As we know, the Colts season was a tale of two halves. In the first 10 weeks of the season, this team was an offensive juggernaut. Refusing to punt, scoring at will, and putting up historic numbers.
Then out of nowhere.. they weren’t.
There’s no one singular thing that caused such a dramatic shift in offensive production. Injuries certainly played a role, but the entire team regressed.
I am a firm believer that last session was not a fluke. You don’t stumble into that sort of production on accident.
I don’t care who they played or how bad they looked afterwards. The Colts flashed real potential— one that I believe they can live up to this year.
One player in particular that regressed was Jonathan Taylor. Now to be fair, he put the entire team on his back multiple times in the early part of the season. So while I’m not forgiving his late season regression, it’s only fair that we acknowledge how special a player he is too.
But the Atlanta game exposed some flaws that the Chiefs decided to take advantage of and trickled late into the year.
Pass Protection.
Pass Pro has never been Jonathan Taylor’s strong suit. Of course, you’re paying and relying on guys like 28 to carry the ball and score 3 times a game, not block a LB or Safety off the Edge.
But when you’re insistent on putting him out there on all 4 downs, you pay the price.
When defenses bring pressure, offenses typically lean on one of two philosophies: “throw hot,” where the offense leaves an extra blitzer unblocked and gets the ball out immediately, or keep extra TEs and RBs in protection and trust WRs to win downfield against DBs in coverage. The Colts prefer the latter.
In the early stages of the season, we saw Jonathan Taylor really excel in pass protection, but as the season wore on, that wasn’t the case.
This first clip here actually is pretty decent technique from Jonathan Taylor. Is eyes are up, he’s got a wide base, and he’s square with linebacker. But when he lunges and shoots his hands, that gets him beat.
This is another clip that starts out really nice. The Colts are sliding to the left and do a great job at ID’ing 4 off the edge. But while the sack isn’t necessarily on Jonathan Taylor, his technique does him no favors either. It’s tough because Quenton Nelson is getting a lot of depth to try to pass off this stunt with Tanor Bortolini. That makes it difficult for JT to get square with Kaden Eliss. But by lunging at Eliss, it makes it a lot easier for him to use his hands and evade the rush.
The numbers also really tell a story of an offense that was regressing in their ability to punish pressure.
In September teams blitzed Daniel Jones like crazy. That’s what he struggled to do in New York, so it only made sense that Anthony Weaver and Vance Joseph would roll out the same philosophy. But Shane Steichen and Jones were prepared and both of them paid the price.
Teams stopped blitzing Jones because they knew they would get punished for it.
That was until Jeff Ulbrich blitzed the Colts at 41% Blz/Db. Jonathan Taylor’s struggles in pass pro came to light and Spags took notice. He blitzed at a very similar 36%/Db.
Obviously once Phil Rivers took over and was getting the ball out lightning fast, teams adjusted. But that really hindered the Colts down the stretch.
Teams know that they can bring a pressure (or a simulated pressure) to the side of the RB, similar to how the Texans do here.
They were just going to gamble that Jonathan Taylor wouldn’t win and that they could rattle a hobbling Jones in the pocket. And it somewhat worked.
BOTTOM LINE
Punishing pressure is an 11 man job. Jonathan Taylor’s regression in pass protection is not the sole reason the Colts offense ran stale. It’s also not the reason the Colts missed the playoffs, or even a reason that a possible extension shouldn’t be considered.
Instead I think it points out the need for a quality runningback behind Jonathan Taylor, something the Colts have oddly avoided since Zack Moss left the team in 2023.
Jonathan Taylor has had two solid years of relatively great health. Unfortunately in a violent game, and in a position that is subject to violence on every snap, that is statistically unlikely to happen for the rest of his career.
Despite the game-changing plays, his elite stamina, and how special a player he is, I think it’s about time the Colts consider the amount of snaps he’s taking.
There’s nothing wrong with having a Zack Moss. There’s nothing wrong about a player that can give Jonathan Taylor a well-deserved break
Runningback is an odd position where there’s a small group of elite players that are in a tier of their own. So elite that you’re afraid to take them off the field.
I don’t think the Colts need to be afraid. I think the Colts need to be smart and realize what Jonathan Taylor is, and what he isn’t.
He’s one of the league’s most special runners. He can win you games all on his own. But he’s also a guy who can get lazy with his technique in pass protection and isn’t always going to stick his face in the fire on every snap.
That’s ok. But it’s also ok to put someone on the field who will.
