WESTFIELD, Ind. – The Colts spent most of Saturday's training camp practice at Grand Park working in the red zone, an area of the field in which both this team's offense and defense are targeting improvements from the 2024 season.
Last year, the Colts' offense converted 53.9 percent of their red zone possessions into touchdowns, good for 22nd in the NFL. Defensively, the Colts in 2024 allowed opponents to score touchdowns on red zone possessions 60.7 percent of the time, 23rd in the NFL.
Success inside the 20-yard line is not everything – you still have to both score and limit explosive touchdowns that come from outside the red zone – but capitalizing on those chances as an offense, and holding teams to no more than three points on defense, can be the difference in a close game.
For a Colts team that went 8-9 last year and began the season with nine consecutive one-score games, improving those percentages is important.
Last weekend, the Colts had a red zone-heavy (non-padded) practice in which their defense made plenty of plays. Saturday's full-pads practice had a similar outcome, with both Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson throwing interceptions in the end zone to safety Nick Cross and cornerback Kenny Moore II, respectively.
The focus for the Colts was on dropback passing in the red zone, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said; the Colts in 2024 ran the ball on 57 percent of their red zone plays, the third-highest rate in the NFL. Running the ball will remain key in the red zone for this offense, with running back Jonathan Taylor and a big, mobile quarterback behind center no matter if it's Jones or Richardson.
But there were some flashes in the passing game, notably with rookie tight end Tyler Warren accelerating across the field for a goal-to-go touchdown and Richardson zipping a pass through a tight window to wide receiver Adonai Mitchell in the back of the end zone for a score. At this point of training camp, though, both the Colts' offense and defense are testing things out, which is important context for whatever the results were on Saturday.
"The defense squeezes those zones, the man coverage is tighter," Cooter said. "We're trying new plays. We want to be really, really good at all that stuff. At the same time, these guys are working different progressions and where they can throw certain balls. We want to go through a practice and be really, really clean, but at the same time you don't want those guys to avoid sort of working on trying a throw or working on trying to hit a certain receiver in a certain spot, maybe a back shoulder type of throw.
"So red zone practices, when you sort them up at the end of the year, they don't always end up being your highest-production practices, but we do get a lot out of them. It's going to make us better moving forward. There's going to be some things we can coach off today's tape, but it was an encouraging day because we're working a lot of things and I think we got better at it."
Both Jones and Richardson turned in three consecutive sharp practices (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) earlier this week. But just because the Colts' defense made a number of plays Saturday does not mean it was necessarily a bad day for both quarterbacks – the key there is learning what works and what doesn't before the throws really start counting on Sept. 7 against the Miami Dolphins.
News & Notes
- Linebacker Zaire Franklin participated in practice for the first time this training camp. He did not participate in team periods, but it was an encouraging step for the 2024 Pro Bowler, who's been working his way back from offseason ankle surgery.
- Undrafted rookie cornerback Jonathan Edwards had an impressive pass break-up on a 50/50 ball in the end zone early in 11-on-11.
- Cornerback Kenny Moore II, in addition to his interception, forced an incompletion with tight coverage in a seven-on-seven red zone period.
- Cornerbacks Charvarius Ward and Sam Womack III also had pass break-ups in seven-on-seven.
- Tight end Drew Ogletree showed good hands with a catch away from his body in seven-on-seven.
- Beyond their respective touchdowns to Warren and Mitchell, Jones linked up with wide receiver Ashton Dulin for a touchdown and Richardson lofted a score to Ogletree in 11-on-11 red zone work.
- Linebacker Joe Bachie picked off a pass in seven-on-seven.
- Tight end Will Mallory flashed with a contested catch for a touchdown in seven-on-seven.
- Kicker Spencer Shrader connected on a field goal to end a two-minute drive toward the end of practice.
