1. Checking in on the Colts' offensive stats through Week 7.
Without Monday night's doubleheader (Buccaneers/Lions, Texans/Seahawks) in the books as of publishing this article, there could be some slight movement in these numbers, but the Colts are still at or near the top of the NFL in just about every offensive category after seven games:
- Points per game: 33.1 (first)
- Yards per play: 6.4 (1st)
- Scoring drive rate: 63.1% (1st)
- Touchdown drive rate: 40% (1st)
- Turnovers: 4 (6th)
- First downs per game: 23.6 (1st)
- Third down conversion rate: 46.8% (3rd)
- Fourth down conversion rate : 81.8% (4th)
- Red zone touchdown rate: 68.2% (7th)
- Goal to go touchdown rate: 100% (T-1st)
- Sack rate allowed: 2.5% (1st)
- Explosive pass (15+ yards) rate: 17.4% (4th)
- Explosive run (10+ yards) rate: 13.6% (9th)
- EPA/play: +.217 (1st)
- Success rate: 42.5% (1st)
2. Quenton Nelson should be up for a brand-new award.
The NFL in May unveiled a new annual honor: The Protector of the Year award, which will be given to the best offensive lineman in the league each season.
It's great that the league will, finally, give some of its most important – and often most overlooked – players their due.
"The Protector of the Year isn't just about stats – it's about the mindset, grit, and leadership it takes to be the foundation of a football team," longtime NFL tackle and current Amazon commentator Andrew Whitworth said as part of the announcement. "It's time the men who lead, protect, and never ask for credit are recognized as the backbone of this game."
As you read that, doesn't it sound like Whitworth is describing Quenton Nelson?
Nelson had another outstanding game on Sunday. He didn't allow a single pressure in 38 pass blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus, and he was a menace in the run game.
On Taylor's first touchdown – a 23-yarder in the first quarter – Nelson was tasked with a backside cutoff block on defensive tackle Naquon Jones, who was shaded to Nelson's inside shoulder and toward where the run was designed to go. Nelson got his helmet in front of Jones and took him out of the gap – "that's never an easy job," center Tanor Bortolini said – and sealed off the left side of the running lane.
Bortolini, at the same time, shoved defensive tackle Justin Eboigbe out of the play and climbed to the second level to block cornerback Tarheeb Still. The result was a crisp lane for Taylor to break through; safety Derwin James – a fantastic player in his own right – tried to play downhill on Taylor, but the running back's acceleration to the outside beat him to the spot. James dove at Taylor and missed, with the running back dashing untouched into the end zone.
It was a special play by Taylor, but it wouldn't have happened without Nelson and Bortolini creating that lane – and Nelson, specifically, executing a difficult assignment with good technique.
Nelson later pancaked defensive tackle Jamaree Caldwell on a fourth-and-one Taylor rush that resulted in a first down. On Taylor's 19-yard touchdown in the third quarter, Nelson climbed to the second level at the snap and took linebacker Denzel Perryman out of play. And on Taylor's final first down rush of the game – coming with 3:27 left in the fourth quarter – Nelson controlled defensive tackle Teair Tart on what became the back side of a patient 22-yard gain.
In pass protection, Nelson sorted out a stunt the Chargers ran on a third-and-17 play in the second quarter, which kept edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu out of the pocket and gave Daniel Jones plenty of time to rip a deep completion to Alec Pierce (more on another block on this play in Colts Thing No. 3). On the next play, he worked into space on a throwback screen in the second quarter and helped seal off linebacker Daiyan Henley, allowing Taylor to pick up 19 yards.
I could spend a lot more words than I already have on the specifics of what Nelson did against the Chargers. But let's zoom back out for why Nelson is a deserving candidate for the first-ever Protector of the Year Award.
The tape Nelson is putting out there is as good as ever. He's among the best run blocking offensive linemen in the NFL, and while his PFF pass blocking grade – for some reason – is low, he's allowed just nine pressures and no sacks.
From a leadership standpoint, Nelson's impact has been monumental in keeping the Colts' focused amid this 6-1 start. And if Taylor is making a compelling case for Offensive Player of the Year – which he absolutely is – shouldn't one of his offensive linemen get some credit, too?
3. Jonathan Taylor's impact went beyond his three touchdowns.
A lot has to go right for a team to convert a third-and-17 play into a first down. Jones' 48-yard completion to Pierce early in the second quarter, in particular, doesn't happen without a clean pocket from which Jones could throw.
We already mentioned what Nelson did in picking up a stunt on the play. But what Taylor did was huge, too.
The Colts lined up Taylor to the boundary in the slot and did not use pre-snap motion on the play. Across from Taylor and right tackle Braden Smith were Tuipolutu – who entered Week 7 leading the NFL in total pressures – and future Hall of Famer Khalil Mack. In other words: The Chargers' two best pass rushers were lined up next to each other, and the Colts would have to sort that challenge out at the snap.
The plan to deal with Mack, though, involved Taylor chipping and then releasing. Taylor didn't just chip him, though – as Mack fired off the line at the snap, Taylor decked him, knocking him down and then releasing to the flat.
With Mack tumbling to the ground, he took out Eboigbe, too, as Smith, Matt Goncalves and Bortolini surrounded them. Jones stepped up and threw accurately deep downfield for the Colts' longest play of the afternoon.
"J.T. smokes Khalil and they run into each other, hit the ground – it makes my job a lot easier," Bortolini said. "There's two guys laying on top of each other. ... Then you look up and A.P. is down there somewhere every time they throw it up."
Taylor has been asked to do this from-the-slot chip and release a few times in his career. He did it back in Week 4 against the Raiders; in Week 1 of the 2024 season, he helped create a clean pocket for Anthony Richardson Sr. to chuck a deep completion to Pierce by crashing into Houston Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter. He was asked to do this a few times against the San Francisco 49ers in 2021.
But the first time Taylor, as a pro, lined up in the slot and chipped a defensive end before releasing? In 2020, his rookie year. Against the Chicago Bears. And the guy he chipped was Mack.
Beyond that symmetrical whimsy, what Taylor did on this play was another marker in how he's impacted the game without the ball in his hands. Taylor, through Week 7, has a Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade of 75.9, easily the best of his career. He's been a key reason why Jones has not been sacked much this season, and why the Colts' quarterback has had clean pockets from which to throw quite a bit.
4. DeForest Buckner delivered late in the game despite playing a ton of snaps.
Pro Football Focus credited Buckner with nine pressures on Sunday, the most any defensive tackle has had in a game this season and tied for the third-most any player has had in 2025:
| Player | Position | Team | Week | Opponent | Pressures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Cooper | EDGE | DEN | 3 | @ LAC | 10 |
| Micah Parsons | EDGE | GB | 4 | @ DAL | 10 |
| Will Anderson Jr. | EDGE | HOU | 2 | vs. TB | 9 |
| DeForest Buckner | DT | IND | 7 | @ LAC | 9 |
| Aidan Hutchison | EDGE | DET | 3 | @ BAL | 9 |
| Laiatu Latu | EDGE | IND | 4 | @ LAR | 9 |
Only six defensive tackles had nine or more pressures in a game in the entire 2024 season. It was the fifth time Buckner had nine pressures in a game in his 10-year career.
Seven of Buckner's nine pressures against the Chargers came in the second half; four came in the fourth quarter. Two of those four pressures resulted in a sack, and another led to a Herbert incompletion.
Buckner, notably, played 50 pass rushing snaps – the most of any defensive tackle in 2025, and fourth-most in a single game since the start of the 2024 season – and still managed to make a massive impact on this game in the fourth quarter.
"As a rusher, I just gotta keep rushing," Buckner said. "I know it's gonna come – those are gonna come and it starts to come in bunches. I got two (sacks) today, and you just gotta continue to have confidence in yourself and your abilities."
5. Amber Abdullah's kickoff return was another key moment on Sunday.
The Chargers came out of halftime swinging with consecutive touchdowns, both of which cut the Colts' lead to two scores. After the second one, running back Ameer Abdullah returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards; two plays later, Taylor sprinted in an eight-yard touchdown to put the Colts back up by 21.
Abdullah's 81-yard return was the longest by a Colts player since cornerback Dallis Flowers had an 89-yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a Monday night game in 2022. The 32-year-old's return was set up thanks to a well-executed block by wide receiver and fellow returner Anthony Gould, and Adbdullah's vision and acceleration quickly sprung him free.
Abdullah is an accomplished returner – he led the NFL with 1,077 kickoff return yards in 2015, his rookie year with the Detroit Lions, and had a 104-yard kickoff return that year. He's the NFL's active leader in kickoff returns (153) and kickoff return yards (3,892).
For Abdullah to deliver in that moment – as the Chargers were trying to mount a comeback – was a major moment in Sunday's game.
"It was huge," Steichen said. "Any time you can flip the field with special teams being involved, getting a return like that to set up a score two plays later, that's a huge momentum swing."
One last thing here: The Colts, through seven games, are second in the NFL in average yards per kickoff return (29.4).
