Anthony Richardson and the Colts' offense took fans on a roller coaster ride during the team's preseason win over the Bengals

The Indianapolis Colts finished up their 2024 preseason with a 27 to 14 win over the Cincinnati Bengals and finished with a 2-1 record. The Colts elected to use the game as a dress rehearsal for the regular season by giving their starters their largest snap count of the preseason, with them playing about a quarter […]

Destin Adams — NFL News Writer
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Aug 22, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) throws a pass against the Cincinnati Bengals in the first half at Paycor Stadium.
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The Indianapolis Colts finished up their 2024 preseason with a 27 to 14 win over the Cincinnati Bengals and finished with a 2-1 record. 

The Colts elected to use the game as a dress rehearsal for the regular season by giving their starters their largest snap count of the preseason, with them playing about a quarter and a half on the day. 

There were plenty of ups and downs on the night, but three things, in particular, stood out to me, especially in the case of the regular season opener against the Houston Texans. 

Biggest takeaways from the Colts preseason win over the Bengals

Anthony Richardson and the first-team offense had an up-and-down outing

The Colts elected to play their starters for about a quarter and a half against the Bengals. The opening drive was picture-perfect from Richardson and the first-team offense, as he completed seven of his eight pass attempts and finished with an exclamation point touchdown to rookie Adonai Mitchell. Unfortunately, that drive wasn't the end of the story, as the rest of the starter's night was truly an up-and-down affair.

The very next drive, there appeared to be miscommunication between Richardson and starting TE Kylen Granson, and it ended up as a pick-six for the Bengals. There were multiple throws after this that Richardson would love to have back. Also, multiple WRs fail to run their correct routes, leading to incompletions. Overall, it was a very up-and-down day for the starting offense, with far too many communication errors for comfort. With their regular season debut two weeks out from Sunday, they have to figure this out, or they could drop a crucial AFC South game against the Houston Texans. 

Rookie Jaylon Carlies could have a bigger year-one role than expected

The Colts were impressed early in training camp with what they saw from their 2024 fifth-round pick, Jaylon Carlies. The Colts converted him to LB from safety, where he played at Missouri. Sadly, he suffered an injury early in camp and missed a few weeks. But he's been able to fight back, and he even logged snaps with the Colts' first-team defense against the Bengals today. I think heading into training camp, the question was whether or not he'd make the roster. Now I think he's surpassed that, and now the question on the team's mind is how much the rookie will play. He made multiple plays in their preseason finale, and I expect him to find himself carving out a solid rotational role as a rookie. 

The Colts shook things up with the 2nd team's offensive line

The Colts tried a different lineup today with their second-team offensive line. They essentially flipped the group's positions from their preseason win over the Cardinals, with rookie Matt Goncalves playing LT, Blake Freeland moving to RT, and UDFA Dalton Tucker moving to LG. I like swapping the tackles just to see what you have here. I think Freeland has looked significantly more comfortable on the right side of the line over the last two seasons. So, getting Goncalves some extra run at LT in case he would have to fill in for any reason sounds like a solid plan, but unfortunately, I think Goncalves struggled at LT compared to his strong play at RT last week. So, if the Colts have two backup tackles that seem better or at least more comfortable at RT, that could be an issue.

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