Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images What is different since Anthony Richardson’s benching? We asked @StampedeBlue about the matchup between the Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts. More Detroit Lions football is right around the corner, and we would never pass up the opportunity to get some intel from the opponent’s perspective. We called on Chris Shepherd of StampedeBlue.com to give us some insight into the Anthony Richardson saga, what’s up with the Indianapolis Colts run defense, and how the rest of the team is shaping up ahead of this Week 12 matchup. The highly publicized benching of Anthony Richardson in favor of veteran Joe Flacco dominated headlines a couple weeks ago. That experiment came and went with Richardson returning to the lineup last week against the New York Jets. The Colts got back in the win column after Richardson punched home a rushing touchdown late in the game–his second of the game. It’s just one game, but what encouraged you about Richardson’s return last week, and how important is his mobility and escapability to his game overall–how often do the Colts draw up or rely on designed runs from Richardson? The most encouraging thing was Richardson’s throwing. He was getting the ball out on time and was fairly accurate most of the day. He did a great job of taking what the defense was giving him and wasn’t just looking to take deep shots. Earlier in the season none of these things were true. His mobility is huge. The kid just doesn’t take that many sacks. He can outrun most defenders and the guys he can’t get around usually hang on while Richardson amazingly gets passes off anyway. I don’t think Richardson is a good runner but not a great scrambler, if that makes sense. He is very mobile but he rarely looks to run and sometimes I wish he would scramble more than he does. The designed run question is an interesting one. Earlier in the season, head coach Shane Steichen rarely called designed runs for his QB, despite saying during training camp that he would equate it to having Steph Curry and not letting him shoot threes. But after Richardson’s benching, the entire offense looked much different. Specifically, the QB run game seemed to be back on the menu, and despite the Jets selling out to stop the run all day long, Richardson still punched in two rushing touchdowns on the day. According to Next Gen Stats, the Lions’ running game averages 2.0 yards before contact per carry on designed rushes between tackles this season–the top mark in the NFL. The Colts defense, on the other hand, has allowed the fifth-most yards per carry average on designed rushes between the tackles this season (4.7), including the third-most yards after contact per carry (3.5) on such carries. What about the middle of this Colts defense is to blame for giving up so many yards between the tackles? Where do I start? There’s plenty of blame to go around but I’ll start with DeForest Buckner’s injury and the five weeks he spent on IR. During that time the Colts used DT Taven Bryan in his place. Bryan is a fine pass rushing rotational player but against the run he’s not much more effective than the average 300 pound man you can find at any Walmart in America, right now. Go to your nearest Walmart, find a guy who has a nose tackle body type, and I guarantee that man will be as effective as Bryan against the run. For opponents it was, and still is easy, when Bryan is in the game, find him and run the ball at his gap. He will not make the play. But beyond Bryan being bad against the run, linebackers Zaire Franklin and EJ Speed have been very good at making tackles 5-8 yards down field this season as neither man has consistently defeated, run around, or gotten off of blocks anywhere near the line of scrimmage. Defensive end Kwity Paye, who is very good against the run, has also missed some time this year which hasn’t helped the situation. Frankly, the Colts defense just isn’t that good. Gus Bradley has gotten a lot of hate from Colts fans, but the defense, outside of Buckner and CB Kenny Moore, has almost no difference makers and no one you could call a bonafide star. The Colts offense has allowed the third-highest pressure rate against the blitz this season (53.0%), compared to a 32.4% pressure rate when not blitzing (11th-highest) according to Next Gen Stats. In Weeks 1-6, the Lions blitz rate was 30.3%, just above the league-average (28.9%), but Detroit has become much more reliant on the blitz since Hutchinson’s injury: the Lions sport the fifth-highest blitz rate (34.0%) in the NFL through Week 11. What sort of breakdowns have you noticed in pass protection when teams decide to send extra defenders against the Colts? Anthony Richardson has spent most of the season not understanding his protection schemes. That isn’t me guessing, ESPN’s Stephen Holder published an article detailing Richardson’s two weeks being benched and in the article Holder noted that Richardson has been coming in every morning before 7 AM to work with offensive line coach Tony Sparano Jr. on understanding the team’s protection calls. There were a few times where the Colts would go empty and I would see the play and realize that if the defense sent a specific player that he would likely be unblocked or otherwise create an unblocked rusher. Richardson was always oblivious, failed to adjust, failed to throw hot, he just didn’t see it and relied on his athleticism to get him out of the jam he created by not making that read pre-snap. To his credit, he is really good at getting out of those jams, but he shouldn’t have had to as often as he did. Now that Richardson has been putting in the time to understand what he sees at the line, it will be interesting to see what he does this weekend against the blitz. I don’t expect him to look like prime Peyton Manning before the snap but some growth from where he was earlier in the year should be expected. Although, a very injured offensive line was working against him last week, so that should be monitored going into this week’s game. Is there a player or two you could highlight from this Colts team that may fly under the radar nationally and will ultimately surprise Lions’ fans by their level of compete? The entire offense doesn’t work well unless it’s running through slot receiver Josh Downs. If it’s third down, Steichen will try to get Downs into a favorable one on one matchup and good luck to whatever poor soul is covering him in the middle of the field. Downs is excellent, and I don’t believe he is on anyone’s radar nationally. Defensively, I mentioned Kenny Moore earlier, but Moore made a Pro Bowl so maybe he doesn’t fit the question. The other player I would tell you about is third year safety Nick Cross. Cross, who turned 23 just a couple of months ago, earned the starting spot at strong safety this season after sitting for his first two seasons out of Maryland. Cross is still developing as a player but is very good when coming downhill to make plays against the run. He still needs to improve in coverage but Lions fans should expect to see number 20 flying around all over the field on Sunday, making both tackles and mistakes at 100 miles an hour. If Cross continues on his current trajectory, he could end up being one of the better safeties in the league in a few years time. But for now he’s a young player with a lot of physical ability. What’s your most lucrative nugget of Colts’ intel that a Lions fan could benefit from hearing and putting on their bet slip for this Week 12 matchup? Well, the Lions haven’t faced a quarterback quite like Richardson this season, and to be fair, there aren’t many like him. But looking at Detroit’s schedule thus far, it seems like Kyler Murray was possibly the only rushing threat Detroit has faced at the position. So if someone just had to place a bet on the Colts this week (I wouldn’t because I want to keep my money) I would look at Richardson’s rushing lines and choose the over. Also, if the Colts get inside the 10-yard line, Richardson is really, really hard to stop. Last week Richardson got to the edge and just demolished much smaller DBs on his way to the end zone, ultimately in some situations football is just about being faster and stronger than the guy in front of you and with that in mind betting on Richardson to have a rushing touchdown would be a solid bet to make (I still wouldn’t do it, but you always could).