With Anthony Richardson back under center, he led the Indianapolis Colts to a late come-from-behind victory in Week 11 over the New York Jets, helping to keep the team’s playoff hopes alive.
This was easily Richardson’s best performance of the season, not only when taking into account his overall production, but also when it comes to the intangible aspects that come with playing quarterback, such as his command and throwing within the timing and rhythm of the play. Richardson was also lights out in the fourth quarter when it mattered most.
While Richardson’s play will understandably command the attention, let’s take a closer look at five key stats from Pro Football Focus that were a factor in defining how this game unfolded.
75 percent: Anthony Richardson has struggled when under pressure this season. He entered Sunday’s game, completing just 44 percent of his throws when under duress. But against the Jets, he was excellent. Richardson completed 9-of-12 throws for 145 yards. That success started with, of course, his ability to buy time when needed, but also playing within the timing and structure of the play and knowing where his outlet options were.
18 yards: Jets’ wide receiver Garrett Wilson entered Sunday’s game as one of the most productive pass-catchers in football. However, the Colts would hold him to just 18 total yards, with Wilson catching four of his eight targets. The Colts did a nice job of taking away downfield opportunities and on shorter area throws, swarmed to the pass catchers. Jaylon Jones was often tasked with covering Wilson, and he surrendered only two completions on six targets.
25 percent: It was a nice game for rookie Laiatu Latu, who on the stat sheet, totaled three pressures, a sack, and two tackles for loss. But also of note is that he won his one-on-one matchups 25 percent of the time. For some context, entering Week 11, Myles Garrett win rate of 25.3 percent on the season leads the NFL. What this 25 percent figure shows is consistency, and where there is consistency, the production will follow.
8: Of the 11 pressures that the Colts gave up to the Jets, eight of them came from Tanor Bortolini or Dalton Tucker. As I noted before the game, Quinnen Williams, along with Javon Kinlaw, were going to be a very difficult test for these two. That duo also made running the ball between the tackles a challenge for the Colts as well. Overall, Richardson was pressured on 43.8 percent of his dropbacks–the fourth-highest mark in Week 11.
4.5: Jets’ running back Breece Hall averaged 4.5 yards after contact against the Colts, which was the second-highest mark among running backs in Week 11. In fact, of Hall’s 78 total rushing yards, 72 came after contact–and that was the most this week. What that tells us is the Colts were often positioned well to limit his production, but whether it be missed tackles or poor angles, they couldn’t bring Hall down, which admittedly, is no easy task.