2. Jonathan Taylor played a complete game – and that’s not about how many snaps he played.
Taylor was on the field for 66 of the Colts’ 71 offensive snaps against Denver, and that’s not just because he’s a workhorse running back who ripped off 165 yards on 25 carries (6.6 yards/attempt). Taylor’s impact on the Colts’ passing game was significant against the Broncos on Sunday, both when he was thrown the ball and when he had to stay home in pass protection.
Colts head coach Shane Steichen and his offensive coaching staff clearly picked up something with Denver’s defense having issues covering running back targets out of the backfield, and those were exploited twice in big spots on Sunday. The first was a third-and-two swing pass, where Taylor motioned from the field (to the left of Jones) to the boundary; as Taylor jetted toward the sideline, Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton got briefly tangled up with safety Brandon Jones, leaving Taylor wide open for a catch-and-run gain of 43 yards.
Then, on first-and-goal on the seven-yard line late in the second quarter, all 11 Broncos defenders were between the near-side hashmarks and far-side numbers when Jones released a pass to Taylor, who caught it wide open by the near-side numbers for a walk-in touchdown.
“A lot of times they would leave the backs out in the flat, but also (we were) able to capitalize on things they wanted to give us,” Taylor said. “A lot of times with some defenses, if there’s something they want to leave as not as important or say hey, that’s our last point of emphasis or concern, you gotta make them pay.”
Taylor, too, shined in pass protection for the second consecutive week against an aggressive, blitz-heavy defense.
He hung back in pass protection six times, per Pro Football Focus, and his vision and toughness led to him being in the right spot on those plays – on which Jones completed five of six attempts. One big-time play: Taylor worked to his left to pick up Singleton, who was blitzing into the B-gap (between guard Quenton Nelson and left tackle Bernhard Raimann), and give Jones a clean pocket to launch a one-on-one deep ball to Pierce, who hauled it in through pass interference for a gain of 44 yards.
“I thought he did some really good things,” Steichen said. “They brought a lot of pressure there. I thought he stepped up, fit up his blocks pretty darn good. So that was good to see from that standpoint. Obviously, ran the ball hard, but the pass protection was pretty solid when he had to make his one-on-one blocks there.”
Taylor’s 79.4 Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade through two weeks is 10th-highest among running backs; among running backs with 10 or more pass pro snaps, it’s second-highest. After Sunday’s game, though, Taylor credited Jones with consistently getting him in the right positions – he said Jones has done a good job echoing the offensive line’s protection calls, which has kept him and the line on the same page against the blitz-happy Dolphins and Broncos.
“(Jones being) that bridge between the O-line and the running back room is definitely helpful,” Taylor said.