuff. At the same time, these guys are working different progressions and where they can throw certain balls. We want to go through a practice and be really, really clean, but at the same time you don't want those guys to avoid sort of working on trying a throw or working on trying to hit a certain receiver in a certain spot, maybe a back shoulder type of throw. So red zone practices, when you sort them up at the end of the year, they don't always end up being your highest-production practices, but we do get a lot out of them. It's going to make us better moving forward. There's going to be some things we can coach off today's tape, but it was an encouraging day because we're working a lot of things and I think we got better at it."
The Colts will be in Baltimore on Thursday to kick off their preseason schedule and that should mark a significant chapter in the quarterback competition.