Jonathan Taylor drops the ball out of the end zone in the Colts’ loss

DENVER – Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor crossed the goal line and began a happy dance to celebrate his apparent 41-yard touchdown. He then moved to the sidelines where the celebration continued.

Then everything abruptly stopped.

Taylor’s targeted score, which would have given the Colts a two-TD lead in their crucial matchup with the Denver Broncos, was reviewed and ultimately overturned when officials ruled he had let go of the football before the ball crossed the goal line.

The ball then went out of bounds in the end zone, which according to the rule was a touchback. The Colts (6-8) never recovered, Denver (9-5) scored the final 24 points of the game and solidified its playoff position with a 31-13 win.

“It just can’t happen, no matter what game, no matter what scenario,” Taylor said later. “You could have 50 points more, 50 points less, playoff game, first game of the season. This should never happen.”

Taylor said he didn’t know what happened until long after the play ended.

“I didn’t know until they started checking,” he said. “I think, ‘Why are they checking it?'”

Taylor’s play was emblematic of a game in which the Colts made an endless series of mistakes, all leading to a loss that put them in a difficult position in the AFC playoff race. The Colts committed five turnovers, had eight penalties and suffered some key errors in punt coverage that led to points for the Broncos.

“Sometimes someone tries their best and the best just wasn’t good enough,” Taylor said. “But when you hurt yourself like that, it hurts.”

The Colts were trying to close the gap between themselves and the Broncos for the seventh and final postseason spot in the conference. Instead, the Broncos moved up to sixth place and the Colts remain in eighth place, now two games behind the seventh-place Los Angeles Chargers. Indianapolis hasn’t made the playoffs since 2020.

As for Taylor’s blunder, even the Broncos were confused.

“That was significant,” Denver coach Sean Payton said. “I don’t understand it. I’m not going to try…You go from breaking up a long touchdown run for your team to us having the ball.”

Broncos safety Brandon Jones, who failed to stop Taylor on the play, felt some relief.

“I took a bad angle and didn’t get it to the ground,” he said. “So I was upset with myself. And then seeing that happen in hindsight was a good thing. Big swing.”

The Colts’ other notable play was a failed punt that led to a 50-yard touchdown by the Broncos.

With 12:29 remaining and the Broncos leading 17-13, Colts coach Shane Steichen asked quarterback Anthony Richardson to pass across the field to wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, who then tried to get back to Richardson. But Mitchell’s decision backfired when linebacker Nik Bonitto read the play and stepped in front of Richardson to intercept the ball. As a sideline player, the play was ruled a fumble, and Bonitto’s subsequent score was technically a fumble recovery.

“I don’t think he saw the guy, to be completely honest,” Steichen said of Mitchell. If the discard wasn’t available, Steichen said, the instruction to Mitchell was to “throw it away.”

“We repeated this play all week and it was great,” Steichen said. “It looked great all week.”

However, the Colts’ poor execution may have given the Broncos a hint that something was up.

“It was a play that was kind of slow to develop, so I knew something was strange,” Bonitto said. “When I saw Richardson give in a little bit, I decided to try and stop.”