The Colts left the door open for a Patriots comeback on Saturday night. But that was until Jonathan Taylor closed the show.
Needing a first down or two with a three-point lead and a little over two minutes to play, Taylor instead ripped off a 67-yard touchdown run to help put the game out of reach and secure a 27-17 victory over the Patriots.
"I think it just says that we're a team that's gonna come in, wherever we're at -- home or away -- we're going to play 60 minutes, four quarters of hard-nosed football," Taylor said in the postgame interview on NFL Network. "And we're not going to let up, we're going to continue pressing until the clock strikes zero."
Taylor's final run of the night concluded a 170-yard rushing night for the stellar second-year back, who averaged 5.9 yards per carry off 29 attempts.
The late-inning home run also kept Indianapolis in the AFC South chase with the Tennessee Titans and moved the Colts up one spot within the playoff picture, where they currently sit at the No. 5 seed.
The Colts put it on the Patriots in the first half, going into the locker room with a 20-0 lead having dominated on defense and scoring a TD on a blocked punt. Patriots quarterback Mac Jones made several miscues early on but rallied back in the second half thanks to mistakes by his contemporary Carson Wentz, whose second-half interception helped spur a comeback.
Wentz completed just 5 of 12 pass attempts for 57 yards (TD, INT) on the night, but the scare of what would've been a harrowing letdown was quickly forgotten by virtue of Taylor's 67-yard scamper.
Said Taylor: "It was just an all-out effort -- offense, defense, special teams -- being able to come together and play a complete game."
Taylor leads the league with 1,518 rushing yards and 18 total TDs (16 rushing, two receiving), and is closer to achieving Colts history with three games remaining. Taylor now needs just 192 rushing yards to eclipse the single-season franchise record of 1,709 yards set by Edgerrin James, who applied that mark in his second season (2000).
Chants of "MVP" resonated in Lucas Oil Stadium as Taylor walked off the field. But all the 22-year-old could really think of was getting the Colts into the playoffs as they approach the final three-game stretch that begins in Arizona on Christmas Day.
"It's just a blessing that people feel as though my name should be in that conversation," Taylor said. "The only thing that's on my mind is to continuously be available for my team each and every single week. Because it's going to take our best every week in order to win these games."
