The third episode of "The Jack Doyle Podcast", co-hosted by voice of the Colts Matt Taylor and former Colts Pro Bowl tight end Jack Doyle, had no shortage of positive things to talk about following the Colts' 29-28 win over the Denver Broncos. They discussed the importance of the Colts starting the season 2-0, rookie tight end Tyler Warren's impressive start to his NFL career, how Daniel Jones is leading the Colts to success and more – and one of the most notable things they mentioned was the relationship between Jones and running back Jonathan Taylor in the backfield.
What Taylor does with the ball in his hands comes as little surprise to anyone at this point, with the veteran running back consistently near the top of the leaderboard in a plethora of stats every season. Taylor earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Broncos, with 25 carries for 165 yards (6.6 yards/attempt) and two receptions for 50 yards and a touchdown. But he also made an impact in another area of the game, and that's what Doyle broke down on this week's podcast:
"(He's) been so good at picking up blitzes and bringing linebackers, and just giving (Jones) an extra second," Doyle said. "Multiple times in this game he'd come up there and stonewall a guy, and he's getting 165 yards on the ground...and 50 in receiving too. Jonathan's just the man."
Per Pro Football Focus, Taylor stayed back in pass protection six times. And in those six plays, Jones completed five of his attempts. In two games, Taylor has earned an overall 79.7 pass blocking grade from Pro Football Focus.
Doyle believes Jones' presence in the backfield is a big reason why.
"Jonathan's a stud," Doyle said. "I think sometimes the running back is not on the same page as the O-line and having a middle ground or a mediator in Daniel Jones to kind of make sure we're all on the same page, it matters a lot...I've been back there, there was times when we had some injuries at running back and I'd be the third down guy back there trying to pick it up, and having Andrew (Luck) next to me be like 'Hey Jack, it's 57, down set go!' like okay good, I can do that....but that's what Jonathan's probably getting from Daniel. Again, I'm assuming Daniel – you can tell how much he's with it, and he wants to be protected, right, so he wants to make sure the running back knows where he's going."
Thanks to the efforts of Taylor and the rest of the Colts' offense in protecting Jones, the quarterback has easily withstood a substantial level of blitzes – part of the reason why the Colts have yet to punt the ball and Jones has not turned the ball over through the first two weeks of the 2025 season.
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