Why Shane Steichen didn't bench Jonathan Taylor

DENVER – The worst mistake of Jonathan Taylor’s career didn’t force the team’s star to return to the bench Sunday.

When the Colts took the field for their next offensive series, Taylor was in his usual spot behind Anthony Richardson, and Indianapolis gave the ball to Taylor on three of the four plays the team ran on that series.

After Taylor’s game-changing fumble, some wondered why Colts head coach Shane Steichen didn’t at least temporarily bench Jonathan Taylor to send the message that a stupid mistake like Taylor’s shouldn’t be made.

Steichen spoke to Taylor about the fumble on the sideline, a conversation in which Taylor promised to make up for his mistake.

The Colts head coach decided to stick with him.

“Because he’s one of our guys,” Steichen said Monday. “He’s our go-to guy in the backcourt who we have a lot of faith in and believe in, and we’ve had that conversation on the sidelines. He was our man, so we went back with him.”

The severity of Taylor’s mistake was not lost on Denver. The Colts would have had a commanding 20-7 lead had Taylor scored, and instead they trailed by just six points, giving the Broncos life in a game that Indianapolis had controlled up to that point.

A handful of Broncos offered a tongue-in-cheek thanks to Taylor for the decision, and Denver head coach Sean Payton noted the gravity of the mistake in his response to the play.

“I think this will be difficult for the coach and each of his teammates,” Payton said. “It’s just going to be difficult.” I don’t understand it. I’ll leave it at that. I don’t want to say anything.”

Jonathan Taylor fumbles:“All I know is we were down six points”: Colts RB Jonathan Taylor on fumble at goal line

The Colts have made it clear over the last two months that Taylor is the only running back on the roster that the coaching staff consistently trusts.

Taylor has 145 touches – 136 runs, nine catches – in the seven games since returning from the ankle sprain that cost him three games earlier this season.

His backups Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson had just 13 total touches in those seven games. Sermon carried the ball three times for nine yards and caught seven passes for 39 yards; Goodson has one carry for three yards and two catches for nine yards.

Both Sermon and Goodson had carries on Sunday, along with increased playing time – Taylor played 52 offensive snaps, Sermon 18, Goodson 5 – but any decline in Taylor’s workload seemed to come from the Colts coming from behind in the fourth quarter played, which put the offense into passing mode.

“Of course it hurt us,” Steichen said in his postgame press conference. “But you know, he’s our guy.”

Taylor’s mistake marked the fourth time this season that an NFL player dropped the ball before crossing the goal line, and it wasn’t even the only time it happened on Sunday. Bengals safety Jordan Battle cost himself a touchdown on a fumble return when he made the same mistake as Taylor.

Earlier this season, Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy and Jets wide receiver Malachi Corley made the same mistake.

The Colts had played clips of those errors to the team as a cautionary tale, part of Steichen’s regular habit of pointing out situational errors around the league to the team as a teaching method.

“We’re talking about it,” Steichen said. “I show them to the team, all the clips. We go through them, hold everyone accountable in situations like this and say this can’t happen again in the future and everyone needs to be held accountable. I am responsible for my actions.”

Under Steichen, the Colts have used a wide range of punishments to hold players accountable for their actions.

Indianapolis has benched players, famously using starting quarterback Anthony Richardson for two games earlier this season, to emphasize the importance of preparation. The Colts released players like cornerback Dallis Flowers earlier this year for poor performance. The Colts suspended former cornerback Tony Brown and former wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie for three games last season for misconduct. Indianapolis fined players for tardiness.

There were times when the team made a lineup change mid-game after a player made a mistake, but in most cases those decisions didn’t come until next week.

The Colts also chose to continue playing boys in the same game. The most obvious example of this is Richardson’s decision to score a crucial third down against Houston earlier this season. Richardson played the rest of the game and Colts executives met with Richardson the next day or so.

In this case, the Colts opted to go with Taylor, who made it clear in his postgame press conference that he clearly understood the severity of his mistake.

Related Posts

The Packers receive “good news” about Christian Watson’s knee injury

Flooding, power outages, damage, train delays – NBC Boston

Reijnders: “Milan’s defense is unacceptable, it can’t happen”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply