WESTFIELD, Ind. – When Michael Pittman Jr. approached the microphone stand to speak to the media after the Colts' training camp practice Wednesday, he quickly realized the microphone was much too low for him to speak into.
But instead of doing what most people would – raise the stand to an appropriate height – Pittman decided the microphone off the stand with a flourish and proceeded to hold it, sideline reporter style, for the entirety of his media availability.
Pittman's energetic and lighthearted attitude was the perfect representation of how the Colts felt after their first joint practice with the Arizona Cardinals. While they acknowledged there were corrections to be made, the overall vibes were positive after facing a real opponent.
"I liked the energy we brought tonight," head coach Shane Steichen said. "Good overall practice."
That energy that Steichen was so pleased with took a little while to manifest itself; in the first round of 11-on-11 drills, the Colts offense faltered at times due to tough coverage and errant throws alike. Anthony Richardson connected with Pittman, Alec Pierce and Adonai Mitchell on multiple occasions, but the offense as a whole struggled to find a good, solid flow while facing the Cardinals' defense.
Then, about an hour-and-a-half into the two-hour practice, Richardson led a six-play, 75-yard drive down the field for a touchdown and everything was back to normal.
"It was awesome," Steichen said. "You want to be explosive like that and guys were operating at a high level that last drive."
"To go against somebody else and have a drive like that, it was really good to see," Steichen added.
One could argue no one was operating at a higher level Wednesday night than Pittman – because beyond his two over-the-back receptions in 11-on-11 drills early in practice, the wide receiver was also the one to bring down the pass for the touchdown to cap off the Colts' big drive down the field. Pittman said at the beginning of camp his goal for the season was to score more touchdowns, and he proved he could do just that.
"It's always good to score, because I was getting tired," Pittman said with a grin. "So I'm glad we could just throw a touchdown and end it."
Pittman wasn't about to let the spotlight shine on him, even though he was literally directly in front of the lights. He acknowledged that you can't feel too good about one specific play because there's always something to improve on, but he was perfectly fine talking about the talent among the rest of the Colts offense.
There's a lot of it.
On Richardson: "He doesn't know how to lose. If it's not there, he's going to run it, he's going to get yards. If it is there, he's going to throw a deep dime ball. He going to get it out there. His arm strength can pretty much put the ball wherever it needs to go."
On Mitchell: "His releases are the best I've ever seen. I've actually been studying him because he's so good at it, and that's something I noticed from day one."
On Anthony Gould: "Anthony is super fast and he's been great on all of our deep crosses and deep balls. And he's probably scored like five touchdowns in this training camp period, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it is a lot."
And when asked about the wide receiver room as a whole, Pittman wasn't shy about his opinions.
"I see all these receiver room rankings, and they always disrespect us," he said. "So I'm excited to show everybody that we're at the top of that list."
News and Notes
- Richardson connected with Pittman multiple times in 1-on-1 drills for deep passes that Pittman navigated around tight Cardinals coverage to snag over his shoulder.
- Safety Julian Blackmon picked off Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray in 7-on-7, and he blew up a screen play in 11-on-11.
- Richardson hurled a deep pass downfield to wide receiver Alec Pierce in 11-on-11.
- Wide receiver Adonai Mitchell showed off his quick footwork to juke out a defender and get open for a pass from Richardson in one-on-one drills.
- Defensive end Laiatu Latu had a number of disruptive pass rushes in 11-on-11.
- Wide receiver Anthony Gould beat out all of the Cardinals secondary in seven-on-seven for a 60-yard touchdown pass from Richardson.
- Linebacker Segun Olubi broke up a pass in 7-on-7.
- Cornerback JuJu Brents swatted away a pass intended for former Colts wide receiver Zach Pascal in one-on-one work.
- Pittman worked through two-man coverage to snag a 35-yard touchdown pass from Richardson in the Colts' final 11-on-11 period of the evening.
