In Week 2 of the preseason, it was Riley Leonard's turn to start at quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, and like last week, it was an up-and-down outing for him.
Playing the entire first half, Leonard completed just 7-of-14 passes for 62 yards, and 39 of those total yards came on a wide-open completion to Coleman Owen.
Leonard averaged only 4.4 yards per pass attempt. He did not have an interception but did fumble a snap that he was able to recover.
Leonard did help put the Colts in field goal range twice, although the second drive was aided by two Atlanta penalties.
With the backup quarterback job up for grabs, Leonard was unable to stand out and has struggled to get into a rhythm.
Not helping matters was the play of the offensive line unit. The run game struggled to get going, which put Leonard behind the sticks and in obvious passing situations. He also faced pressure when dropping back.
Holding on to the ball too long is something that Leonard has had to work through this summer. However, without seeing the film, it's difficult to know if he was doing that at times in this game because the receivers weren't getting open or if he was hesitant. Either way, it impacted his performance.
Shane Steichen said earlier this week that he doesn't have a timetable when it comes to making a decision on who the backup will be. From the outside looking in, it's been difficult to decipher up to this point who has the upper hand in this battle.
That said, Leonard has now had two underwhelming preseason performances and may have to play catch-up over the last week of training camp.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Evaluating Riley Leonard's play in Colts vs. Falcons preseason game
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