Originally Posted by nate505 (Post 212624)

I've never seen a guy whiff on a player more than Dam did on Taylor. Holy fuck looking at his comments about him is pure gold.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm (Post 212625)

Maybe really early in the season, but there is no excuse for JT only getting 16 carries against the Tits and 15 against the Ratbirds (for 70 and 53 yards respectively). Especially against the Tits since losing that game pretty much eliminated our chances at the division.

Originally Posted by apballin (Post 212616)

So instead of relying on the beast RB and a unhealthy line let’s rely on an unhealthy QB behind that line???

I call bullshit, Reich was overthinking things in the early games but it’s water under the bridge now

Originally Posted by albany ed (Post 212576)

It's true that Taylor needs the ball 25 times a game. The lack of carries early had a lot to do with a very unhealthy OL. It's really only in the last few games that the line has been so dominant. They still need to get better on pass blocking, but the holes they've been opening up are stellar and Taylor knows how to find them.

Originally Posted by nate505 (Post 212624)

I've never seen a guy whiff on a player more than Dam did on Taylor. Holy fuck looking at his comments about him is pure gold.

Originally Posted by IndyNorm (Post 212631)

No doubt lol! Of course Dam will be on here claiming how he was right b/c Taylor fumbled a game away against Balt last year. Even though it happened in the first quarter, and it was his only fumble his entire rookie season.

Originally Posted by Dam8610 (Post 212731)

Don't want to see him get overused and injured like Edgerrin James. This kind of workload invariably leads to injury and/or drop in production.



Yeah, not liking Taylor's high mileage and fumble problem was way worse than pro scouts not thinking Russell Wilson was a starting caliber NFL QB. Not like I comped him to Arian Foster with top end speed shortly thereafter or anything.



My prediction did exactly come true. That fumble cost the Colts the game against Baltimore.

I'll admit I was lower on him on draft day than I should've been, and I very quickly changed on that, you can read my scouting report on him to see that. That said, I hate fumbling problems, because a RB with a fumbling problem is a negative play/turnover waiting to happen. A great example of this is Tiki Barber. Barber was a very talented RB, but he very nearly lost his starting job because he had a huge fumbling problem, he had 35 fumbles in a 4 year stretch from 2000-2003. In the next (and last) 3 years of his career, he was able to greatly mitigate that problem, fumbling only 8 times in that stretch, and became a 3 time Pro Bowler and 1 time first team All-Pro from 2004-2006. That's the difference a fumble problem can make. Taylor fumbled 18 times in 41 college games, that would come out to an average of 7.5 fumbles per 17 game season. Credit where it's due to Taylor on that, he has to this point cut down drastically on his fumble rate, but that was a concern when he was drafted. What's still a concern is the 968 collegiate touches. High workloads make RBs wear down faster. Fortunately, Taylor is 22, so hopefully it won't take its toll for a while, and a second contract might actually even be worthwhile for him, but if the Colts give him huge workloads, the risk of injury and ineffectiveness will increase exponentially. It shouldn't be a problem for the remainder of his rookie deal, but I certainly wouldn't want a situation where the Colts have committed a ton of resources to him to sit on IR like the Titans are experiencing with Henry right now and several other teams have experienced with high end RBs on second contracts.

Originally Posted by Dam8610 (Post 212731)

Don't want to see him get overused and injured like Edgerrin James. This kind of workload invariably leads to injury and/or drop in production.

...What's still a concern is the 968 collegiate touches. High workloads make RBs wear down faster. Fortunately, Taylor is 22, so hopefully it won't take its toll for a while, and a second contract might actually even be worthwhile for him, but if the Colts give him huge workloads, the risk of injury and ineffectiveness will increase exponentially. It shouldn't be a problem for the remainder of his rookie deal, but I certainly wouldn't want a situation where the Colts have committed a ton of resources to him to sit on IR like the Titans are experiencing with Henry right now and several other teams have experienced with high end RBs on second contracts.

Originally Posted by TheMugwump (Post 212766)

Agree 100%. No issues with the lower workload early in the season. If it cost enough games to miss the playoffs, then that's a misjudgment. But IF they make the playoffs, and Taylor still has his legs and can dominate in potential crap weather in January, then keeping his carries low early on is worth it.

I am concerned/curious about them sitting Mack the past several games though. Unless there is an issue they are not talking about, a Taylor/Mack/Hines trio would be great to rely on to wear teams down in the last five games.

Originally Posted by Puck (Post 212816)

This has been going through my head for a while also. Perhaps Mack hasn't fully recovered yet but he is getting close.... End of season and playoffs maybe he gets more snaps. IDK

Originally Posted by BCN#1 (Post 212862)

Always a possibility injury wise but also wonder if he pissed off the leadership and especialy with the trade desire. He is likely sitting at the bottom of the Colts Xmas card list thus sitting as a healthy scratch might be part of his punishment... just sayin...

Originally Posted by albany ed (Post 212645)

When your line is unhealthy, neither option (run or pass) is ideal. But, it's a 17 game season, and you need a healthy running game when the weather turns cold and the playoffs begin. I don't know this off hand, but I'd be willing to bet that its isn't often that rushing leaders have won a Lombardi, especially when that rushing leader has also led the league in carries. You just get beat up and if your line is unhealthy, you get beat up even more. I want JT to be strong in game 17 and then in the playoffs too.