Stampede Blue
1. Not using Jonathan Taylor in the 2nd half
Jonathan Taylor has been to the Colts what Mariano Rivera was to the Yankees: a closer. He leads the league in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, yards per attempt, first downs and yards per game, and he’s been the number one running back in the NFL in the second half of games when it comes to attempts, yards and scores. The offense digs the grave and he buries the opponent.
On Sunday in Kansas City, the Colts had the game in a perfect “Taylor time” script. They held an 11-point lead in the third quarter on the road against one of the NFL’s best teams — the current third-favourite to win the Super Bowl. Taylor had just been used four times on the drive that stretched the lead to 20–9. With roughly 17 minutes left, it felt obvious what should come next: lean on the closer. This is a back who averages around four touches per game in the fourth quarter even with multiple blowout wins cutting his day short. A rational person would expect Taylor to see at least seven or eight touches to finish off the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
Instead, it played out like the Yankees up 3–1 in the ninth and deciding to stick with Tom Gordon while Mariano Rivera watched from the bullpen. Jonathan Taylor had one touch in the entire fourth quarter.
From there, the collapse was almost inevitable. The Colts had four possessions in the fourth quarter and overtime and went three-and-out on all four of them, running just 12 plays for 13 total yards and burning a laughable 3:14 of clock while trying to protect that lead. Taylor, the league’s leading rusher, had only three carries after the third quarter — two of them went for negative yardage, including the stuff on 3rd-and-1 in overtime that set up yet another punt.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs ran 91 offensive plays to the Colts’ 50 and held the ball for over 42 minutes. By the time Patrick Mahomes was engineering the comeback, Indy’s defense was gassed. The box score will say “23–20 in overtime” and show a ton of Kansas City yards, but that’s only half the story. The other half is the Colts repeatedly handing the ball back to Mahomes without ever asking their closer to close.
You can quibble with individual play calls or missed throws from Daniel Jones, but it all comes back to the same question: how do you build your entire offensive identity around Jonathan Taylor as the finisher… and then not let him finish? In a one-score game, on the road, against a championship team, the Colts left Rivera in the bullpen. And that, more than anything, is how an 11-point lead turned into an overtime loss.
2. Not deferring the ball in overtime
I will never understand taking the ball first in NFL overtime. When you receive first, you immediately put yourself under enormous pressure: you need a touchdown just...
