Jonathan Taylor rushed for 218 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries Sunday as the Indianapolis Colts kept their slim AFC playoff hopes alive by holding off the visiting Tennessee Titans, 38-30.
Indianapolis (7-8) trails the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos by two games for the final wild-card spots. It would have to win the last two games and hope for both teams to lose the last two games in order to have a chance to earn a playoff spot via tiebreakers.
Taylor’s performance — which came a week after he fumbled inside the 1-yard line to deny his team a sure touchdown in the third quarter of a 31-13 loss in Denver — helped the Colts rush for a team-record 335 yards. Quarterback Anthony Richardson only had to throw 11 passes, completing seven for 131 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He added 70 yards and a score on the ground.
Mason Rudolph completed 23 of 34 passes for 252 yards with two scores and three picks for Tennessee (3-12). He led a comeback from a 38-7 third-quarter deficit that got the Titans within a score after Tyjae Spears’ 2-yard touchdown run and a 2-point conversion pass with 2:53 left in the game.
But the Titans didn’t get the ball back until just three seconds left, leaving them time for just a desperation pass. Rudolph was intercepted by Kenny Moore as time expired.
Tennessee initiated scoring at the 7:47 mark of the first quarter on Rudolph’s 38-yard strike to Calvin Ridley. However, Indianapolis rattled off the next 38 points, including 24 in the second quarter.
Richardson tied it with 11:01 left in the half on a 5-yard run, followed by Taylor’s 65-yard touchdown dash with 7:25 remaining. Matt Gay made it 17-7 on a 31-yard field goal with 2:09 on the clock, followed by Richardson’s 27-yard scoring strike to Josh Downs 15 seconds before the break.
Taylor added 70- and 1-yard touchdown runs to increase the advantage to 38-7 with 6:50 left in the third quarter. Spears got the Titans back on the board with an 11-yard run at the 2:13 mark.
Rudolph cut it to 38-22 on a 6-yard touchdown pass to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine with 8:13 remaining in the game.
–Field Level Media
