Colts buckle under pressure from Packers; Shane Steichen not ready to name QB1

New York Times

a day ago

WESTFIELD, Ind. — Xavier McKinney leaned against the goalpost as his face curled up in disgust. The Green Bay Packers safety, sidelined with a calf injury during Thursday's joint practice with the Indianapolis Colts, was deeply annoyed by what he was witnessing. The Colts were in the high red zone, trying to score, but the dink-and-dunk offense QB Daniel Jones was commanding wasn't fruitful. Far from it.
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McKinney, who was teammates with Jones for four seasons with the New York Giants, wanted his former quarterback to stop being so conservative. After another short completion to tight end Will Mallory, McKinney unleashed.
'D.J., throw the ball deep!' McKinney mockingly yelled. 'Show off your arm strength!'
Jones didn't oblige. Instead, on the very next play, he checked it down to wide receiver Ashton Dulin for another short gain.
'Throw it DOWN the field!' McKinney screamed again.
Two plays later, Jones finally took his shot to the end zone, but the play was a mess. The Packers jumped offsides, but the Colts were lined up in an illegal formation. Despite the pre-snap penalties on both sides, the refs allowed the play to continue, so Jones ripped a pass high across the middle, only for the ball to go off wide receiver Anthony Gould's hands before ricocheting off the crossbar and out of bounds.
That was the last play of an awful red zone period for the Colts' offense, and McKinney simply laughed at the errant pass, perhaps because even when the Packers were finally wrong, the Colts still couldn't get it right. Indianapolis, which struggled mightily on offense throughout the day, managed just one touchdown on 24 plays from about the 15-yard line and in. Jones never guided the offense into the end zone, while Richardson threw a short TD pass to wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. on his 12th and final red zone play during that period.
The irony in the Colts finally breaking through the Packers' secondary in the red zone is that in a real game, Richardson's pass likely wouldn't have happened since Green Bay's defensive front was in his face nearly as soon as the ball was snapped. It would've taken some heroics from Richardson to avoid that pressure, and based on how dominant the Packers defense looked Thursday, they appeared to thoroughly enjoy being the villains.
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Save for that final two-minute drill led by Richardson, the Colts' offense was overwhelmed by the Packers defense for the majority of the two-hour practice. Richardson finished 9-of-20 passing with one touchdown and one interception. Jones was 13-of-16 passing with two interceptions and zero touchdowns.
'I don't think it was all bad,' Colts coach Shane Steichen said after practice. 'Every time you go back and watch the tape, it's probably not as bad as you think when you're in the moment. But really, more than anything, it was just the penalties that were stacking up that just put us in bad situations. Second-and-long, third-and-long, those are hard to recover from.'
Daniel Jones
Colts
In addition to a litany of pre-snap penalties, including false starts and illegal formations, the Colts were consistently overmatched in the trenches. Indianapolis lost two starting offensive linemen in free agency (center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries, both of whom joined the Minnesota Vikings) and their absence felt evident Thursday, as the Packers' defensive linemen had their way with second-year center Tanor Bortolini and second-year right guard Matt Goncalves, racking up at least seven 'sacks' by The Athletic's unofficial count. Veteran right tackle Braden Smith also had a few reps in 11-on-11 when he failed to protect the edge, leading to an errant throw from Jones or Richardson, or the play being whistled dead all together.
When the protection didn't hold up, both QBs had their struggles. Jones was efficient on paper, but the offense was rarely able to pick up a first down. He ended his day by being picked off by Green Bay linebacker Isaiah Simmons in a two-minute drill between both teams' second units.
'I felt like overall, we probably weren't as sharp as we've been in a lot of our work leading up to this,' Jones said. 'I think (there are) a lot of things we can clean up offensively. That's gonna happen in a joint practice. The speed and intensity is ramped up a little bit. You're going against different looks you haven't seen before. So, I think (it) probably wasn't as sharp as we're used to being at this point of camp. We'll obviously look to clean it up.'
#Colts QBs Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones throwing in 1-on-1s against the #Packers. pic.twitter.com/v0KsrkmAvV
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) August 14, 2025
Richardson, meanwhile, missed on a handful of the short and intermediate throws that have held him back from being a surefire starter. He was also intercepted by Packers cornerback Johnathan Baldwin after making a late and errant throw across the middle.
Richardson, however, pulled himself together to end Thursday's practice on a high note. The third-year pro guided the Colts' starters down the field with three straight completions before he tossed one up to wide receiver AD Mitchell, who drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone. The Colts were able to punch it in on a 1-yard plunge from running back Jonathan Taylor, and Richardson capped the drive with a throw to Pittman in the back of the end zone for a successful two-point conversion.
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'Decent day,' Richardson said. 'Got a couple touchdowns in, a couple first downs, but turned the ball over. A few false start penalties that we can knock out. Then snap stuff, gotta get the snaps. So, decent day from the good things we did, but nowhere near where we want to be.'
Steichen said he still doesn't know when he'll name the winner of the Colts QB battle. Neither quarterback has performed well enough for him to lean one way or the other, at least not publicly. Steichen noted that Indy has two more preseason games against the Packers and Cincinnati Bengals to potentially evaluate Richardson and Jones.
The coach added that he'll consult with general manager Chris Ballard and principal owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon about who should start, but ultimately, it'll be his choice.
'It's a big decision that's got to be made,' Steichen said. 'We'll work through it.'
Mitchell has dominated training camp in recent weeks, but he took a step back Thursday. The second-year receiver talked a lot of trash with Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon, but Nixon got the last laugh in 11-on-11s, when Mitchell let a pinpoint pass from Jones slip through his hands. The drop allowed Nixon, who was right behind Mitchell in coverage, to easily intercept the pass. If it were a real game, Nixon likely would've returned it for a pick-six.
On the very next play, Jones hit Mitchell in stride on a slant route. But his bounce-back play was short-lived as Packers safety Javon Bullard stripped the ball away from Mitchell after he took a few steps. Green Bay recovered the fumble, marking back-to-back Colts turnovers on back-to-back plays — each because of Mitchell.
'We've got to hang on to the football, too,' Steichen said. 'He's doing some good things. He's separating, but there are some things to clean up.'
Colts wide receiver Josh Downs, who recorded a team-high 72 catches for 803 yards and five TDs last year, left one of the 11-on-11 periods and told a nearby trainer that he felt pain in his left hamstring. He did not return to Thursday's practice. Steichen later confirmed Downs' hamstring injury but gave no other updates. Defensive end Samson Ebukam also left practice early due to a back injury, Steichen said.
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The Colts were already playing without cornerbacks Kenny Moore II (knee), Jaylon Jones (hamstring) and JuJu Brents (hamstring). Wide receiver Alec Pierce (groin), linebacker Jaylon Carlies (right ankle), strong safety Nick Cross (hip) and defensive end Kwity Paye (groin) remain sidelined as well. Steichen did not provide a potential recovery timeline for any of them.
Our Packers beat writer, Matt Schneidman, watched the Packers offense against the Colts defense, so check out his story for the perspective from the other field.
(Photo of Jones: Darron Cummings / Associated Press)
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