Pro Football Reference<\/a>, and his receiving production fell after that, dropping to 28 catches in 2022, 19 in 2023 and 18 in 2024. Injuries altered his 2022 and 2023 seasons, but he was healthy enough to handle 303 carries last year, making his lack of production in the passing game seem like the norm moving forward.<\/p>\nTaylor is bucking that narrative in the first two weeks of this season. While he\u2019s not a primary target in the passing game \u2014 the Colts have too many mouths to feed on the outside \u2014 Taylor caught three passes in the opener, then made a pair of huge plays against Denver as a receiver, taking one swing pass 43 yards up the sideline and catching another for a 7-yard touchdown, his first score of the season.<\/p>\n
The reasons for Taylor\u2019s resurgence in the passing game are hard to pinpoint.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it\u2019s scheme,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cSometimes, it’s just however the game is going, what the coaches want to call, but at the end of the day, the overall goal is when your number is called, you got to make the play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The quarterback also makes a difference.<\/p>\n
Daniel Jones has surprised everybody through the first two weeks with his ability to make reads, often knowing exactly where to go with the ball before it\u2019s snapped.<\/p>\n
That helps Taylor. A lot of times, the checkdown to the running back is an afterthought, taking so much time that the defense recognize he\u2019s sitting in the flat.<\/p>\n
On Taylor\u2019s 43-yard catch-and-run Sunday, the ball went directly to the running back after the snap, allowing Taylor to hit the afterburners without being touched. Taylor got all the way up to 22.38 miles per hour on the play, according to the NFL\u2019s Next Gen Stats, the fastest time recorded in the NFL since 2020 and a sign that Taylor hasn\u2019t lost a step at all after dealing with high ankle sprains the past three seasons.<\/p>\n