Redemption song: One week after the `mishap' in Denver, Jonathan Taylor goes nuts on the Titans

Would it be rude to mention the fact the Colts nearly blew a 31-point third-quarter lead? No, it wouldn't. So I did. But mostly, this was about Taylor and the way he bounced back.

The first time he crossed the goal line, Jonathan Taylor cradled the football like a fragile newborn, getting to the “logos and letters” as the coaches like to say, eventually running out the back of the end zone and continuing his glorious jaunt by running into the southwest tunnel. Jonathan Taylor was not going to make the same mistake again, not during Sunday’s closer-than-necessary 38-30 victory over the Titans, not ever. This was a message, to his teammates, to the fans and perhaps to himself: Last week in Denver was a curious anomaly, a bad mistake, probably a playoff-killing error, but this is a great player and a prideful one.

On the way out of the tunnel, backup running back Tyler Goodson tried to pry the football from Taylor’s loving hands – he was trolling -- only to be rebuffed. Taylor was not giving this one up. Not ever.

“We had planned that (running through the tunnel),” Goodson said. “JT told me he was going to do it after the incident last week in Denver. Then he came out of the tunnel and I started ripping at it like I’m trying to take the ball away, and he’s holding it and he’s not giving it up.”

The second time he crossed the goal line – a 70-yard run in addition to his initial 65-yarder -- Taylor entered the end zone and bent forward like he was running through the tape at the finish line. Which was appropriate for a player with world-class sprinter’s speed. We’re talking 4.39 seconds in the 40. He was part JT, part Usain Bolt.

This was a butt-kicking. Until it wasn’t. (More on that later.)

“It’s hilarious because we were out there one time and one of their guys was like, `Oh, it’s a screen,’ and then one of their D-ends was like, `Man, they’re about to give it to Jonathan Taylor. He’s about to run for 300 on us,’ “ tight end Mo Alie-Cox said. “Once he said that, I was like, `Yeah, we got ‘em. They don’t even want to be out there no more.’ ”