(by Ross Jacobs, with any RC Notes...)
This was a snoozefest because the Packers just rolled with their backups from the very beginning, and honestly neither of these teams are particularly good or deep. Indy came out with most of their starters on both sides of the ball for a couple of series, and frankly they didn’t look very good. The Green Bay backups were playing right there with them.
Both teams had a lot of miscues and procedural things to clean up, dumb penalties and whatnot. That’s what preseason is for though, so I can’t hold it against them.
The game was very slow at first as neither of the two starting QBs was doing much of anything, but once Anthony Richardson came in he gave the Colts a spark. We’ll talk about him more in a minute.
The Colts built up a decent lead, but in the 3rd quarter the Packers decided they were just going to abandon the pass and run the ball every play, and voila, they started putting points up and ultimately came back to win the game late.
Not at all impressed with either team, and there weren’t many juicy fantasy revelations either.
Player Notes…
-- The battle between Richardson and Daniel Jones is going the way I expected and what I’ve been saying since the spring…no matter how down anyone is on Richardson, he’s still 10x the talent that Jones is, and even if he’s spraying passes around completing under 50%, he’s still an elite runner and the occasional splash play is well worth the inconsistency, especially compared to the nothing that Jones is.
If Jones actually provided some kind of consistency upgrade over Richardson, I could see the team going with the steady hand to let Richardson keep developing on the bench…but Jones is not that, definitely not at this point. He’s scared, jumpy, is still making just as many mistakes as Richardson, but he doesn’t have any upside. What’s the point? Indy isn’t winning any more games if they roll him out there, so why put everyone through that? Richardson may be all over the place, but at least he gives you a chance to win on occasion.
As for Richardson, he did actually look a tiny bit more composed and accurate here. He played more under control and was more accurate on the intermediate passes. The short stuff, checkdowns, etc., are still a work in progress. Are there still going to be wild ups and downs? For sure. But he’s not so much more inconsistent than Jones that he needs to sit. The offense was at least able to move with him at QB, and it should be noted he lost a huge pass to a dumb penalty where he evaded pressure, rolled to his left, and launched a gorgeous pass to Anthony Gould down the right sideline. You’re not getting that with Daniel Jones.
I think it’s fairly certain AR is going to get announced as the starter in the next week or so, and I still say he cannot be taken lightly for fantasy. Nobody believes in him and thus he’s basically free in redraft and dynasty right now, and his running upside is still elite. It is not at all out of the question he could just start running like crazy and put up a 2022 Justin Fields-esque season. The shoddy passing won’t matter if he’s running for 1000 yards and 10 TDs. Stash him on the end of your bench and see what happens.
Oh, and Riley Leonard is better than Jones as well. RC and I both compared him to Jones in our pre-draft studies, and it’s shocking seeing them this close together. Same size, same build, same movements, same throwing motion, both more athletic than you’d think. But Leonard looks more composed, confident, and less jumpy than Jones. He could probably hold down the fort for a couple of games if needed.
RC Note: Next Draft Guide and rankings update will reflect our belief that Richardson has won/Jones blew the chance to be the Week 1 starter...and AR may not be a great NFL QB, but he can be a sweet FF QB. I don’t know how long AR will be the starter for but he should be the Week 1 starter. We were tilting slightly to Jones, now we tilt slightly to Richardson Week 1. I don't think the Colts have fully decided yet...so we have to hold back some until they make it official. Or the Colts decided months ago, but now they don't know what to do...push AR in/off-a-cliff or let him sit and come save the day in a few weeks.
-- Non-Indy QB notes…Tyler Warren looks like a vet and they are already looking for him early and often. There are two questions with him this year: will the QB play hold him back and how much will the team let him run some of the Taysom Hill wildcat QB stuff?
They are playing vanilla offense right now, so we won’t know that until it starts unfortunately. He’s a gamble, but a gamble that could pay off.
-- Adonai Mitchell looks the same, physically and the way he moves you could mistake him for Justin Jefferson, but there’s just no consistency.
Anthony Gould is getting better and seems to be the backup for Josh Downs.
-- The first back in to replace Jonathan Taylor was DJ Giddens…not Tyler Goodson who would exit the game with an elbow injury after scoring a TD. If Taylor were to get hurt it would be a rotation of those two, potentially with Giddens handling a lot of the between the 20’s work and Goodson working the redzone, assuming the pattern here held up.
Giddens is the future if Taylor moves on next year. He is a very capable three-down back, smooth and slippery between the tackles and good hands in the passing game.
Not much to note on the Packers side since they went with all backups.
-- I was thinking Emmanuel Wilson was looking kind of heavy and slow…that is until he took a simple swing pass, blew past a LB with an angle on him, and ran over a defensive back to finish the play.
What the Packers are thinking by having him as RB4 is beyond me. MarShawn Lloyd, I get. He looked very fast and elusive here, the second coming of Aaron Jones, but he sustained yet another hamstring injury here. The guy just cannot stay healthy. But the one that offends my sensibilities is Chris Brooks coming in ahead of Wilson. Fine, he’s a good blocker. He’s also a slug and a waste of carries. I think we can put a fork in Wilson, at least until he leaves Green Bay. They simply are not going to give him the touches he deserves.
-- Defensive Player Notes…
As boring as the offense was to watch this game, the defenses were worse, especially once the Packers began running every single play in the second half.
The only two players I really noticed were Laiatu Latu who looks like a seasoned pro. He was massively disruptive, especially considering he was going against the Green Bay backups, but he was playing consistently, had a couple of pressures, but he needs to finish better.
And then for the Packers, Isaiah Simmons is playing as good as he’s ever looked, which isn’t all that great, but it’s something. He’s highly athletic and rangy. Maybe the Packers coaches can get something out of him.
