10-play breakdown of Richardson’s stellar Jets performance

On By Littum

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

Leg 1: Special Strength

Not many quarterbacks 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. Then throwing the ball accurately is something else. To me, this play should show how unique his physical gifts are.

Leg 2: Special arm

Throwing the platform is now a regular occurrence for all NFL quarterbacks, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to pull off. Throwing while moving forward to the side is relatively straight forward for most of these guys, but moving backwards is difficult as it puts a lot more stress on the arm since 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 at the opponent’s 30 outside the numbers. It is a 28-30 yard throw with the feet not set and moving backwards, which is an 8/10 difficulty for quarterbacks. Many cannot hit this throw.

Part 3: Eye discipline

The eye discipline and shoulder shimmy is what opens up the lane in the middle of the field. Richardson is able to make the inside linebacker step fake to the outside as this linebacker reads his eyes exclusively in zone. The fake step allows a nice wide lane for Pittman to get a ball that might have been more difficult to pull off without the look and shoulder movement.

Play 4: Missing a layup

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

Leg 5: Arm Angle

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

Leg 6: Getting away with bad 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 bit concerning was his fall back after the play action. There is no world where two jumps is the footwork here, so a proper 3-step without problems was probably the appropriate move here. It’s more efficient with timing (gets more distance from the offensive line and faster) and simply easier for him to establish a platform after a normal drop, which will make his throw easier.

Play 7: Hitting the layup

Richardson finally hits a layup and hits Mitchell on a beautiful crossing route that leads to a near touchdown. These are the pitches we’ve asked him to hit throughout his career, and this game he finally hit them. This little throw (thanks to a proper read) was perfectly placed so Mitchell stayed in step and that’s why he almost scored. If the throw was a few inches further behind, Mitchell would have been tackled and he would have gained no yardage after the catch. The only concern is that Richardson completely messes up his mechanics and throws from a very open position, which will lead to accuracy inconsistency, but on this throw he gets away with it. That he read this roll was extremely encouraging, and we can only hope he takes more of these layups instead of half-court heaves.

Play 8: Don’t be a hero

It’s the type of game that will only improve with experience, but Richardson needs to learn to give up and fight someone else. The Colts are up 13-0 and a turnover in their own zone would have been disastrous. I love his effort to tackle, but if he is tackled 10 yards from the line, there is absolutely no benefit to making a lateral to a running back who should be tackled 8-9 yards from the sticks. By doing what he did, he almost gave the Jets a fumble opportunity that, as mentioned before, would have been disastrous before the half, especially in a game they won by 2 scores.

Play 9: The A train

Only two guys can play this at quarterback right now: Josh Allen and Anthony Richardson. To generate that speed and be that 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 recap, it was the best performance of his career, but why? He hit 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 mechanical issues are there and he still needs to be more confident with the ball at times, but this was an incredibly positive step forward and something he can build on.