Establish the Fun: Anthony Richardson goes Second Gear

Anthony Richardson, the Titans’ running game, and Washington State QB Cam Ward are featured in this week’s ‘Establish the Fun’ column.

Welcome back to Establish the Fun, folks! Here at ETF, we live by the mantra “football is fun, and we are here to establish that,” so come on in, grab a seat, snacks are in the foyer and let’s have some fun!

First of all, thank you for being patient with me, was a little under the weather so there was no ETF last week, but we have made close to a full recovery and are back on our daily shenanigans and misadventures. By this time in the football season, we’re starting to see teams develop and add on to their base concepts while finding what works best for the players they have active. In addition, we’re seeing some really fun development from players and teams that are going to be fun to watch throughout the rest of the season.

So, without further ado, lets get started with a first round pick in Indy that’s conquering the Grand Line of the NFL his own way.

Anthony Richardson goes Second Gear

In the lead up to the 2023 NFL Draft, I compared Anthony Richardson to One Piece’s Monkey D. Luffy for his mind-boggling athleticism and potential, while also still needing to harness some of the tiny nuances of playing the QB position. For the most part, that remains true. Among all NFL QBs with at least 70 passing attempts this season, Richardson is last in On-Target Percentage and completion percentage, yet his total EPA as a passer is right in the middle of the pack, at 16th. So what that means is despite not having the best completion percentage right now, Richardson is still being efficient as a passer and helping add value to the Colts in that area, and head coach Shane Steichen is giving Richardson concepts he’s enjoying and helping him reach that second gear.

Richardson is near the tops of the league in Explosive Play Rate per The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen, and that’s by design: the Colts continue to give Richardson a palette of options in the pass and run game that accentuate his strengths. At the University of Florida, Richardson threw the ball downfield a lot, but due to poor pass catching options those passes weren’t completed as much. Now that he has NFL receivers, he’s letting passes fly, and the Colts are letting his aggressiveness downfield shine.

This is a 4 Verts concept the Colts run against the Rams, who are in Cover 2 Man. Richardson looks left to see if he has anything he likes there, then comes back to the right. He sees WR Josh Downs with a step on the nickel corner, who has his head turned. This is like if a defender doesn’t have his hand up contesting a shooter in basketball: “hand down, man down”. Richardson rips this pass to the top shelf where only Downs can get it, a beauty of an explosive pass that moves the chains.

Like, watch this pass from the end zone angle. The most important thing here for Richardson is the footwork. It’s so much quieter, still a little bit of a heel click but when you can rip it like he can you live with that a bit.

This is another 4 Verts concept that Richardson hits on, and this is just him being a special athlete and pure arm talent at the position. It’s Cover 1 and Richardson chooses to take the Alec Pierce vertical. The only problem is, Aaron freaking Donald is breathing down his neck. No problem, casual flick for a 40 yard completion. He’s a special, special QB, man.

Where the Richardson effect is really felt is in the red zone. Through four games, the Colts are eighth in total passing EPA in the red zone and ninth in EPA per rushing attempt in the red zone. Steichen and co. have been extremely creative in the looks they show teams to get Richardson moving downhill, because he’s a massive plus one in the run game. Richardson scored on a rushing TD, then converted on a two point conversion that I believe showed the Colts’ creativity with the threat of Richardson in the run game that they can unlock. Think of it like Luffy using his Gum Gum fruit in the different ways he does.

On the rushing TD, Indy is lined up at first in a full house pistol formation, then shifts to a heavy formation with everyone in tight and RB Zach Moss in kind of a double wing alignment. Already they’ve thrown so much at the eyes of the Rams defense that now their head is spinning. Moss goes in motion, Colts run a pass action to Richardson’s right but pull LG Quenton Nelson and TE Kylen Granson, basically running Power with the QB. All of the action leads to small guys being in the box for the Rams, and a TD for the Colts (with a bit of a 360 celly from Richardson).

On the 2 point conversion to tie the game, the Colts are in the pistol formation out of 12 personnel, and bring WR Michael Pittman in motion. The run action plus Richardson’s threat with his legs holds the LBs and the EDGE defender, then a busted coverage for the Rams leads to a brilliant short yardage play that can be tucked away now for Indy.

The Colts are finding ways to not only ease the transition into the NFL for Richardson, but allow him to develop into the supernova, King of the Pirates elite NFL QB he can be. If this is just his second gear, just wait until he gets to his fifth.

Tennessee Titans’ Pony Express

Before the season, you probably wouldn’t have believed me if I told you the Tennessee Titans were doing some fun things on offense, and yet here we are. The Titans are 2-2, and while a lot of that has to do with a kickass defense, the offense is doing some really cool things, especially with RBs Derrick Henry and rookie Tyjae Spears. They have kind of a little Keanu Reeves and big Keanu Reeves thing going in the backfield, and when both of them are on the field at the same time, and when they’re both involved in the action, the offense gets a little more versatile.

Per Sports Information Solutions, with two RBs on the field, the Titans are third in EPA per rush and can cause a world of hurt out of that personnel. The funniest part of it is: they let both backs do the same things in the formation, without doing too much specialization. On this play in their win against the Bengals, the Titans run that burst out motion that has basically taken over the NFL, but instead of using a wideout, they use Spears. This is a way for them to remain matchup versatile and force teams into choosing between playing bigger or smaller against this formation. The Bengals are in nickel, with five DBs on the field, so the Titans run GH Counter and get a positive play out of it.

A couple of weeks ago, in their win over the Los Angeles Chargers, they had both backs on the field at the same time, and using the threat of QB Ryan Tannehill’s legs, they can basically run the triple option. They did just that, and Tannehill walked into the end zone for a touchdown. Folks, you know what I’m about to say: #runthetriple.

When they play the Colts on Sunday, expect the Titans to run a lot of this, in order to get their biggest and most explosive threats on the field at the same time. They could stand to be a little better passing the ball out of this grouping, but I’m curious to see how they continue incorporating both Henry and Spears into the effectiveness of the offense.

Cam Ward is playing Guitar Hero while everyone else is playing Checkers

One of the more fun parts of the college football season has been watching Washington State football, especially on offense. The Cougars are in the top 15 of the college football top 25 and have a bye this week, but their offense has been extremely fun, led by QB Cameron Ward. Ward has been sensational this season, with close to 1,400 yards passing and 13 touchdowns, but the way that he’s gone about it has been very interesting. In the Cougars’ 38-35 victory, he looked much more composed and played within the structure of the offense so much better than last year.

Ward is a “freelance jazz” QB. He’s the kid in high school jazz band who always wants to ad-lib or solo when everyone else is playing the sheet music. He is the random drum solo in the middle of a song. However, first year offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle came over from Western Kentucky and has somehow helped Ward tune out the drum solos while making him more efficient in the passing game. Through four games, Ward’s total Passing EPA is exponentially higher than it was through the first four games of last season, and his positive play rate is up over 10 percentage points, from 46.3 percent to 56.7 percent. He’s done a much better job of working within the pocket and using his lightning quick release to create plays without going into Guitar Hero mode.

On this play, the Cougars are running mesh with the field side number 1 receiver running an out route. Normally, you would want to read out the mesh and sit route over the middle. However, with Oregon State spinning to single high after the snap, Ward diagnoses it and knows he’s going to have a one on one situation at the top of the screen. This is a field out to the far hash and he puts it on the dot. That’s a Sunday throw.

Arbuckle has done a great job of working with Ward, and giving him cleaner reads so he’s not freelancing as much as he did last year. This is a great design to get to a flood concept, with two of the three receivers running switch verticals, and the slot running an out route. The leverage is favoring the slot, and Ward just calmly shuffles over and puts the throw on the money.

Now, despite not always having to go into Guitar Hero mode, Cam Ward still can do it when he’s asked to. This is the Ward that college football fans love; the plays where it looks like nothing good can come from it but Ward pulls a rabbit out of his hat. If he were to double as a magician, I would probably believe him, because this is truly where he thrives.

Amid the friendly confines of Pullman, Washington, Ward has established himself as one of the top QBs in the country, and a potential NFL Draft pick. We all knew about his ability to go rogue and play Guitar Hero, but through the first few games of this season, he’s been strumming to the music Arbuckle lays out for him, and it’s made sweet music for the Washington State Cougars.