Typically we will hand out just one player of the game award, but this week, we went with two following the Indianapolis Colts win over the Chicago Bears.
With a two-interception performance, cornerback Jaylon Jones was the defensive player of the game, while on offense, it was Jonathan Taylor who again eclipsed 100 yards on the ground.
In this game, there was a much more noticeable effort to get Taylor the ball. After carrying the ball 28 total times in Weeks 1 and 2, Taylor had 23 carries in this week’s game alone.
And as he often does, Taylor made the most of his touches, rushing for 110 yards and two touchdowns. For those without a calculator, that’s an average of 4.8 yards per rush and included a 29-yard touchdown run.
There were a few runs where Taylor’s elusiveness and ability in the open field were on full display.
However, going beyond the stat sheet, Taylor’s presence and performance in the run game provided the offense with some needed stability.
With the short and intermediate passing games again struggling to find any sort of consistency, the Colts were having issues sustaining drives.
Despite the defense’s ability this week to stop the Bears’ run game and get off the field on third downs, the Colts lost the time of possession battle by over 10 minutes.
Having Taylor to lean on at least helped take some burden off the passing game, by putting the offense in some more manageable down-and-distances.
The ups and downs from Richardson in the early going are to be expected. However, one way to provide him some added support is to continue leaning heavily on Taylor and the run game.