Breaking down Anthony Richardson’s final preseason game and what he needs to fix

A few days have passed since the Colts’ last preseason game and there was a a lot of chatter about Richardson’s performance, with an overwhelming amount being negative.

Throw 1

Richardson made the right read, but was late and behind on the throw. Had it been earlier and in stride, the result would’ve been a bit better. The theme of being a bit late on his thrown has been seen throughout the preseason from Richardson. Below is a screenshot with advanced graphic designs to show that not only are Richardson’s shoulder and hip alignment not in sync, but they are not aligned to the ideal target area.

Throw 2

The second throw was a screen pass that was blown up beautifully from the Bengals defensive tackle.

Throw 3

The third throw is a great example of how a great pre-snap read can make all the difference. He read the blitz perfectly, threw his hot read right away and it led to the first down.

Throw 4

Richardson throwing RPOs in rhythm is a beautiful thing to watch and is one of the best things he does. Steichen needs to dial these up early and often because RPOs are a set of plays that Richardson consistently performs well with.

Throw 5

Same thing as Play 5 as he throws beautifully on RPOs. This RPO was on a bubble screen as opposed to a slant.

Throw 6

Firstly, I love to see the crisp footwork on the deep play action drop. I also love the fact that he’s making the right progressions high to low. He clearly looks downfield first, almost makes a throw that would’ve certainly been forced and then catches himself and makes the smart easy completion underneath. He got the easy first down plus several free yards instead of forcing it down the field on 2nd and short. This is how you move the ball in the NFL.

Throw 7

While the ball was slightly high, the timing was beautiful and the receiver should’ve caught the ball. The placement on this one was perfect and his body was seemingly perfectly aligned (unfortunately there isn’t a good angle to confirm the good alignment). He placed the ball in a spot where only the receiver can get it.

Throw 8

Another great play here from Richardson, looking to his left first and seeing his initial read of the running back wheel taken away. He stays in the pocket, keeps his eyes downfield and finds Mitchell open on a drag/crossing route, hits him in stride and takes a hit in the process. The result was a touchdown and one of his best plays of the game.

Throw 9

I like the fact that Richardson made two reads before going to his checkdown option running a quick out/arrow, but what i don’t like is feet are pointed down the field and don’t adjust when he readjusts. Going back to the elite graphics, you see that his shoulder alignment is decent and compared to the red line (the proper alignment to the ideal target zone), it’s in a relatively good spot, but his feet don’t move. He was initially aimed down the field as that’s where his first reads were, but as he moved closer and closer, he failed to readjust the feet and in this case it lead to a high and inaccurate. You can’t rely on just your arm to make throws.

Throw 10

While everyone on social media jumped to blame Richardson on this throw, it’s quite clear that it’s a miscommunication between him and Granson. Granson is running an option route that allows him to sit (presumably if it’s against a zone and/or finds a cushiony area) or drift out of his break/route if it’s man, if it’s close to a linebacker’s hook/curl zone or if it’s match coverage. Richardson read it as a sit and Granson ended up drifting. The Bengals’ safety ends up cutting down as it’s a Cover 3 Robber coverage. As you can see in my graphic, corners are deep and drop, free safety drops and then the strong safety comes down into WILL linebacker’s zone as the WILL’s responsibility is the running back. Richardson most certainly did not see the safety come down, Granson read it well and drifted and that’s what led to the miscommunication and unfortunately the interception. The blame is on both players as they need to be on the same page.

Throw 11

The first throw after the interception was a great one, but unfortunately it was dropped by Pittman.

Throw 12

On this throw, it’s another example of a crossing route (horizontal throw) that Richardson fails to properly align to. The red circle below is the target zone, green star is the receiver Mitchell who is moving very quickly and two black arrow lines show the misalignment. The shoulders are aligned decently well, but the feet are way behind where the receiver needs to get the ball. What happens is Richardson has to rely on his arm only (quarterbacks throw with their body, not their arms) and when that happens, a variety of things can happen. In this case, you see that Richardson’s shoulders are slightly elevated, which is unnecessary beacuse it’s not a throw that requires any air so what will happen is the ball will sail on him, which it does. So his body is not properly aligned and his shoulders are elevated, so those two things will cause a lot of accuracy issues.

Throw 13

Richardson just misses this throw to Mitchell, but mechanics were decent and the timing of it was relatively good.

Throw 14

This was an incredible throw and as you can see, his body is perfectly aligned to his target zone/spot. When that happens, you’ll be as accurate as anyone. This throw also confirms to me that he is a much better vertical thrower than he is horizontal thrower as discussed earlier.

Throw 15

Richardson fails to sense the pressure in the pocket and it leads to a near turnover. I didn’t sense much panic in the pocket and I didn’t mind the decision to escape the pocket after his first reads were gone, but he needs to fell the pressure coming from behind him and protect the ball.

Throw 16

Decision to run and give up on 3rd and long is fine as all his options down the field were taken.

Shoulder & Hip Misalignment

When it comes to quarterbacks, the front shoulder and front hip have a sniper scope on them. The first part to that is that they both have to be aimed to the same spot; you can’t have your shoulder aimed to the left and your hips aimed to the right, both need to be going in the same direction and to the same exact spot.

From there, understanding the right spot to hit your receiver is a matter of chemistry and experience. From the video of last year and this preseason, Richardson struggles more on throws where the receiver is moving horizontally as opposed to vertically. Going vertically, there’s less of a reliance on shoulder/hip alignment and more of a reliance on arm strength and touch, two strengths of his.

There is an old graphic I made of Connor Cook that I always use when I talk with or train quarterbacks because it’s the simplest picture to breakdown. The black line of Connor Cook indicates where his hips and shoulders are and the red line indicates where the ball should be. The throw from Cook here was way behind the receiver (as his body was aligned way behind the receiver) and this is the main culprit of inaccuracy.

Richardson seriously needs to fix this issue on horizontal throws. A coach needs to work on connecting his feet to his hips and his hips to shoulders on these throws. So, a good drill would be to line up 3-4 receivers (all given a number) who are spread out over the course of the field at the same distance and the coach calls out the number of that receiver and the quarterback moves his feet and adjusts to that receiver. A coach can then get a long stick and then see if the hips, shoulders and feet are all aligned together and in line with the receiver. Drills like this that force him to adjust and readjust constantly will engrain the feeling of being fully aligned in his head.

Based on the video, it appears that Richardson’s shoulders are aligned relatively well or close enough, but the feet and hips are adjusted way behind were the receiver would be.