INDIANAPOLIS — This version of the Colts appears to be immune to the trap.
Facing a Titans team that might be the NFL’s worst, Indianapolis calmly and methodically bludgeoned Tennessee for a 38-14 win on Sunday to retain the NFL’s best record, the fourth time this season the Colts have run over an overmatched opponent.
Indianapolis (7-1) has taken care of business during the easier portion of the schedule, and the Titans (1-7) are lightyears behind them.
Now, the work begins in a November where the Colts won’t see Lucas Oil Stadium again until after the Thanksgiving holiday.
1. Jonathan Taylor’s powers seem to know no bounds.
Taylor has looked like this before, almost completely unstoppable, and it’s difficult to come up with enough ways to describe the attributes that make him a great runner.
For example, Taylor’s patience has drawn rave reviews this season, and it was on display on his first touchdown run on Sunday, pausing almost imperceptibly behind Mo Alie-Cox to keep the Titans linebackers inside, allowing Alie-Cox to latch onto one before Taylor burst to the outside and out-ran everybody else for an 18-yard touchdown run.
Taylor’s balance doesn’t always get enough credit.
It was on full display on the first play of the second half Sunday. Taylor got to the outside, outran Titans safety Xavier Woods even though Woods was already upfield, and then somehow beat the entire Tennessee defense to the end zone while tiptoeing his way down the sideline to stay inbounds.
The Lucas Oil crowd was chanting “MVP” every time Taylor touched the ball Sunday, and outside of the NFL’s predisposition to voting for quarterbacks, it’s hard to disagree halfway through the season.
Is there anything Jonathan Taylor can’t do?
2. On top of everything he’s doing in the running game, Taylor is on pace to have the best receiving season of his career.
Taylor’s 18-yard touchdown in the third quarter, his third of the day, was technically a pass because quarterback Daniel Jones shoveled the ball to Taylor instead of handing it off, and that “catch” feels a little bit like a cheat, given that it was just a new way to get the ball into Taylor’s hands.
But it was Taylor’s 25th catch of the season, putting the Indianapolis superstar on pace for more than 50 catches this year, which would shatter his previous career-high. Taylor set his career bests in the passing game with 40 catches for 360 yards in 2021, an excellent season, but Jones’s ability to make the right read and check it down to the running back has opened up a different way to get Taylor the ball in the open field, where he’s deadly.
3. The last time Taylor looked like this, the Colts had to rely on him for the entire offense.
Jones has taken the pressure off him this season even on days when it hasn’t been perfect.
Indianapolis wasn’t able to connect on a couple of plays on the game’s first series Sunday, leading to a field goal, and the Colts gave up three sacks, half as many as Indianapolis allowed in the first seven games.
When the Colts needed Jones to make plays, though, he was on point, completing 21 of 29 passes for 272 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
None of those throws were bigger than a third-quarter completion to Alec Pierce. Faced with a third-and-14 after a holding penalty, Jones dropped back and launched the ball to Pierce in single coverage against former Indianapolis cornerback Darrell Baker Jr.
Pierce went airborne, shielded Baker with his body and came down with a 50-yard catch to set up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jones to slot receiver Josh Downs.
Remember Michael Pittman?
4. Michael Pittman Jr. might be the unsung hero of the Indianapolis offense this season.
With Taylor starring, Jones surprising the entire NFL and tight end Tyler Warren playing at a Rookie of the Year level, it can be easy to overlook Pittman, the wide receiver who sets a physical tone for the Indianapolis offense.
Pittman caught eight passes for 95 yards and a touchdown Sunday, matching his career high with his sixth score of the season.
This touchdown was his best catch of the year so far. Working down the sideline against Titans cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis, Pittman worked back to the inside for a throw from Jones, leaving Armour-Davis wrenching the left side of Pittman’s body with all his weight.
Pittman made the catch with his right hand instead, using Armour-Davis’s body to pin the ball against his body.
It was the second “concentration” catch Pittman had made in the same drive. Earlier, Pittman had bobbled a throw over the middle, hitting it into the air, staying with the ball as two Tennessee defenders grabbed him and then bringing it in for a first down to keep the drive alive.
Pittman might not have Pierce’s flare for the deep ball, but his toughness is much needed for the Indianapolis offense.
5. The numbers seem pedestrian.
Warren caught four passes for 53 yards on National Tight Ends day, including a 20-yard screen that showcased his ability in the open field.
The fact that a four-catch, 53-yard day — it would put him on pace for 901 yards in a 17-game season — seems “pedestrian” is a sign of how much Warren has improved the Indianapolis tight end situation in his first eight games in the NFL. The Colts finished dead-last in the NFL in catches and yards by tight ends last season, making the selection of Warren an easy one.
Indianapolis has enough weapons that the Colts won’t always have to feature him in the offense.
He’s proven he’ll always be there, picking up key first downs, and he made the kind of contested catch the team has been hoping to see after dropping a ball thrown high by Jones on the opening drive of the game.
6. Second-year center Tanor Bortolini’s work, like Pittman’s has flown under-the-radar this season.
Bortolini’s ascension at the center position, though, is a big reason why the Indianapolis offense has been so good this year, and his otherworldly athletic ability was on display on Warren’s screen. Bortolini is a freakish athlete for the center position — the rest of the COlts offensive line likes to tease him about his combine numbers — and he can be devastating in the open field.
With Warren setting up for a screen, one Titan had a chance to end the play before it had a chance to get going. A charging Bortolini peeled off, took the defender off Warren’s back and allowed the tight end to pick up 20 yards, setting up a key touchdown.
Do the Colts have a pass rush?
7. At first glance, the numbers suggest the Colts pass rush was adequate Sunday.
Indianapolis sacked Titans rookie Cam Ward four times, and the Titans came away with just 14 points.
The problem, though, is that the edge rush did not do enough, once again. Indianapolis got three sacks from defensive tackles: DeForest Buckner, Adetomiwa Adebawore and Neville Gallimore.
The other sack came on a Kenny Moore II blitz. Moore came free off the left edge, forced Ward to step up and into the arms of defensive end Laiatu Latu, who helped Moore bring down Ward for the fourth sack.
Indianapolis needs its edge rush to do more going forward, and that’s why the Colts could be players in the trade market for a defensive end as the deadline approaches.
8. Buckner’s swim move probably doesn’t get enough attention.
Buckner obviously has the height to use the move at 6-7, but it’s the speed that makes it devastating. On his sack Sunday, Buckner’s arms flashed over the Tennessee guard’s head so quickly that he probably felt like he hadn’t touched him at all.
A lot of rushers end up getting tangled with the opponent on the swim move.
Buckner still has plenty of speed after a decade in the NFL, though, and he blew past the Tennessee guard for his team-leading fourth sack of the season, one week after using double swim moves to beat a Chargers double team for the game-clinching sack in Los Angeles.
Adetomiwa Adebawore emerging on defensive line
9. Third-year defensive tackle Adetomiwa Adebawore has developed into an effective pass rusher for Indianapolis.
Adebawore had another sack on Sunday, and outside of Buckner, he’s been the Colt most likely to get quick pressures this season, the kind that lead to sacks and other misplays.
Always undersized, Adebawore has finally learned to use his lack of height for leverage inside. A defensive end at Northwestern, it took him some time to learn to play against the crowded atmosphere inside, but he’s figured it out this season, giving Buckner some much-needed help from the interior.
10. Indianapolis still needs help at cornerback.
That could come from Jaylon Jones, who opened his 21-day practice window to return from injured reserve this week, and almost certainly from a healthy Charvarius Ward.
But the Colts might also need to make an addition at the position in the next couple of weeks. Facing a Titans team that did not have its No. 1 receiver, Calvin Ridley, there were too many receivers running open for Ward, and a more experienced quarterback could have exploited those possibilities to make it a closer game, the kind of games the Colts should expect to play in the second half of the season.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
