10 Colts thoughts on Anthony Richardson's injury, Jonathan Taylor's return and a win

[JAFF]

10 Colts thoughts on Anthony Richardson's injury, Jonathan Taylor's return and a win over the Titans

INDIANAPOLIS - Ten thoughts on the Colts' 23-16 win over the Titans at Lucas Oil Stadium to improve to 3-2:

1. The Titans came in here having owned this rivalry in recent years, with five straight wins and some losses that have sent members of Colts brass into fits of fury. But it was the first chance for Shane Steichen's team to go up against the former bully, and they took them down by playing Tennessee's game − by running it down their throats, playing mistake-free at the quarterback position and dominating the short-yardage situations on defense, culminating in Julian Blackmon's interception of Ryan Tannehill to seal the win.

This was an emotional day, with Jonathan Taylor's activation under a new contract extension and the fear that came when Anthony Richardson left the game with an arm he couldn't move.


2. The major concern here is whether Richardson will be available for fans to see this great tandem, which I believe shared exactly one play before Richardson left with a shoulder injury.

The injury was scary, as Richardson had a defender fly on top of him as he was finishing a designed run in the second quarter. He began tapping his right throwing shoulder as he lay on his back on the turf, and the trainers seemed hesitant to touch it. He walked slowly off the field before dropping to his knees, and then he walked to the blue injury tent and then to the locker room, the whole time with his right arm dangling and his head leaning down and to the right, as if pulling in any way would create a problem.


We'll hear an update on that injury soon, but it obviously doesn't look good. And now, that marks three times in his first four games that Richardson left a game due to an injury concern. Two of the three were basic football plays, which might make things more concerning. For being so big − now around 255 pounds − Richardson takes a lot of tough hits, and injuries are unfortunately becoming a big part of his profile.

3. So, let's get into the Jonathan Taylor contract a bit. It comes as a surprise given that Chris Ballard and Jim Irsay both indicated that they did not plan to make Taylor an offer this season, but this is what a resolution looks like. In almost all other standoffs involving a star player, the result is either a new contract or a trade. See: Lamar Jackson, Tyreek Hill, Deebo Samuel, Aaron Rodgers, Zack Martin ...


Drive-by-drive:Moss powers Colts over Titans after Richardson leaves with injury

Taylor was eligible to come off the PUP List this week, and the Colts obviously wanted him back for a team in a four-way tie in the AFC South and with some real upside at quarterback. Taylor needed to come back in some form, but to ensure he's locked in and that this isn't an ongoing distraction, they needed to reach an extension or trade him. They'd put off that ultimatum for as long as they could, but it was time to pick a lane with Taylor, and they did it in a way that makes a lot of people rather happy.


4. We will see how this deal plays out long term, but in the short-term, I think this is a situation where everyone can win.

Taylor obviously won by getting paid $14 million a year, the third-highest average annual salary for running backs behind only Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara. More importantly, he earned $26.5 million guaranteed and has a multi-year home, so he doesn't have to step so nervously considering how running back deals go these days.

Colts players won, as they add an All-Pro player and get to see the stress level subside. In particular, Anthony Richardson is a big winner by gaining someone in the backfield to take hits in the run game and draw defensive attention away from him in the option game.

5. But the Colts front office and ownership also won in a way, too. It took some swallowing of pride, as Irsay acknowledged in a teleconference Saturday that the deal happened earlier than he wanted. But signing Taylor was always their most realistic path to adding an explosive weapon. We didn't get to see that guy enough last year, between the high-ankle sprain and the lack of lanes to run in, but he owned three of the top six ball-carrier running speeds in the NFL, according to NextGen Stats.

And now, in theory, he gives the Colts two players in the same backfield who measure at least 225 pounds and can run a sub-4.45 40-yard dash. Good luck finding another one of those pairings in NFL history.

What this move really does is tell the Colts players that the front office believes they are closer than they initially thought, and they aren't going to hold a major card like this back just because they said they might. Irsay and Ballard ultimately lost the negotiation, but they can win in the team-building process. And that's the only score that's going to really matter.

6. Shane Steichen made a gutsy call to go for it on 4th-and-1 from inside the 5 and 15 seconds left in the first half and no timeouts. I normally am in favor of taking the points in this situation, as you don't benefit from pinning the other team deep if you miss headed to halftime. With Richardson out, points should feel more at a premium, though that might also be a reason to take the touchdown if you can dial it up.

Steichen made a good call, running play-action with Taylor and leaking Kylen Granson into the flat on a roll out. Granson was wide open, but Minshew had a rusher in his view and looked like he tried to aim the ball and missed Granson because it didn't have enough air under it.

It's one of those plays that's great in theory, but it's banking on execution in the throw and the catch. And that's not always a given.

7. This was a great game for the Colts offensive line, even without Bernhard Raimann. They created some nice pockets for Richardson and Minshew, including one that allowed Richardson to loft the ball to Josh Downs on a 25-yard flag route.

They were most impressive in the run game, of course. The interior trio of Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly and Will Fries did work against a Titans front missing starting nose tackle Teair Tart, which paved lanes for Zack Moss to have the best game of his career. Moss' 56-yard run was so well-executed that it looked like the Red Sea parted, and he sprinted the rest of the way untouched, looking back for defenders who weren't there.

8. Props to Moss for delivering again, even with Taylor entering the mix. He turned in 23 carries for 165 yards and two touchdowns and just looked fresher than he had since he was thrown into the fill-in bell-cow role in Week 2.

He'll be a key piece this season as a complement to Taylor. Irsay said on Saturday that the Colts will be easing Taylor in over the next month, and Sunday played to that script, as Taylor saw six carries and one catch and few snaps beyond those touches.

But beyond the acclimation process, Moss can also be a short-yardage player and a pass protector, which saves Taylor for heavy carries.

9. DeAndre Hopkins roasted the Colts for eight catches for 140 yards, and that's just how it's likely to go with these young Colts cornerbacks. The No. 1 wide receivers have been too much this year, from Calvin Ridley to Tank Dell to Puka Nacua to Hopkins, and with Dallis Flowers out for the year, there aren't likely many answers coming through that door without a trade.

The Colts started Jaylon Jones on the outside, opposite JuJu Brents, with Darrell Baker Jr. active but not playing much. It was a time to give Jones some run after Baker's early struggles, and the seventh-round rookie fit fine, but his rookie struggles are likely to come.

It's going to add weight to two areas of this Colts defense beyond the pass rush: It'll be on Shaquille Leonard to bounce back to the Maniac form to force turnovers and survive the pass plays they give up; and on safeties Julian Blackmon and Rodney Thomas II to cover up for those cornerbacks with better impact plays, like the Seattle-style defense is designed.

10. Zaire Franklin and DeForest Buckner blew up the Titans' fourth-down stretch run by Derrick Henry, which is just par for the course for what those two have become together over the past year since Franklin found a starting spot. This team is so hard to run on in traditional formats, which is what teams trust to execute on third- and fourth-and-short.

They'll get bit occasionally by a quarterback draw like Lamar Jackson's or a well-designed end-around like the one Tajae Spears took up the right sideline for a 19-yard touchdown. But if Kwity Paye and Samson Ebukam are available to set the edge, the Colts will force too many opponents into the fire that is Buckner and Franklin, with Grover Stewart also eating guards, and that is this team's biggest strength.