The Colts’ starters will see their first extended action of the preseason in Thursday’s finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Following Tuesday’s joint practice, head coach Shane Steichen said that the starters would play about a quarter and a half. Some may play less, some may play more, Steichen added.
“Obviously, you want to be smart with these guys in the preseason because we’ve got a long season ahead of us, but we’re excited to get those guys out there on Thursday,” said Steichen.
Up to this point, the majority of the starters on the offensive and defensive sides of the football have played only two series, including no snaps this past Saturday against Arizona.
For quarterback Anthony Richardson, these reps heading into the regular season will be extremely valuable as a still relatively inexperienced player. And that holds true not only for Richardson but for the offense as a whole to have that added work together in a game-like environment to continue building upon the already established chemistry from training camp.
“I think it’ll be great,” said Steichen about Richardson getting that playing time. “I think it’ll be really good for him. Anytime you can get out there in those game-like situations it’s good.”
Of course, everyone will want to see results on both sides of the ball, but during this time of the year particularly, the process that each player goes through is important as well.
Given the play call, the player’s responsibilities on said play, and how the opponent attacks or defends the call, is the player reading and diagnosing it all correctly? Ultimately, if the process pre-snap and as the play unfolds is completed consistently and correctly, the results should follow.
With the Colts playing on Thursday, they will have a particularly long layoff between the finale and when they take the field for Week 1 against Houston of 17 days.
“After this Thursday night we got 17 days until we kickoff against Houston,” said Steichen. “So this is a big day, so shoot, we’ve got to get the players ready to roll, go out there and play, and get that game-like experience before obviously Week 1 gets here.”
