Jonothan Taylor and the run game.

[Frenchy789]

Is it just me or does Jonathan Taylor not inspire confidence? On paper we're supposed to have an elite O-line (well, we did) plus a mobile QB should make for a devastating running attack, what's going on? 16 carries for 48 yards??

 

It may just be an overreaction, he did show in last years finale against the Texans that he's still got it but I feel like we wildly overpaid him based off of the 2021 season. The games he did play in 2022 were fine but the best in the league.

 

We just haven't seen anything even close to that 2021 season, guys like Saquon Barkley and Joe Mixon get paid less and have performed better so far.. 

 

I hope it gets better because he's supposed to be one of our stars, we could have let him go and use the money to sign a corner. 

 

Thoughts?

 

Am I missing something?

 

[indyagent17]

12 minutes ago, Frenchy789 said:

We were outplayed on both sides of the ball. Pitiful effort 

[csmopar]

18 minutes ago, Frenchy789 said:

Is it just me or does Jonathan Taylor not inspire confidence? On paper we're supposed to have an elite O-line (well, we did) plus a mobile QB should make for a devastating running attack, what's going on? 16 carries for 48 yards??

 

It may just be an overreaction, he did show in last years finale against the Texans that he's still got it but I feel like we wildly overpaid him based off of the 2021 season. The games he did play in 2022 were fine but the best in the league.

 

We just haven't seen anything even close to that 2021 season, guys like Saquon Barkley and Joe Mixon get paid less and have performed better so far.. 

 

I hope it gets better because he's supposed to be one of our stars, we could have let him go and use the money to sign a corner. 

 

Thoughts?

 

Am I missing something?

 

JT hasn’t been JT since he got his contract. Which is exactly why I was one of the rare few saying to cut him

[Frenchy789]

Yeah on 2-point conversion, I don't know why he cut back inside and on the 3rd and goal, he just ran right into the O-line melee assuming there would be an opening instead of looking and cutting to the outside where there was no one.

 

I don't want to a couch running back, I know I could never do it and have almost no idea what I'm talking about but the shiftyness he used to have isn't there.. at least today it wasn't!

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Steichen blamed himself for the run game today 

4 minutes ago, csmopar said:

JT hasn’t been JT since he got his contract. Which is exactly why I was one of the rare few saying to cut him

Do you not remember the Texans game last year?

[b a y s k i]

One game.

[Smoke317]

How about Grover Stewart & the run defense?  We had no penetration against the run game all night. Big Grove hasn’t looked the same since the positive test. 

[jvan1973]

I would really like to see AR under center from time to time.   Handing the ball to the back while he is standing still all the time I don't like.    Take advantage of your olines strength.    Take the snap under center, let your oline blast of the ball,  give the ball to Jt with a head of steam.   The Texans utilized the toss and stretch all day.   I'm not sure that can be done effectively being in shotgun every single play. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, jvan1973 said:

I would really like to see AR under center from time to time.   Handing the ball to the back while he is standing still all the time I don't like.    Take advantage of your olines strength.    Take the snap under center, let your oline blast of the ball,  give the ball to Jt with a head of steam.   The Texans utilized the toss and stretch all day.   I'm not sure that can be done effectively being in shotgun every single play. 

I agree 100%.

[jvan1973]

2 minutes ago, Smoke317 said:

How about Grover Stewart & the run defense?  We had no penetration against the run game all night. Big Grove hasn’t looked the same since the positive test. 

Most of the Texans run yards were to the outside.   Buckner and Grove penetraded just to see a toss to the outside.  

[smittywerb]

I think what we saw today was a mix of two things:

 

- lackluster playcalling regarding the run

- bad OL run blocking

 

I need to go back and watch the game but I’d like to see more RPOs.

[Smoke317]

2 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

Most of the Texans run yards were to the outside.   Buckner and Grove penetraded just to see a toss to the outside.  

It was a lot of cutback runs from what I was seeing live.  I can’t remember 1 run where we contacted Mixon in the backfield or made him have to make a guy miss.  Buckner played like a monster though. So maybe the linebackers over pursuing was the problem but it was a problem. Our safeties got punished but they made the stops and didn’t allow house calls. 

[Solon]

I'm not worried about it. Running games rarely come out the gate on fire. It's similar to the Ravens. By week 5, we'll be averaging close to 200 a game on the ground.

[jvan1973]

1 minute ago, Smoke317 said:

It was a lot of cutback runs from what I was seeing live.  I can’t remember 1 run where we contacted Mixon in the backfield or made him have to make a guy miss.  Buckner played like a monster though. So maybe the linebackers over pursuing was the problem but it was a problem. Our safeties got punished but they made the stops and didn’t allow house calls. 

I bet Nick Cross is still in the ice tub.   That kid made some nice stops today,  but Mixon hammerd him a few times.   It's week one.    I was encouraged by some things,  discouraged by others.   I'm excited for ARs development 

[DougDew]

JT seemed to dance more than I remember, but the holes were inconsistent though.  Despite blazing speed, he still seemed to shy away from bouncing much outside and tried to always find something between the hashes.  Its just who he is, IMO. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 minute ago, jvan1973 said:

I bet Nick Cross is still in the ice tub.   That kid made some nice stops today,  but Mixon hammerd him a few times.   It's week one.    I was encouraged by some things,  discouraged by others.   I'm excited for ARs development 

Overall I am not too disappointed by what I seen other than our Run D, Mixon played like Emmit Smith  

[Solid84]

5 minutes ago, Solon said:

I'm not worried about it. Running games rarely come out the gate on fire. It's similar to the Ravens. By week 5, we'll be averaging close to 200 a game on the ground.

The Texans just ran all over us?

[jvan1973]

1 minute ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Overall I am not too disappointed by what I seen other than our Run D, Mixon played like Emmit Smith  

Yeah,  Joe played great today.   I bet Cincy is wishing they kept him.   The Bengals looked terrible today

[Solid84]

I’d like for the Colts to get a RB who can take it outside the tackles, that’s never been JT’s strength. 
 

Not saying we shouldn’t keep JT - we absolutely should - but we need a different style of RB to complement him instead more of the same. 

[azcolt]

55 minutes ago, Frenchy789 said:

Is it just me or does Jonathan Taylor not inspire confidence? On paper we're supposed to have an elite O-line (well, we did) plus a mobile QB should make for a devastating running attack, what's going on? 16 carries for 48 yards??

 

It may just be an overreaction, he did show in last years finale against the Texans that he's still got it but I feel like we wildly overpaid him based off of the 2021 season. The games he did play in 2022 were fine but the best in the league.

 

We just haven't seen anything even close to that 2021 season, guys like Saquon Barkley and Joe Mixon get paid less and have performed better so far.. 

 

I hope it gets better because he's supposed to be one of our stars, we could have let him go and use the money to sign a corner. 

 

Thoughts?

 

Am I missing something?

 

The team probably had to pay him last year but he has been very average since the 2021 season. Running backs get old fast especially when they were as heavily used in college as he was at Wisky. He’s an old 25.

[2006Coltsbestever]

4 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

Yeah,  Joe played great today.   I bet Cincy is wishing they kept him.   The Bengals looked terrible today

Mixon tore us up, Collins is a good WR too. We lost to a very good QB today and a good team.

[azcolt]

7 minutes ago, DougDew said:

JT seemed to dance more than I remember, but the holes were inconsistent though.  Despite blazing speed, he still seemed to shy away from bouncing much outside and tried to always find something between the hashes.  Its just who he is, IMO. 

Blazing speed? I wonder if it still exists.

[csmopar]

20 minutes ago, Smoke317 said:

It was a lot of cutback runs from what I was seeing live.  I can’t remember 1 run where we contacted Mixon in the backfield or made him have to make a guy miss.  Buckner played like a monster though. So maybe the linebackers over pursuing was the problem but it was a problem. Our safeties got punished but they made the stops and didn’t allow house calls. 

We had 3-4 minus 2 yard stuffs

[Smoke317]

3 minutes ago, csmopar said:

We had 3-4 minus 2 yard stuffs

Against Mixon?  I’m seeing 4 TFL’s. They all came on the 4 sacks. Not once did we stop Mixon or much contact him behind the line of scrimmage. 

[Lancer1]

16 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

I’d like for the Colts to get a RB who can take it outside the tackles, that’s never been JT’s strength. 
 

Not saying we shouldn’t keep JT - we absolutely should - but we need a different style of RB to complement him instead more of the same. 

Kinda like when we had Nyheim Hines

[throwing BBZ]

27 minutes ago, DougDew said:

JT seemed to dance more than I remember, but the holes were inconsistent though.  Despite blazing speed, he still seemed to shy away from bouncing much outside and tried to always find something between the hashes.  Its just who he is, IMO. 

 

 There was little to be had running right. Smith got handled and Fries at best holds his own. Our passing looked ineffective pretty quickly so they could continue to sit on the run. 

[Solon]

16 minutes ago, Solid84 said:

The Texans just ran all over us?

It's not their identity. They're a passing team. Defenses are scheming for their passing game. It's different for running teams. You're not coming out the gate averaging 4.5YPC against 8 man fronts. It usually takes a few weeks to get going. Give JT and the oline a few games. They'll find their rhythm sooner than later.

[Smoke317]

It always takes JT a few weeks to get into the flow. Also, once teams start worrying about AR’s running it’ll open more up for JT. Houston committed to stopping JT who has embarrassed them a lot. We just let them off the hook today. Gave up too many rushing yards and left points on field with missed throws and an interception. 

[csmopar]

18 minutes ago, Smoke317 said:

Against Mixon?  I’m seeing 4 TFL’s. They all came on the 4 sacks. Not once did we stop Mixon or much contact him behind the line of scrimmage. 

Yes. NFL dot com play by play has them listed…

[Solid84]

52 minutes ago, Lancer1 said:

Kinda like when we had Nyheim Hines

Yes except we used Hines like we used JT - run him up the gut. 

[ColtsLegacy]

2 hours ago, csmopar said:

JT hasn’t been JT since he got his contract. Which is exactly why I was one of the rare few saying to cut him

 

Lmao, JTs last game prior to today... he only rushed for 188 yards at a 6.3 a pop. He almost carried this team into the playoffs and showed all of his skills are intact.

 

The "JT isn't the same" crew kill me.

[GoColts8818]

AR keeps hitting those deep passes and things are going to open up nicely for Taylor.  Also, with AR Taylor is going to lose runs and yards because of the RPOs they run with AR.  He’s going to keep some runs that would be handoffs to Taylor for other QBs.

[Indianapolis-Colts-Fan]

I’d like to see the QB fake a run by keeping the ball in his hand like Peyton did. The way AR does it with no ball in his hand isn’t fooling anyone, or when he does hand it off and fake a pass also isn’t fooling anyone. 

[csmopar]

29 minutes ago, ColtsLegacy said:

 

Lmao, JTs last game prior to today... he only rushed for 188 yards at a 6.3 a pop. He almost carried this team into the playoffs and showed all of his skills are intact.

 

The "JT isn't the same" crew kill me.

My point is he’s not been consistent. Not sure if it’s just rust or play calling or both

[GoColts8818]

6 minutes ago, csmopar said:

My point is he’s not been consistent. Not sure if it’s just rust or play calling or both

Last year no one feared the Colts deep pass game so they could stack the box.  You could have Payton, Sanders, Smith or any other back of your choice back there and they would have struggles being consistent facing that.

 

Richardson hitting the deep throws is going to open things up for Taylor and the run game if he can do it on a consistent basis.  
 

whatever your think about Wentz he could fling it down the field it’s not an accident Taylor played so well with him at QB than with Ryan or Gardner who teams knew couldn’t get the ball down the field.  

[DougDew]

1 hour ago, azcolt said:

Blazing speed? I wonder if it still exists.

Historically, and adjusting for era. he's fast enough to bounce it outside and turn the corner more so than most other RBs who do/did it successfully. JMO.

[Blueblood23]

3 hours ago, Frenchy789 said:

Is it just me or does Jonathan Taylor not inspire confidence? On paper we're supposed to have an elite O-line (well, we did) plus a mobile QB should make for a devastating running attack, what's going on? 16 carries for 48 yards??

 

It may just be an overreaction, he did show in last years finale against the Texans that he's still got it but I feel like we wildly overpaid him based off of the 2021 season. The games he did play in 2022 were fine but the best in the league.

 

We just haven't seen anything even close to that 2021 season, guys like Saquon Barkley and Joe Mixon get paid less and have performed better so far.. 

 

I hope it gets better because he's supposed to be one of our stars, we could have let him go and use the money to sign a corner. 

 

Thoughts?

 

Am I missing something?

 

He’s very tentative and playing not to get hurt. Not seeing the aggressive type of back he once was. 

[richard pallo]

AR needs to do a better job on his RPO reads.  He gave the ball to JT a number of times when he should have kept it.  The play failed.  

[ColtsLegacy]

9 minutes ago, Blueblood23 said:

He’s very tentative and playing not to get hurt. Not seeing the aggressive type of back he once was. 

 

Absolute nonsense.

[Old Man and the COLTS]

1 hour ago, Solon said:

It's not their identity. They're a passing team. Defenses are scheming for their passing game. It's different for running teams. You're not coming out the gate averaging 4.5YPC against 8 man fronts. It usually takes a few weeks to get going. Give JT and the oline a few games. They'll find their rhythm sooner than later.

It might be their identity , but once they saw we couldn’t stop them the pounded us with the run 

if you can’t stop it why change it 

great adjustment by their coaching staff

 

we ran for the most part off tackle right and that didn’t seem to work nor did I see any adjustment