Breaking down 10 plays from Richardson’s stellar Jets performance

Anthony Richardson had the best performance of his career against the Jets; let’s review 10 plays that sum up his game.

Anthony Richardson had his best game yet as an Indianapolis Colts, pulling off a huge win against the New York Jets. We look back at 10 plays that sum up his performance.

Play 1: Special strength

There are not many quarterbacks who can make this play. Not only was he able to get the ball away and avoid the sack, but he was actually able to get the ball thrown. To then throw the ball accurately is something else. To me, this one play should show how unique his physical gifts are.

Play 2: Special arm

Throwing off platform is now a regular occurrence for all NFL quarterbacks, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy to pull off. Throwing while moving forward to the side is relatively straight for most of these guys, but moving backwards is difficult as it puts a lot more stress on the arm as the feet aren’t set. In this case, Richardson threw the ball from his 45 yard line, just inside the right hash to a receiver on the opponent’s 30 outside the numbers. That’s a 28-30 yard throw with the feet not set and moving backwards, which is a 8/10 difficulty for quarterbacks. Many can’t hit this throw.

Part 3: Eye discipline

The eye discipline and the shoulder shimmy is what opens up the lane in the middle of the field. Richardson is able to get the inside linebacker to false step to the outside as that linebacker is purely reading his eyes in zone. That false step allows a nice big lane for Pittman to get a ball, which might’ve been more difficult to execute without the look off and shoulder move.

Play 4: Missing a layup

Despite the good plays, there are still some throws like this which high school quarterbacks could hit. Despite the easiness of the throw, Richardson should still twist his upper body to align his shoulders to the target. Instead, he doesn’t move a thing, he’s completely misaligned and he relies on a flick, which is simply not accurate. So despite the fact that it’s only a 2 yard throw, the poor upper body alignment/mechanics causes this super easy throw to be off the mark.

Play 5: Arm Angle

While these little things are subtle, to me this is a crucial development to his game. The arm angle change is something all quarterbacks at all levels are developing as they might be forced to throw around pressure or they just might find it easier to release it from a different point. In this case, Richardson rolls to his left, faces pressure and throws the ball from a more side arm angle. The ability to do this will serve him well in the future, so this was encouraging to see that he possesses this ability.

Play 6: Getting away with poor footwork

The end result of this play was good as his body was properly aligned and the throw was on target, but what was a tad concerning was his drop back after the play action. There’s no world where two hops is the footwork here, so a proper 3 step without a hitch was probably the appropriate move here. It’s more efficient with timing (gets more distance from the offensive line and quicker) and simply easier for him to establish a platform after a normal drop, which will make his throw simpler.

Play 7: Hitting the layup

Richardson finally hits a layup throw, hitting Mitchell on a beautiful crossing route that leads to a near touchdown. These are the throws we’ve been begging for him to hit over his career and this game he finally hit them. This little throw (thanks to a proper read) was perfectly placed so Mitchell stayed in stride and that’s why he nearly scored. If the throw were a couple of inches further behind, Mitchell would’ve been tackled and he wouldn’t have gotten any yard after the catch. The only concern is that Richardson completely messes with his mechanics, throwing from a very open position, which will lead to accuracy inconsistency, but on this throw, he gets away with it. Him reading this throw was extremely encouraging and we can only hope he takes more of these layups instead of the halfcourt heaves.

Play 8: Don’t be a hero

These are the type of plays that will only improve with experience, but Richardson needs to learn how to give up and fight another down. The Colts are up 13-0 and a turnover in their own zone would’ve been catastrophic. I love his effort to fight, but if he’s being tackled 10 yards short of the line, there is absolutely zero benefit to do a lateral to a running back who was going to be tackled 8-9 yards short of the sticks. By doing what he did, he nearly gifted the Jets with a fumble opportunity, which as mentioned before, would’ve been disastrous before the half, especially in a game they were winning by 2 scores.

Play 9: The A-Train

Only two guys can make this play at quarterback right now: Josh Allen and Anthony Richardson. To generate that speed and to be so strong to the point where lowering the shoulder kills defensive backs, is simply special. Richardson has special physical gifts.

Play 10: The A-Train part 2

Again… just special.

To quickly summarize, it was the best performance of his career, but why? He hit the layups, he made more accurate throws, he used his eyes more to move players and when they needed him most, he lowered his shoulders and scored touchdowns. The mechanic issues are there and he needs to still be safer with the ball at times, but this was an incredibly positive step forward and something he can build on.