Daniel Jones’ Colts debut did not look much different from his Giants career.
Jones entered Thursday’s 24-16 preseason loss to the Ravens earlier than expected when Anthony Richardson went down with a dislocated pinky on his throwing hand in the first quarter.
The Duke product finished his night with 10 completions on 21 attempts for 144 yards. He committed no turnovers but did not lead any touchdown drives.
Before leaving with the injury, Richardson completed 2 of 3 attempts for 21 yards.
The two are in a battle for the starting quarterback position, but Jones didn’t necessarily get a leg up with his up-and-down play after Richardson went down.
Jones took over on third down during the Colts’ second drive, approximately eight minutes into the game, and handled all the quarterback reps until halftime as Notre Dame rookie Riley Leonard played the second half.
In Jones’ first full drive, he passed for one first down before Indianapolis was forced to punt on the next set of downs. Jones was sacked for a loss of nine yards on third down.
His next time out, Jones led the Colts to a field goal, utilizing two big pass plays of over 20 yards.
Jones followed up the scoring drive with another one-first-down series that ended in a punt and two more drives that wound up in field-goal range, with Colts kicker Spencer Shrader converting one of the kicks.
Leonard handled the entire second half, but was unimpressive as he tallied 92 yards on 12-for-24 passing with an interception. He added 34 rushing yards, highlighted by a 21-yard scamper, and helped lead the team to its lone touchdown drives.
After the game, Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen said Richardson’s pinky “popped out, popped back in.”
Jones joined the Colts in the offseason on a one-year, $14 million contract for the opportunity to duel with the former fourth-overall pick in Richardson, who has battled injury and inconsistent play through his first two seasons.
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