Jonathan

Taylor

He took all but one running back snap for the Colts in a must-win divisional game. Taylor’s biggest play was a 33-yard screen catch with plenty of offensive linemen out front. He didn’t hit the big run, and the Texans were able to stuff him a few times, with six carries for one yard or less on the day, including a minus-5 yard run in the red zone that basically forced a Colts field-goal attempt. The Jaguars await in Week 14, and Taylor is too good to take off the RB1 line, but the past few weeks have shown that teams will sell out to stop him and take their chances with Daniel Jones.

Kansas City sold out to stop Taylor on early downs and let Daniel Jones try to beat them with his arm on third downs. That resulted in Taylor’s second-worst game of the year by rushing yards and left him with just 3.6 yards per carry. Jones, in turn, posted his worst game by both passing yards (181) and averaged 5.8 yards per attempt. Taylor’s box score today is eerily similar to his box score from the Colts’ Week 9 loss to the Steelers. Pittsburgh bullied Jones and managed to keep Taylor in check, effectively shutting down the Colts’ offense. The blueprint appears to be set for stopping the Colts. Even if the team isn’t as successful in the back half of the season, Taylor is going to get fed and remains a home run threat on every play. He will remain at the top of the running back ranks for his Week 13 date with Houston.

Taylor was stifled by the Steelers in Week 9, running for a season-low 45 yards in a loss. He took out his frustrations against the Falcons with a historic performance, highlighted by an 83-yard sprint to the end zone late in the fourth quarter to give the Colts the lead. The game eventually made its way into overtime, where Taylor put a bow on his blowup with an eight-yard touchdown to bring home the win. This is Taylor’s fourth game of the year with three rushing touchdowns and his fifth with three touchdowns in total. It goes down as a career-high in scrimmage yards for Taylor, who is now the frontrunner for the Offensive Player of the Year award. As you may have guessed, Taylor will sit atop the RB1 ranks when he returns from Indy’s Week 11 bye.

Fresh off back-to-back three-touchdown performances, Taylor found little room to operate in Sunday’s defeat. Taylor’s longest play of the game came on a nine-yard run in the third quarter, but the Colts’ six turnovers put a cap on any potential scoring opportunities for the bell cow back. Taylor saw Daniel Jones dive into the end zone for a one-yard score on the team’s opening possession, and the lone garbage time touchdown the Colts scored went to Josh Downs on a four-yard throw. it was a disappointing game for all involved, but Taylor will obviously be on the RB1 radar next week when the Colts face the Falcons in Germany.

The receiving touchdown was a short shovel pass that was essentially a run. Taylor simply ran all over the Titans all game long, and they had no answer for him. He has now become the first player in NFL history to score three touchdowns in three straight games against the same team. If we were drafting fantasy leagues again, Taylor would probably be the number one overall pick, and all you’re doing is crossing your fingers for continued health at this point.

Taylor made a habit of breaking off long gains on runs up the middle, bullying the Chargers’ defensive front from start to finish. He touched the ball four times on the Colts’ opening five-play drive, which culminated in his first touchdown of the day and eighth of the season, at which point the broadcast announced Taylor had set the record for the most rushing touchdowns through the first seven games in franchise history. Taylor then went on to score two more times on the ground. He is an elite RB1 against the Titans next week.

Taylor remains one of the most consistent workhorse backs in the league, gashing the Cardinals for 5.9 yards per carry. He was constantly turning short gains into long ones and was available as Daniel Jones’ outlet pass-catching option. Taylor scored the go-ahead touchdown on a toss play from the one-yard line in the fourth quarter and sealed the game with a 16-yard rush on the Colts’ last drive. The 26-year-old handles nearly all of the Colts’ backfield touches and scores touchdowns, despite Daniel Jones’ rushing ability vulturing some of that opportunity. Taylor is a definitive RB1 for Week 7 against the Chargers.

Taylor’s latest mammoth fantasy effort came despite resting for the majority of the fourth quarter and losing a two-yard score to Ameer Abdullah when he was still in the game. Healthy with Daniel Jones raising the level of the Colts’ entire offense, Taylor is back in RB1 overall mode after last year’s excellent campaign had him in “just” the RB3-5 range. Now up to seven total scores, Taylor has a home date with the Cardinals on tap for Week 6.

Taylor had a long touchdown taken off the board on a holding penalty from Adonai Mitchell that didn’t really effect the play, and unfortunately that wasn’t even the biggest mistake from Mitchell in this game. Taylor didn’t find a ton of room against the Rams’ stout front, but was able to put together close to 100 total yards, and again, should have had a touchdown. Expect Taylor to find the end zone a time or two against the Raiders in Week 5.

It was actually a bad break for fantasy managers Taylor touched the ball “just” 20 times in a game where the Colts put up 41 points, but he made up for it with the third three-touchdown effort of his career. It was also some overdue scoring regression after he managed only one touchdown across Weeks 1 and 2. The highlight was his 46-yard scoring run in the third quarter, where Taylor broke several tackles, busted out a spin move, and high stepped away from the defense en route to the house. Looking as good as he ever has in the best overall offense he has been a part of in Indianapolis, all Taylor has to do to remain in the top five on a weekly basis is stay healthy. A Week 4 road trip to Los Angeles to face a feisty Rams defense will be a telling measuring stick for where this offense actually is moving forward.