Dopey Report Card (Colts-Saints)

Who made Jonathan Taylor disappear? Why hasn't Chris Ballard built out any depth in the secondary? What is Shane Steichen thinking? These questions and more...

(Writer’s Note: Excuse the lack of a game column off the Colts-Saints game. I was under the weather last night. I checked with the boss (that’s me) and decided to hold off writing until today. My apologies.

RUN OFFENSE

Midway through the third quarter Sunday, I turned to my press box neighbor, The Athletic’s James Boyd, and asked him, “Is JT hurt?” He had to be nicked up, right? After a spectacular first half (specifically first quarter), Shane Steichen and his staff made Taylor disappear. After the first quarter, he touched the ball five times. In the second half, Taylor touched the ball twice. TWICE! One carry, one reception. And it happened in a game that was a one-possession spread until early in the fourth quarter. That is blatant malpractice. You’ve got one of the highest paid offensive lines in the league, the third highest-paid running back in the league, and you don’t use him? Meanwhile, the Saints, who employ the second-highest paid running back in the league (Alvin Kamara), found a way to get the ball in his hands 21 times (17 rushes, four receptions). If you’re not going to use Taylor, who is presumably all the way back from his, um, injury, why pay him a king’s ransom? And am I the only one who’s noticed that when JT gets hot, he gets subbed out, but when Zack Moss breaks one off, he stays in the game? Worse yet, New Orleans had a flu bug go through their team this week; why wouldn’t you take advantage and continue running the ball and wearing them down in the second half? The coaching grade? We’ll get to that. But it isn’t pretty.

GRADE: B+ (they ran for 164 yards, which is good, but forgot Taylor was on the roster, which is bad)

RUN DEFENSE

The Colts have now given up 37 or more points in three straight games, the first time they’ve accomplished that feat(?) since 2001. It’s just the third time in the team’s Indy history they’ve done that. The Saints, who came into the game with a sputtering offense, rushed 36 times for 161 yards. It doesn’t help the Colts don’t have a nose tackle (Grover Stewart and Ed Johnson were out), but there’s enough talent here (we think) that they should never be allowing those kinds of numbers. If this doesn’t improve, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who had Tony Brown Jr. covering Rashid Shaheed one-on-one on a third-and-13 late in a one-score game, will be looking elsewhere for gainful employment. Again, New Orleans came in searching for a semblance of offense. Well, they found it, courtesy of the Colts.

GRADE: D