Anthony Richardson's potential, pitfalls on display in Colts' preseason win vs. Eagles

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. ET deadline.

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.