1. MVP Chants For JT

MVP Chants For JT: MVP debates never favor running back, but if you consider it the “best player” (as opposed to most valuable player), then Jonathan Taylor has to be your winner at the mid-way point. Period. Sunday’s opening quarter saw Jonathan Taylor humming and me thinking he might break his career-high. With the Colts offensive line opening up gaping holes, Taylor showcased his ability to reach that extra gear quite quickly. Following Taylor’s 18-yard touchdown run, the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd let out a “M-V-P” chant No. 28. It sounds obviously, but one of the major reasons why Taylor has produced such a season so far has been tremendous health. Taylor has yet to pop up on the injury report through 8 games, and he was available throughout the team’s offseason program, too. Honestly, the debate at halftime was more around why Jonathan Taylor hadn’t touched the ball more (8 carries for 72 yards in the first half). Well, on the Colts offensive  first play of the second half, Taylor lit up Lucas Oil Stadium with an 80-yard touchdown run as he tiptoed his way down the sideline while showing off his game-breaking speed. That brought more MVP chants. Such a chorus was rained down again later in the game when Taylor took a shovel pass and took it 19 yards for a touchdown. It’s not hyperbole, as Taylor plays his 6^th NFL season at all to say Taylor is on a pathway to Canton, Ohio.

2. Daniel Jones Has Raised His Standard

Daniel Jones Has Raised His Standard: Imagine offering a bit of a shrug at a Daniel Jones stat line of: 21-of-29 for 227 yards and 3 touchdowns. But that’s kind of how it felt watching Jones play on Sunday. The first half saw some rocky-ish moments from Jones. That was mostly in identifying/feeling pressure, and taking advantage of it. Jones final numbers were pretty darn good on Sunday, with a huge third-quarter (deep ball to Alec Pierce; touchdown to Josh Downs) helping in that area. It shows you what Jones has done with the Colts in 2025 when a game like Sunday is not one overly celebrated. And he needs to be commended for having yet another no turnover game. One question as we leave Sunday’s game is how Jones will feel on Monday. The quarterback did slam his head onto the Lucas Oil Stadium turf during the second quarter. He stayed in the game and never received any extra medical attention on the sidelines. Occasionally, you will see players develop concussion symptoms the morning after a game (a la Charvarius Ward, Alec Pierce and Josh Downs). So that’ll just be something to monitor as the Colts have two more games before their bye.

3. 100-Yard Receiving Day Still Awaits

100-Yard Receiving Day Still Awaits: It’s quite an amazing stat that the Colts have now gone 8 games this season without a 100-yard receiver. Had Sunday’s score been closer entering the 4^th quarter though, this stat likely would have ended. We needed to acknowledge Michael Pittman Jr. and his 8 catches on 9 targets for 95 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown grab from Pittman in the first half was one of the best the NFL has seen in 2025. With defensive pass interference being committed against Pittman, he showed the strength to fight through it, secure the ball with one hand against his body and maintain control as he fell to the ground. Probably the most anti-Pittman thing you saw on Sunday was him sliding after piling up some yards after catch. But considering it was Pittman, and the Colts were on their way to another blowout victory, you understood the decision. Again, this stat is more an indicator of how incredibly balance the Colts have been this season, particularly when it comes to Daniel Jones distributing the football.

4. Defense Could Use Some Juice

Defense Could Use Some Juice: Truly grand takeaways in a game like this one are hard to come by. That’s life when your opponent has a rookie quarterback, has already fired their head coach and were missing their 3 highest paid players on Sunday. Defensively, the Colts looked like they might have their first turnover-less game of the season until Chris Lammons picked Cam Ward mid-way through the 4th quarter. They kept the Titans to just 14 points. The Titans moved it decently well (7 of their 10 drives reached Indy territory). The raw defensive numbers from Sunday will check out just fine, but one must realize the competition across the way. I’ll stand by what I wrote after last week’s win, a trade deadline move on the defensive side of the ball is definitely something that needs to be explored. Not every week has rookie quarterbacks missing a wide-open 3^rd-and-14 home run shot that could have changed the complexion of this game. Or have teams punt the ball facing 4^th and mediums/shorts from midfield. Internally, the Colts have urgency to make a defensive move before the trade deadline (a week from Tuesday). Will it happen?

5. Tennessee Titans v Indianapolis Colts

More Business Handled: Ho-hum, another Colts blowout win and another one in the division and inside of Lucas Oil Stadum. Again, in the midst of one of the longer playoff droughts in the league, the Colts were an under .500 team in home games over the last 4 years. Now, they are off to a 5-0 start inside of Lucas Oil Stadium, routinely taking care of business. Sweeping the Titans is important, if you run into some potential divisional tiebreakers. And no one should take for granted the throughout nature in which the Colts are winning these games. That’s now 5 of their 7 wins by at least 14 points (4 by 20 points or more). Now, the schedule is about to shift, some in quality and definitely in location. After 5 of the first 8 games at home, the Colts will now play 6 of their final 9 games away from home (5 road games and 1 game in Berlin). The “heavy favorite/handle business” part of the schedule is largely over for the Colts. But major credit them for fully taking care of several of these games.

6. QUICK HITTERS  

-Injury Report: The following Colts were inactive on Sunday: DL-Tyquan Lewis (groin), DE-Samson Ebukam (knee), S-Reuben Lowery III, RB-D.J. Giddens, LB-Chad Muma, TE-Will Mallory, OT-Luke Tenuta. The following players got injured and did not return: WR-Anthony Gould

-Key Stat: Following Sunday, Jonathan Taylor now has the most rushing TDs of at least 40 yards by any player in NFL history before their 27^th birthday. His numbers of 10 broke a tie with Derrick Henry, Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson and Jim Brown.

-What’s Next: The Colts (7-1) heavy home schedule to begin this season starts to shift. They are heading to take on the Steelers (4-2) next Sunday at 1:00.