It's Saturday night, and the Colts are putting the finishing touches on their preparation for Sunday's Week 6 game against the Arizona Cardinals. At this point, the Colts were well under 24 hours until kickoff.
But for quarterback Daniel Jones, it was another opportunity to get his offense ready for some of the stuff the Cardinals would throw at them on Sunday.
"Pull up Carolina clip 42," quarterback Daniel Jones requests.
He watches the play and prepares his pass-catchers for who he might look to if the Cardinals play a certain way. Arizona's defense presents a different challenge than the Colts have faced up to this point; they're built on disguising things pre-snap and shape-shifting post-snap, making it a challenge for opposing offenses to correctly diagnose what sort of coverage they're playing. That's why the Cardinals entered Week 6 having allowed no more than 23 points in a game this season.
Jones talks through the clip from the Cardinals' Week 2 win over the Carolina Panthers. Next up: "Carolina, play 38," Jones says.
The thing is, this is nothing new for Jones. This is how he operates. It's the only way he knows how to operate as a starting quarterback.
And it worked. Again.
Jones' preparation showed up in a magnificent way on Sunday, as he overcame an early interception to dice up Arizona's defense in the Colts' 31-27 win. Jones completed 22 of 30 passes for 212 yards with two passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and a passer rating of 101.0; he's now had a passer rating over 100 in five of his six games this season.
"He'll go through a ton of stuff," wide receiver Alec Pierce said of those Saturday night prep sessions. "He kind of gives us every look — hey, we got this play up here. It'll be like say it's me and (Josh Downs), he's like 'Hey, J.D., I'm looking for you here on this and then if they go this coverage here, AP, be ready.' So it's pretty cool how he really breaks it down.'"
While the Colts' offensive brain trust – head coach Shane Steichen, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter and the team's assistant coach all have a hand in this – has created plenty of opportunities for Jones to throw to an open receiver, the Cardinals' defense forced Jones into making several tight-window throws against looks designed to confuse him. Those throws require not only accuracy, but trust – the sort of trust that's build through meticulous preparation.
"He made some big-time throws," Steichen said.