FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Anthony Richardson felt a little bit like a rookie on Thursday night.
Richardson has a long, complicated history with the Colts now, a lengthy list of starts and stops, of highlights and injuries, of flashes of potential followed by crushing, sometimes inexplicable setbacks.
Because of that history, it is easy to forget that Richardson was playing his first NFL game since an accident that threatened to end his career last season, a freak pregame incident with a resistance band that forced him to undergo orbital surgery and kept him out of action for nearly a year. Richardson is no longer the Colts’ starter, no longer the young, talented ball of clay the Colts are hoping to mold into a bona fide franchise quarterback.
Richardson is competing for a job, either in Indianapolis or elsewhere. When the Colts gave Richardson the start in Thursday night’s preseason opener, it was his first chance to prove to everybody that he still has the potential inside of him.
“These past few months, just of my life, have been a little weird, especially coming back from the eye injury, and then not playing football in a long time,” Richardson said. “Getting back into my groove, it was a little rocky start for me in the beginning, but the guys on the sideline were just telling me, “Just take the next play, and just go next play after that.” And we found a way to move the ball and put some points up.”
Richardson got off to a shaky start.
His first drive ended in an interception, a short throw that he fired high and outside of Coleman Owen, but a ball that Owen dropped, deflecting it into the hands of Patriots cornerback Kindle Vildor. The Colts went three-and-out on Richardson’s second series. A third ended with a fumble by rookie running back Seth McGowan on the end zone’s doorstep, after it looked like he’d already crossed the plane. Richardson’s fourth drive ended with his worst mistake of the game, a fumble of his own after he’d already picked up the first down.
“I don’t even think I played that well, honestly,” Richardson said. “Fumble, interception early. I got to limit turnovers.”
By the time Richardson’s half was done, though, the numbers looked better than anybody could have expected. Richardson has been shaky and inconsistent in training camp, pairing flashes of brilliance with bouts of inaccuracy, along with a persistent issue receiving the snap that hasn’t gone away.
Richardson wasn’t any of those things against the Patriots.
By the time he was done, Richardson had completed 11 of 14 passes for 145 yards and the interception.
“He did a lot of good things,” Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen said. “He threw it well. I think he had a good completion percentage, was going to the right spots with the ball.”
Richardson added 53 rushing yards on six carries. Fumble aside, Richardson’s game was a reminder of how much his running ability can stretch a defense.
“I feel like in games, since it’s live, I have more of a chance of putting pressure on the defense and getting a chance to move the ball whenever certain things aren’t going our way,” Richardson said. “I had a fumble today, so I don’t think I did that great when it came to running the ball, but I did get us in a decent position at times.”
What was left unsaid was that Richardson needed a night like Thursday to regain some ground in his competition with Riley Leonard. Leonard, the second-year quarterback out of Notre Dame, has dealt with his own inconsistencies in camp, namely a tendency to hold onto the ball too long in the pocket.
But Leonard has been more consistent than Richardson, and Steichen has repeatedly said he’s looking for consistency.
Except that Leonard was far from consistent when he took the field in the second half. Leonard underthrew an interception to Patriots safety John Saunders on his second attempt, struggled to move the ball and finished 10 of 21 for 89 yards, a difficult performance.
“Obviously, I want to redo that half, but I think it’ll be alright,” Leonard said. “A lot of good up until that point.”
Under pressure on the interception and a handful of other dropbacks, Leonard refused to chalk some of the struggles up to playing with the third-team offensive line.
“For the most part, our guys did a really good job protecting me,” Leonard said. “I didn’t think the pressure was too bad.”
Leonard’s night was mostly surprising because it was the opposite of the way he played in Tuesday’s joint practice with the Patriots. Leonard opened that practice by completing his first nine passes, repeatedly taking what the New England defense gave him and stacking short completions. When Leonard took on New England on Thursday, he felt like he’d done a poor job of reading New England’s defense, leading to indecisiveness and incompletions.
For Richardson, Thursday night was a reminder of what he can do.
For Leonard, it was a night he’d rather forget, preferring instead to focus on his consistency to this point in training camp, to the way he played in Tuesday’s practice.
“That’s the thing I’ve got to hang onto,” Leonard said. “I can play at a really high level against a really good team. Tonight, it didn’t look good, it didn’t feel good, but we can do it.”
Both quarterbacks will get another chance against the Falcons next week.
The roles will be reversed. Leonard will get the first half, Richardson the second.
Another chance to prove themselves.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: In first round of Colts QB competition, Anthony Richardson makes his case
Reporting by Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
