Colts set franchise rushing record behind Jonathan Taylor’s phenomenal performance

“I think everything was kind of clicking there and those are hard to come by sometimes in this league, but the guys up front offensively were just rolling,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said.

What a difference a week makes, right?

The Indianapolis Colts were firing on all cylinders during Sunday’s 38-30 victory to secure the season sweep over the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee (3-12) took its only lead midway through the first frame once quarterback Mason Rudolph threw a 38-yard TD pass to receiver Calvin Ridley. The Colts responded with a season-high 38 straight points, including five consecutive scoring drives. Indy set a single-game franchise record with 335 team rushing yards, engineered behind running back Jonathan Taylor’s phenomenal performance with a season-best 218 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries.

“It shows the level of trust that he has,” Taylor said. “But that comes from the week of practice. Then of course ultimately that comes from executing in the game. But the week of practice, executing in the game and him knowing, like, ‘Okay, these guys have put the work in. I see that they’re executing at a high level. We are going to roll with it’”

Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson retaliated with a 29-yard run to breach the red zone. Three plays later, Kylen Granson motioned to the right, then reversed course to block alongside left guard Quenton Nelson and lead Richardson for his sixth rushing TD to tie it up, passing Andrew Luck to set a new franchise record for rushing TDs by a QB. Richardson completed 7-of-11 passes for 123 passing yards and added a career-high 70 rushing yards on nine carries, averaging 7.8 yards per carry.

Indianapolis (7-8) dominated the trenches as Tennessee’s defense was as soft as gift wrapping paper. One week after making perhaps the most critical mistake of his NFL career, Taylor posted a career day and broke free on a pair of explosive runs for 65 and a season-high 70-yards to ignite the second half. Midway through the second quarter, Taylor broke loose for a 65-yard TD to give the Colts a 14-7 lead, holding onto the football past the end zone and sprinting into the tunnel. With his sixth rushing TD, Taylor surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season for the third time in his five-year career. It was the third-best performance in a single game from a Colts running back in franchise history.

“I think everything was kind of clicking there and those are hard to come by sometimes in this league, but the guys up front offensively were just rolling,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said. I mean it was rolling. I mean we were popping the big ones, and we were close on a few other ones too. So, we knew it was there and obviously we popped up there. So, it was good for our guys to bounce back the way they did after last week.”

Facing third-and-3 in the final minute of the first half, Richardson connected with receiver Josh Downs on a bubble screen, then Downs walked a tightrope and raced down the sidelines into the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 24-7 before halftime. Downs led the Colts with three receptions for 61 receiving yards.

The Colts stymied the Titans rushing attack to just 65 rushing yards on 22 carries, 2.9 yards per carry. Indy’s defense collected three interceptions for the second consecutive week, including two picks from cornerback Kenny Moore II, with the latter to seal the win on the final play. Rudolph found Colts cornerback Samuel Womack III on consecutive plays, but ‘shutdown Sammy’ stepped out of bounds on the first catch, then made a highlight reel play on the very next snap, ensuring the ball does not lie. The Titans eventually stormed back to make things interesting with three TD drives in the final 18 minutes as the Colts essentially let their foot off the gas.

Indianapolis takes its second trip to MetLife Stadium next Sunday to face the New York Giants (2-13).