Stampede Blue
The Indianapolis Colts were up 20-9 against the Kansas City Chiefs, and their defense had just recovered a timely Kareem Hunt fumble with 14:48 left in the 4th quarter near their own 17-yard line—thwarting yet another potential KC touchdown scoring drive.
It appeared as though the Colts were poised to deny Patrick Mahomes yet another win versus the Horseshoe—and remain the only NFL franchise that he has yet to beat in his future potentially GOAT career.
Armed with a double-digit lead, the best running back in football, and around a quarter left boasting a Colts defense that’s theoretically built to defend the pass (with two former All-Pros now at outside cornerback), you’d have to realistically like Indy’s chances against a struggling .500 Chiefs team entering the afternoon.
Yes, the Hall of Fame pairing of Mahomes and all-time great head coach Andy Reid is still plenty dangerous, but prime Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill aren’t coming through that door for Kansas City anymore. The reeling Chiefs were ripe for the picking at Arrowhead late in this one, with the sun beginning to set.
It’s not as though the Colts league-leading offense wouldn’t score again either, until well, they didn’t the rest of the way.
The Colts offense beginning early in that 4th quarter and overtime went three and out on their last four straight possessions, and during that surprising offensive drought, star workhorse Jonathan Taylor only ran the ball one time in regulation (excluding the last drive in overtime, which it should’ve never gotten to that point quite frankly).
Now don’t get me wrong, Chiefs veteran defensive coordinator Steve Spagnulo clearly made it a top priority to stop Taylor, who was largely kept in check, rushing for 58 total rushing yards on 16 carries—and he was really only able to break off a 27-yard run with around 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter to set up a converted Colts’ 23-yard field goal, which made up a large chunk of that rather pedestrian rushing output.
However, the Colts offense runs through Indianapolis’ bona fide NFL MVP candidate at running back. The Colts run the ball to set up the pass, and everything plays off Taylor and the offensive line’s success up front for what Jones and Co. otherwise do offensively. More often than not, it’s been a recipe for success so far this season.
Not only do you have to run the ball to give your best offensive player touches and keep him within the rhythm and flow of the offense—and force the opposing defensive coordinator to guess and refrain from being one dimensional, but also because we’ve seen time and time again this year, Taylor deliver routine body shots to the opposing defense through repetitive carries over the course of the game—only to finally deliver a TKO blow and break one off late in the game to win the game. He wears teams down, and he only needs a sliver of daylight to take the ball to the house at...
