AD Mitchell, Anthony Richardson explain the failed trick play
DENVER (WISH) — The Colts were down by four points early in the fourth quarter, 17-13, and were driving inside the Broncos territory.
Colts head coach Shane Steichen dialed up a trick play. Anthony Richardson threw a backwards pass to AD Mitchell. Mitchell took a second, adjusted the ball in his right hand, and threw the ball back across the field to Richardson.
But it was too late. Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto jumped the pass, snagged the ball, and returned it for 50 yards for the touchdown.
It was one of five turnovers the Colts had on Sunday, and they lost to the Broncos, 31-13.
“I mean, I was just executing the play call that I executed about a million times before,” Mitchell said. “Shane came over and talked to me and said, if it’s not there, throw it away. So, if you kind of look from my perspective, it was there pretty much until 15 just turned into Ed Reed and just came through out of nowhere.”
“We were working on that all week,” Richardson said. “We were hoping to get the good look, but they played better than we thought. There’s not really much you can say.”
“Well, we repped that play all week and it was great,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said. “It looked great all week and we’ve had it up and it was good in practice. He was throwing it great. Obviously, he’s thrown double passes before that he’s had success with.”
“I don’t think he saw the guy to be completely honest,” Steichen added. “But ya, if he didn’t have it, throw it away.”
The Colts are two games behind the Chargers for the last wild card spot with three games remaining. The Colts will host the Titans next week, with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.
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