Jonathan Taylor — Week 2: Twenty-Four Carries, Two Touchdowns
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Taylor carried 24 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns — 24 yards around the right end with 1:04 left in the half and five yards to tie the game with 5:41 left — and caught all four targets for 40 yards. Fourteen first-half carries gained 75; ten after halftime gained 17, including minus one from the Kansas City 17 and minus two from the 18 in overtime, in a 33–30 overtime loss to the Chiefs.
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17 to 13, Chiefs, a minute four left in the half, first and 10 at the Kansas City 24. Jonathan Taylor took it around the right end for 24 yards and the touchdown. +3.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 9.2 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. The snap before, Josh Downs had converted third and six. The extra point made it 20 to 17, and Indianapolis took that lead into halftime.
The line: 24 carries, 92 yards, two touchdowns, six first downs, 11 of the 24 successful, +3.8 expected points on the carries; four targets, four catches, 40 yards, three first downs, +2.5 on the targets. The carries went five, four, 12, one, nothing, four, four, three, 10, −2, five, four, 24, one, three, −1, one, nothing, five, six, nothing, six, −1, −2. 14 before halftime for 75 yards; 10 after it for 17, overtime included. The three was fourth and one at the Kansas City 49 with two 27 left in the first quarter, down 10 to seven, left guard, converted, worth +2.4. The second touchdown was second and three at the Kansas City five with five 41 left in the fourth quarter, down 27 to 20, left end, and the extra point tied it. Five carries inside the 20 gained two yards in total: nothing from the one on the opening drive, a snap before Tyler Warren's touchdown; nothing from the 18; the five-yard score; and two in overtime. Those two came right after Laquon Treadwell's 48-yard catch put the Colts at the Kansas City 17, down 30 to 27: first and 10, left end, −1; second and 11, left guard, −2. Each cost more than 14 points of win probability, and Indianapolis settled for the tying field goal and never had the ball again. The catches were four yards on third and 21, then 15, seven and 14, the last three all first downs. He also had a false start at the Kansas City 20 on the opening drive.
The split: Taylor 24 of the Colts' 30 designed runs, Deion Burks two, Seth McGowan two, Warren one, and a Daniel Jones keeper on fourth and one, +2 Jones scrambles. 28 touches were second on the field to Kenneth Walker's 30. Four targets were fourth on the Colts.
Back in June the preview's read on Taylor was a second-place finish among running backs built on a workhorse deployment, and a warning that the market was paying for last season's 18 rushing touchdowns when the carries were the durable part. Week 1 was 19 of 20 Colts carries, touchdowns from the one and the three, and a lost fumble. Sunday night was 24 of 30 designed runs, no fumble, and touchdowns from the 24 and the five. So the carries are holding exactly as the preview said they would, and the touchdowns it called the unstable part are at four in two games. Two games settle little about a scoring rate. The second half is the other thing to carry forward: 10 carries, 17 yards. Indianapolis is home to the Texans on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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