Insider: The Colts have no reason they didn't give Jonathan Taylor the ball in second half

INDIANAPOLIS -- Jonathan Taylor took a handoff up the middle on the second drive of the game and burst to the second level, only to be met by a host of Saints defenders. So the Colts All-Pro running back put two hands on the ball, lowered his shoulder and powered through them all for five more yards.

He took the very next handoff off the left tackle's hip, made a sharp cut back inside and burst up the sideline for a 42-yard gain.

The crowd was roaring, Taylor was jump-cutting, and the defense didn't have an answer. This felt like old times, with the injuries and the contract standoff smothered somewhere deep in the past. It was Halloween Sunday, and Taylor was dressed up like the man who won the rushing title in 2021, running up and through defenses even when they knew who was getting the ball.

And then, the Colts just stopped giving him the ball.

After an 11-carry first half with 94 yards, Taylor took the handoff on the Colts' first play of the second half and gained a yard. Then he never saw another carry in the 38-27 loss to the Saints.

The Colts ran 28 more plays, but they did not get the ball to No. 28 on any of them. They only ran it five more times; each of those carries went to Zack Moss.

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After the game, it was hard to discern why Taylor went from a focal point of the game plan in the first half to suddenly not a part of it. He was not dealing with any injury situation at any point, coach Shane Steichen said, but he finished with just 12 carries, or one more than Moss. Meanwhile, Gardner Minshew threw 43 passes.

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"In that situation, Zack popped a big one so then, you know, we kept Zack in the game there and just kind of ran the hot hand there," Steichen said. "Then we got in the passing situations towards the end there. That’s what led to it.”

Moss did rip off a third-quarter run up the right sideline for 41 yards on a play the Colts had perfectly blocked, before he was caught from behind. He was playing through heel and elbow issues and had less downhill speed than he normally does, and open-field speed isn't his strength the way churning out tough yards is.

If it's Taylor and his 4.39-second 40-yard dash speed, it's possible he never gets caught until he's in the end zone, and the Colts have a second-half lead. If that happens, Minshew isn't able to throw an interception in the end zone two plays later.

And if that doesn't happen, the Colts aren't in constant passing situations later in the game. They often had Taylor in for those situations, as he out-snapped Moss 43-28, but they went against giving him the ball.

The Colts were trying to stay in a shootout with a Saints team exposing the Colts' lack of outside cornerbacks. As Derek Carr and Taysom Hill ripped off explosive gains to Rashid Shaheed, the Colts couldn't find the same kind of answers, as just one of their 41 pass attempts went for more than 20 yards.

In their current state, with Anthony Richardson and Jelani Woods on injured reserve, their one proven route to generating explosive plays lies in No. 28. He ripped off five runs of 40 yards or more in 2021, back when he won the rushing title and owned three of the top six ball carrier times on the season, according to the NFL's NextGen Stats.

"When I got drafted to Indy, I was like, 'Oh, we've got the best back in the league.' That's how I felt," said tight end Drew Ogletree, whom the Colts drafted following Taylor's rushing title season. "I think we've seen flashes out there of what he can do. He's such a strong runner, so agile and elusive. He can do it all, really."

Explosive plays help decide games. They also live at the core of Steichen's philosophy as a play-caller.

"I think sometimes you try to scheme up explosives and sometimes you hit them and sometimes you don't," Steichen said. "Same thing in the run game; you create some explosives, pop a big run and make a guy miss and that's how some of those are created. But we've got to do a good job creating those and then, obviously, on the flip side, we got to stop them on the other side, giving up the explosives.”

Ever since his historically athletic quarterback went down for the season, the scheming part has gotten more difficult. With Minshew's physical limitations, Steichen has been in a bind between aggressively chasing those explosive plays like the Colts did last week against the Browns and protecting against the nine turnovers that have bitten them the past three weeks.

It's possible the answer to both lies in No. 28. He's fumbled eight times in 46 career games, which, compared to the Colts' current rate as a team, can serve as risk minimization in addition to the potential for the explosive gain. He could also become a way to control the clock, serving as a layer of defense against those passing games they can't handle on the perimeter.

The Colts have been easing Taylor back after he missed nearly a year of practices due to ankle surgery and a contract standoff. But he's been practicing and playing for four weeks without an injury now, and on Sunday, he was the Colts' healthiest running back available.

"Whatever Shane calls, I'm with it," Taylor said.

Moss finished with 11 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown Sunday. He entered the game second in the NFL with 523 yards. He's earned a right to be a part of the offense, and even when Taylor is at peak form, Moss will be a critical component to maintaining the most fresh and explosive version of him.

In an ideal world, it's less of a debate about one versus the other and more of a shared identity, with Taylor leading a 1-2 punch. Getting volume for both runners does fall some on the passing game to hit plays that unclutter the box and on the defense to not fall into so many two-score deficits.

"I think we've got two of the best backs in the league," Ogletree said. "When we're heading downhill, we're a really explosive team, honestly."

This is an imperfect season, faced with questions of youth and health and depth, now facing an uphill battle at 3-5. The Colts have to work with what they have available, and the best piece of it is the one they just paid $26 million guaranteed in order to ride him when times get scary.

Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

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