What Colts RB said about throwing the ball at the goal line

DENVER – Jonathan Taylor looked at his locker in complete shock.

The running back made the worst mistake of his career in a game the Colts had to make on Sunday night, dropping the ball one step short of the goal line to turn a touchdown into a touchback and the lungs of Denver at one point , at which point the…Broncos should have gasped.

Indianapolis never scored again and imploded the rest of the game in a 31-13 loss, despite the team’s struggling defense putting in its best performance of the season.

Taylor’s fumble was the turning point.

And immediately afterwards, Taylor repeated the same sentence over and over again, taking responsibility for an inexplicable faux pas by telling the truth.

That can’t happen.

“You go through these scenarios, but it just can’t happen,” Taylor said. “No matter what game, no matter what scenario. You can be up by 50, down by 50, playoff game, first game of the season, that should never happen.”

It’s happened before.

Rarely.

Unforgettable.

Eagles superstar DeSean Jackson is the best known, but Pittsburgh tight end Dave Smith did it in 1971, Clemson’s Ray Ray McCloud did it. Two players this season, Chiefs receiver Xavier Worthy and Jets receiver Malachi Corley, have done it. A legendary Packers receiver, Sterling Sharpe, did it once but was able to recover the fumble and still score, effectively removing his name from one of the NFL’s most infamous lists.

Taylor doesn’t seem like the type of player who would make such a mistake.

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Taylor, a smart player who famously could have gone to Harvard, was previously known as a player who was always aware of the situation, looking to the sideline during a game-winning touchdown against New England to see if the coaches needed him just before the end zone.

He didn’t even realize he was fumbling at that moment.

“It wasn’t until they started checking it out,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s fumble would have given the Colts a 20-7 lead and likely sent Denver into some sort of desperation mode with both teams’ playoff lives on the line.

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Indianapolis’ offense was instead sacrificed after Taylor’s faux pas. Veteran wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. fumbled away another series. Colts head coach Shane Steichen called an ill-advised trick play, a throwback from rookie Adonai Mitchell to Anthony Richardson that Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto returned for a 50-yard touchdown to essentially decide the game. Richardson threw an interception, his second of the game.

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Taylor didn’t want to say that his fumble caused all the disaster, preferring to say that his Colts teammates were professionals who could get over his moment of failure.

But the Colts running back was well aware of the magnitude of the mistake.

“All I know is we were down six points,” Taylor said. “I know that if I had crossed the goal line with the ball, we would have had six points more. I don’t know how it would have turned out after that, but I know that we would have had six points more if “I crossed the goal line with that ball.”

Taylor apologized to Steichen and his Colts teammates.

“It was a mistake,” Steichen said. “Of course it hurt us, but you know, he’s one of our leaders, and sometimes that happens in football. “But you know, he’s our guy.”

Taylor didn’t try to explain his reasoning, didn’t try to make excuses.

The Colts running back said it wasn’t even a conscious decision to drop the football to celebrate.

“It’s an accident,” quarterback Anthony Richardson said. “Of course you want points right there. Obviously he wants to get to the end zone, but these things happen. Next time we’ll just have to get through the end zone.”

Both Steichen and Richardson told Taylor to keep going and keep playing.

He tried.

Taylor had 16 carries for 94 yards before the fumble in a 149-yard rushing performance by Indianapolis; After the error, he had just six carries for 13 yards and one catch for four yards.

Afterwards, Taylor vowed to keep going and never let his concentration slip again.

“This will never happen again,” Taylor said. “This has never happened to me before and it will never happen again.”

But he seemed to know that none of those words meant much after a loss in a game the Colts had to have, a game that hinged on his fumble.

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