It’s becoming more apparent, I think, that the Colts are going to mash some people with the run. While they added Philip Rivers, giving themselves a more capable passer, they also drafted Jonathan Taylor. And there were times last year where they successfully just pounded people on the ground.
Specifically, I think of the Sunday night win at Arrowhead, which reminded me of Kansas City’s loss against New England in the AFC Championship game the previous year. Indianapolis was able to simply grind out a win on that night.
Checking the numbers, I see that there were only 21 games last year were a running back had 25 carries and went over 100 yards. The Colts had three of those games – the only team with two backs on the list.
| 100-YARD RUSHERS WITH 25 CARRIES | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Score | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | HOU | W 35-14 | 32 | 211 | 6.6 | 3 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | BAL | L 13-49 | 30 | 114 | 3.8 | 0 |
| Marlon Mack, Ind. | KAN | W 19-13 | 29 | 132 | 4.6 | 0 |
| Leonard Fournette, Jac. | CIN | W 27-17 | 29 | 131 | 4.5 | 0 |
| Leonard Fournette, Jac. | DEN | W 26-24 | 29 | 225 | 7.8 | 0 |
| Josh Jacobs, Oak. | DET | W 31-24 | 28 | 120 | 4.3 | 2 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | NYJ | L 22-24 | 28 | 105 | 3.8 | 1 |
| Latavius Murray, N.O. | CHI | W 36-25 | 27 | 119 | 4.4 | 2 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | ATL | W 24-10 | 27 | 100 | 3.7 | 0 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | LAC | L 16-17 | 27 | 135 | 5.0 | 1 |
| Chase Edmonds, Ariz. | NYG | W 27-21 | 27 | 126 | 4.7 | 3 |
| Kerryon Johnson, Det. | KAN | L 30-34 | 26 | 125 | 4.8 | 0 |
| Josh Jacobs, Oak. | CHI | W 24-21 | 26 | 123 | 4.7 | 2 |
| Jonathan Williams, Ind. | HOU | L 17-20 | 26 | 104 | 4.0 | 1 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | CLE | W 33-23 | 26 | 162 | 6.2 | 2 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | IND | W 31-17 | 26 | 149 | 5.7 | 1 |
| Carlos Hyde, Hou. | KAN | W 31-24 | 26 | 116 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Carlos Hyde, Hou. | TEN | W 24-21 | 26 | 104 | 4.0 | 1 |
| Marlon Mack, Ind. | LAC | L 24-30 | 25 | 174 | 7.0 | 1 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | NWE | L 13-34 | 25 | 136 | 5.4 | 0 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | DET | W 42-30 | 25 | 142 | 5.7 | 2 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | DET | W 23-20 | 25 | 100 | 4.0 | 0 |
Now they’ve added Taylor, who fell just 23 yards short at Wisconsin of running for 2,000 yards three years in a row. They’re talking about using him in tandem with Marlon Mack (pictured), and that’s a tandem that should gobble up a lot of yards. Indianapolis has one of the league’s best offensive lines.
On draft day, Frank Reich called them a one-two punch. On Monday at the team’s website, offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni called them a “one-one punch”.
"We know we want to run the football. We know a lot of the good running teams in this league and in the past have had good one-two punches," Sirianni says. "It feels like it's just a one-one punch though because we have two such exceptional backs."
They also have Rivers, of course, and in the not too distant past, Frank Reich has had a hand in offenses that have finished with 38 and 39 touchdown passes. But Rivers has had issues in recent years with trying to do too much, forcing passes when under pressure. He’ll have some good games, I imagine, but I think there will be many games where they try to limit his role, relying more on their running game. With Rivers, less could be more.
—Ian Allan