Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor ready to prove Colts are true playoff contenders.
It's early in the season, but two of the Indianapolis Colts' biggest stars realize the importance of making it to the playoffs. Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor have been sidelined over the past two games due to injury, with Richardson recovering from an oblique injury and Taylor rehabbing an ankle injury. However, the Colts have managed to stay afloat without their starting quarterback and running back, finishing off the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4 before splitting the two full games they missed.
At 3-3, the Colts are in the thick of the playoff race with a big AFC matchup against the 2-3 Miami Dolphins looming at home. Although Taylor won't suit up for the game — he missed all three of his weekly practice sessions and has been ruled out — he acknowledges how important it is to finish the job after coming up just short last season. Indianapolis was one possession away from clinching a playoff berth last season before losing to the Houston Texans, 23-19, in Week 18 last season.
“I think it's important because it's step into getting to where we want to go, which is being a championship football team,” Taylor said while speaking on behalf of his and Richardson's partnership with Dairy Queen in an interview with ClutchPoints. “There's a lot of teams that are crawling and scratching to get that one playoff spot. Because all you need is one spot and we'll continue to do that each and every single week, obviously keeping that end goal in mind.”
Taylor has been to the playoffs just one time in his career, during his rookie season back in 2020 with Philip Rivers as the team's starting quarterback. Although the Colts have been respectable during the majority of Taylor's tenure in Indianapolis – they went 9-8 during each of the 2021 and 2023 seasons – they've failed to crack that glass ceiling of being a true playoff contender.
Anthony Richardson key towards Colts' playoff goal
If the Colts are to take that next step into being a true playoff team, they'll need Richardson to elevate his game. The second-year quarterback has appeared in just eight of a possible 23 games during his two seasons in the NFL. He has had mixed results, going 4-4 as a starter along with six touchdowns against seven interceptions for a 74.3 passer rating and 55.3% completion rate. Richardson will start against the Dolphins after practicing fully this past week.
“Definitely motivates us, but we try not to focus on it too much,” Richardson said of last season's finish. “That's in the past. We know what we could have done. There's a few games out there that we did let go. But despite all of that, we have another opportunity this year to go out there and be even better than we were last year. We're just focused on winning each game every week and just trying to be 1-0 every week.”
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“You want to win not even just playoffs, you just want to win every game,” Richardson continued. “We know if we win, then everything we're looking forward to will be right in front of us. We're just trying to keep it simple for ourselves, just win and execute.”
The Colts have a prime opportunity to go above .500 against a depleted Dolphins squad still reeling from the absence of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. It also doesn't hurt that Indianapolis will play at home, where they're 2-1 this season.
“All that matters right now is our opponent (the Dolphins) is knocking on our door this Sunday and I'm sure that we'll be 100% prepared and ready,” Taylor said. “We have to defend home turf.”
