After a back-and-forth first half, the Bills dispatched the Colts
The Indianapolis Colts entered play against the Buffalo Bills just a game away from the last Wild Card spot in the AFC. After losing 30-20 on Sunday, the Colts are still eighth in the conference, and they’re still just one game behind the Denver Broncos thanks to their 16-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Bills, meanwhile, sit at 8-2 and well in control of their playoff destiny thanks to a weak AFC East. The rest of the AFC East has a total of nine wins, and Buffalo looks like a lock for its fifth-straight divisional crown.
The Bills notched their first win in Indianapolis since 1998, and they did it by limiting the Indianapolis’ key players. Here’s how our five Colts to watch played on Sunday.
RB Jonathan Taylor
Taylor’s game was a tale of two halves, as his production in the first half (16 carries, 107 yards) was phenomenal, but his production in the second half (five carries, seven yards) was next to nothing. Buffalo made some tremendous adjustments at halftime, including playing safety Damar Hamlin closer to the line of scrimmage so as to match up with the Colts’ blocking scheme a bit better.
Taylor had a 58-yard rush in the first quarter that led to a Colts field goal, and another 22-yard carry that set up another Matt Gay field goal. On his other 19 carries, he rushed for just 34 yards. Taylor was also targeted twice in the passing game, but he didn’t catch either ball. Defensive tackle Austin Johnson made his second career interception on one of those passes. Taylor had a great-looking day overall, but much of his production came on just two plays.
WR Josh Downs
The Bills were definitely ready for Downs to be quarterback Joe Flacco’s go-to guy. On the broadcast, CBS noted that 46% of Flacco’s passes have gone to Downs, and on Indianapolis’ first drive, it was All-Pro slot corner Taron Johnson sitting on Downs, intercepting a pass, and returning it for a touchdown.
Downs caught seven passes for 72 yards on 10 targets, so it’s not as if he was unproductive overall. What the Bills were able to do, though, was limit his productivity to plays between the 20s. Downs made a couple of big plays, including a 21-yard grab up the seam, but the Bills did well to limit him.
DT Grover Stewart
The big fella had a solid day overall with eight tackles and a sack. For an interior lineman, that’s huge. Stewart and DeForest Buckner, who also had eight tackles, combined to give quarterback Josh Allen some issues, especially when there was no one open and he tried to scramble.
Stewart’s sack went for zero yards lost, but it prevented Allen from taking off and making some magic happen with his legs. As has been common this year against the Colts, Buffalo had plenty of success running the football, netting 135 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries.
LB Zaire Franklin
The NFL’s leading tackler entering play, Franklin had nine stops and he also nearly had an interception at one point. After the game, newly re-signed defensive tackle Jordan Phillips taunted Franklin with a NSFW post on Instagram. I’m not sure why Phillips did it — perhaps something happened during the game — but the reply from teammate Alec Anderson where he derides Franklin’s podcast seemed oddly personal.
In any case, Franklin had a solid day overall, but it wasn’t enough to slow a Bills offense that scored 30 or more points for the seventh time this season.
CB Jaylon Jones
Jones has been Indianapolis’ best corner this season, but he wasn’t on Sunday. He was called for a pass-interference penalty that was negated by an illegal-shift penalty on Buffalo. But it was also Jones who tight end Dawson Knox burned downfield on a beautiful 34-yard pass right before the two-minute warning in the second quarter.
While slot corner Kenny Moore and outside corner Samuel Womack each earned solid grades from Pro Football Focus for their work in Week 10, Jones was not among the Colts’ higher-graded players. Not that PFF grades are an end-all, be-all, but the eye test confirmed that it wasn’t his best game.