It's Saturday night, and the Colts are putting the finishing touches on their preparation for Sunday's Week 6 game against the Arizona Cardinals. At this point, the Colts were well under 24 hours until kickoff.
But for quarterback Daniel Jones, it was another opportunity to get his offense ready for some of the stuff the Cardinals would throw at them on Sunday.
"Pull up Carolina clip 42," quarterback Daniel Jones requests.
He watches the play and prepares his pass-catchers for who he might look to if the Cardinals play a certain way. Arizona's defense presents a different challenge than the Colts have faced up to this point; they're built on disguising things pre-snap and shape-shifting post-snap, making it a challenge for opposing offenses to correctly diagnose what sort of coverage they're playing. That's why the Cardinals entered Week 6 having allowed no more than 23 points in a game this season.
Jones talks through the clip from the Cardinals' Week 2 win over the Carolina Panthers. Next up: "Carolina, play 38," Jones says.
The thing is, this is nothing new for Jones. This is how he operates. It's the only way he knows how to operate as a starting quarterback.
And it worked. Again.
Jones' preparation showed up in a magnificent way on Sunday, as he overcame an early interception to dice up Arizona's defense in the Colts' 31-27 win. Jones completed 22 of 30 passes for 212 yards with two passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and a passer rating of 101.0; he's now had a passer rating over 100 in five of his six games this season.
"He'll go through a ton of stuff," wide receiver Alec Pierce said of those Saturday night prep sessions. "He kind of gives us every look — hey, we got this play up here. It'll be like say it's me and (Josh Downs), he's like 'Hey, J.D., I'm looking for you here on this and then if they go this coverage here, AP, be ready.' So it's pretty cool how he really breaks it down.'"
While the Colts' offensive brain trust – head coach Shane Steichen, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter and the team's assistant coach all have a hand in this – has created plenty of opportunities for Jones to throw to an open receiver, the Cardinals' defense forced Jones into making several tight-window throws against looks designed to confuse him. Those throws require not only accuracy, but trust – the sort of trust that's build through meticulous preparation.
"He made some big-time throws," Steichen said.
The Cardinals, prior to Sunday, were fourth in the NFL in scoring defense (19.2 points allowed per game), with that number built on stopping offenses in critical situations: Arizona was seventh on third down (34.3 percent conversion rate allowed), fourth in the red zone (47.1 percent touchdown rate allowed) and second on goal-to-go (50 percent touchdown rate allowed).
The Colts on Sunday converted half of their third downs and turned all four red zone/goal-to-go possessions into touchdowns (they've now scored a touchdown on 10 consecutive red zone possessions).
Week 6's 31 points brought the Colts' season total to 194, the most any Indianapolis Colts team has scored in the first six games of a season since moving here in 1984; it's the third-most in total franchise history behind only Johnny Unitas' Baltimore Colts in 1964 (203 points) and 1958 (234 points).
That success only happens if an offense is, collectively, thinking about things and then reacting to them the same way. And it happens when a quarterback is as prepared – and is able to communicate that preparation to his teammates – as Jones, consistently, is.
"He's just all over it," Steichen said. "That's the preparation, and that's what you want at that position."
But for Jones, this is nothing new. The Cardinals presented a different kind of challenge for him and the Colts' offense, but it wasn't one that changed how much he prepares – because he already prepares plenty before games, whether it's early in the week, before and after practices or Saturday shortly before bedtime.
"I've always spent a lot of time with it," Jones said. "I don't really do too much besides this stuff."
