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Insider: Anthony Richardson's potential, pitfalls on display in Colts win

Two teams in very different positions faced off in Thursday night’s preseason finale, and the way the Colts and Eagles handled the game was a sign of each team’s expectations for the 2023 season.

Philadelphia, fully established and coming off of a Super Bowl appearance, didn’t play its starters.

Indianapolis, trying to crawl back off the bottom of the standings with a new head coach in Shane Steichen and a rookie quarterback in Anthony Richardson, played its starters for almost the entire first half, putting together a true dress rehearsal in a 27-13 victory over the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

From here on out, the Colts have four days and change to make the difficult decisions required to reduce the roster to 53 players by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline, and there’s plenty to take away from Thursday night’s dress rehearsal.

Anthony Richardson should be a fun ride

Drafted with the No. 4 pick, Richardson is still working on fixing the accuracy issues that plagued him in college, and at times those problems were evident in a 6 of 17 performance on Thursday, including a handful of misses that were overthrown, and one ball that was tossed into jeopardy and nearly picked off.


Richardson also nearly lost a fumble when the ball slipped out of his hands on a throw, a nagging issue during training camp.

But the talent is there, and Richardson’s legs are going to produce a lot of highlights, both in the pocket and out of it. On one play, an Eagles pass rusher had Richardson dead to rights, and the rookie spun away, made the rusher miss entirely and picked up 8 yards to help set up a field goal.


The running game the Colts will use with Richardson largely remains a mystery — that’s by design, as Steichen doesn’t want to tip his hand — but the ability is evident, and Thursday night was the best glimpse anybody’s gotten so far. Richardson rushed for 38 yards on five carries, and his presence opened holes for a group of running backs that has struggled to get more than what’s blocked so far, although rookie Evan Hull had six carries for 25 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles.

Richardson also had some nice throws in his six completions, particularly on play-action throws where he had to get the ball out quickly and one gorgeous 17-yard throw to tight end Kylen Granson up the sideline.


Young wide receivers struggle

For the most part, the Colts’ young trio of wide receivers has been solid on the practice fields at Grand Park.

But Thursday night didn’t look that way.

Second-year receiver Alec Pierce, who is coming off an encouraging rookie season despite playing in an offense that couldn’t take advantage of his skills, couldn’t bring down any of Richardson’s efforts to get him the ball, and third-round rookie Josh Downs, who has been automatic during training camp, let a Richardson fastball go through his hands when it should have been an easy first down.

Pierce and Downs have looked promising on the practice field, and it’s probably best to chalk Thursday night up to a hiccup until the problems continue in the regular season.

Thin offensive line takes another hit

There have been a few encouraging signs from the Colts starting offensive line, most notably a solid training camp and preseason from left tackle Bernhard Raimann, whose development is critical for the offensive line’s success.

But penalties have been a problem, and Quenton Nelson committed two on the first series — a false start and a hold — to kill that series, and then the team’s depth appeared to take a hit early in the second half. Fourth-year interior lineman Danny Pinter, who has often been Ryan Kelly’s backup at center and started in place of the injured Kelly on Thursday night, was carted off the field after a player rolled over his leg, and he was quickly downgraded to out by the Colts’ medical staff.


Indianapolis has struggled to get consistent play from its second-team offensive line throughout training camp, and a significant injury to Pinter would take a versatile piece out of the equation, forcing Indianapolis to make some tough decisions — and potentially some waiver claims — in the coming days.

Uneven day for young cornerbacks

Darrell Baker Jr. and Dallis Flowers, the two young cornerbacks likely starting on the outside around Kenny Moore II, didn’t have to play against Eagles stars A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith on Thursday night.

And there were a couple of nice plays from each player. Baker Jr. and Flowers each had two pass breakups, and they combined for nine tackles.

There were also a few throws that should have been made by Eagles backups Marcus Mariota and Tanner McKee against both players, and it underscored the fact that Flowers and Baker Jr. are a pair of second-year players who have just 174 combined snaps, all of them by Flowers, under their belts so