Two of the Colts’ most talked-about preseason snaps have now come from the exact same concept, and both have left plenty to chew on.
The first one is the play everyone remembers from Baltimore, the snap Anthony Richardson took to open the QB competition there. It lit up social media that night, and not because preseason football usually does.
Richardson took heat for not identifying the free runner and absorbing a huge hit in an exhibition game, with plenty of the blame landing on his protection awareness. But there was also a quieter question hanging around the play: was the design putting him in a tough spot to begin with?
The Colts brought the concept back this year, and the result was even uglier - an interception.
The Baltimore rep came against a common pressure look called Whip Fire Zone. The defense is trying to force the offensive line to slide one way while bringing an extra rusher from the weak side.
The Colts, though, slid toward the side of the quarterback’s first read. That’s legal, but it makes life harder on the quarterback, because the first read on the play is the choice route.
If you want the quarterback to be protected against the pressure side, sliding away from the direction he’s looking is the cleaner answer.
On that 2024 snap, Richardson was expected to know he was hot in five-man protection and get the ball to the back on the other side of the field, the kind of answer other quarterbacks are asked to make in similar systems. There are a lot of different ways to handle pressure, and this was one of those reps that felt blurry no matter how you sliced it.
The New England version added another layer. The Colts paired the concept with Z receiver motion to try to get a read on the defense.
The safety followed the motion across the formation, and before the snap it looked like weak-rotated Cover 3. Richardson again started with the choice, and this time the Colts slid away from the choice side, which makes it look more like a pure progression read.
The Patriots had the better answer. At the snap, they bailed into a Cover 8 look - Cover 2 to passing strength and Cover 4 away - and the field corner sat on the choice route.
It was a strong defensive rep, and it put the Colts in a bind. There’s a question here about whether the quarterback is allowed to take the hole shot or whether he’s supposed to work to the Snag side.
Either way, the throw Richardson made was catchable, but it also went into what looked like quasi double coverage. The cleaner decision, in this view, would have been to move off the choice.
What stands out most is that the Colts’ 2026 version of the play suggests the staff may have come away thinking the 2024 version should have slid away from the first read. Another possibility: Richardson, now in year 3, has more freedom to control the slide himself.
Either way, it’s a fascinating paper trail for a single concept - one that has already produced two of Richardson’s most debated preseason moments.
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