Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor had another 100-yard performance on Sunday against the Bills. This is now his fourth 100-plus-yard game in seven appearances this season.
After being bottled up the week prior in Minnesota, Taylor rushed for 114 yards versus Buffalo on 21 carries, averaging 5.4 yards per attempt.
While the overall numbers for Taylor look great, it was a very boom-or-bust performance from him. Of Taylor’s 21 carries, three of them accounted for 93 of his yards, with rushes of 58, 13, and 22 yards.
The Bills would adjust well as the game went on, despite giving up some big runs early. As noted by ESPN’s Stephen Holder, Taylor rushed for 107 yards on 16 carries in the first half. But then in the second half, Taylor carried the ball just five times for seven yards.
“They started bringing some pressures, some run stunts,” said Shane Steichen post game. “But we’ll go back and look at it. Obviously JT had some big runs early. Popped a big one to start the game down the boundary. Tried to come back to that one again.”
Although the Colts were trailing in the second half, it was just a one score game until 10:28 left in the fourth quarter. So getting away from the run game, which is something the offense can hang its hat on at this time, is something that shouldn’t have happened.
But situationally speaking, the Colts did try to run the ball early on those second half drives, but with the Bills bottling up Taylor, it resulted in numerous long down-and-distance situations where Indianapolis felt obligated to pass the ball, which obviously wasn’t working well.
From there, the inability to move the sticks when behind the chains resulted in short possessions and quick punts, further hurting the Colts’ ability to run the ball.
Could the Colts have been more persistent in the run game in the second half? I think you can say that. However, in today’s NFL, relying solely on the run game to be your offense is also a tough way to live.
Credit the Bills for making adjustments that slowed Taylor and without the Colts having a passing game to help shoulder the workload on offense, that’s a lot to overcome.
