The Indianapolis Colts handily defeated the Las Vegas Raiders in a complete blowout, walking away with an astonishing 40-6 win. The Colts looked near-flawless, with every facet of the team operating at an incredibly high level.
Even the unfortunate loss of Spencer Shrader to injury didn't slow them down; the team pivoted to two-point conversions after each touchdown and was often successful in that attempt.
Last season, a common complaint was that the Colts had tons of talented players on the roster, and coaches weren't bringing that talent out. This year, it's completely different; on virtually every level, the astounding amount of talented football players Indianapolis has is on full display.
No Indianapolis Colts player has accomplished this feat in over 20 years
Whether on offense, defense, or special teams, everything is clicking, and unless something goes drastically wrong, the Colts seem like a shoo-in for the playoffs.
And yet while there are plenty of Colts who are doing well, there's one in particular who stands out, and as usual, that player is Jonathan Taylor. Taylor has always been a star running back who practically already has his place in the Hall of Fame reserved. But after Week 5, a new stat has shown how much of a generational talent he really is.
As Sports Illustrated pointed out, he is the first Colts running back to have three or more rushing touchdowns in multiple games in the same season since Edgerrin James in 2000.
Edgerrin James, of course, is the legendary Colts running back who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020 and was a huge staple of the Colts' mid-2000s dominance. During his six seasons with the Colts, he ran for 9,226 yards and 64 touchdowns; in his rookie season alone, he ran for a record-setting 1,553 yards and was both named to the Pro Bowl and selected First Team All-Pro.
Clearly, to be in the same company as Edgerrin James is a huge honor for Taylor. But it's also not entirely unexpected.
As it stands now, if Taylor keeps up his dominating performance, he could easily have another 2,000+ yard season. He currently leads the league in rushing yards, and if that wasn't impressive enough, he was literally the fastest player in the NFL through Week 5.
His top speed so far this season, at 22.38 mph, is the fastest of anyone in the NFL over the past five years. Only Raheem Mostert in 2020 has been faster.
It's no wonder, really, that Shane Steichen had such high praise for Taylor in this week's media remarks, "I think he's playing best back in the league right now," he said, adding, "He's running hard, patient, great vision, great burst. And he hits the home runs."
