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Stephen Holder, ESPN
DENVER — Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor crossed the goal line and broke into a happy dance to celebrate his apparent 41-yard touchdown. Then he made his way to the sideline where the celebration continued.
And then it stopped abruptly.
Taylor’s would-be touchdown, which would have given the Colts a two-touchdown lead in their critical matchup with the Denver Broncos, was under review and, ultimately, overturned, when officials ruled he let go of the football before the ball crossed the goal line.
Taylor unconsciously dropped the ball as he crossed the goal line, perhaps overcome with excitement after the long run. The ball subsequently went out of bounds in the end zone, which was, by rule, a touchback. The Colts never recovered, with Denver scoring the final 24 points of the game and strengthening their playoff position with a 31-13 victory.
“It just can’t happen, no matter the game, no matter the scenario,” Taylor said later. “You could be up by 50, down by 50, playoff game, first game of the season. That should never happen.”
Taylor said he was unaware what had happened until well after the play had ended.
“I didn’t know until they started saying they’re reviewing it,” he said. “I’m thinking, ‘Why are they reviewing it?'”
Taylor’s play was emblematic of a game that featured an unending parade of mistakes for the Colts, all of it leading to a loss that put them in a difficult spot in the AFC playoff race. The Colts committed five turnovers, had eight penalties and suffered some key lapses in punt coverage that resulted in points for the Broncos.
“Sometimes someone gives you their best and your best just wasn’t good enough,” Taylor said. “But when you hurt yourself like that, that one hurts.”
The Colts (6-8) were trying to close the gap between them and the Broncos for the seventh and final postseason berth in the conference. Instead, the Broncos moved into the sixth spot and the Colts remain in eighth, now two games behind the seventh-place Los Angeles Chargers. Indianapolis hasn’t made the playoffs since 2020. As for Taylor’s fumble, even the Broncos were befuddled.
“That was significant,” coach Sean Payton said. “I don’t get it. I’m not going to try to … You go from breaking a long touchdown run for your team to us having the ball.”
Safety Brandon Jones, who failed to stop Taylor on the play, felt some relief.
“I took a bad angle, didn’t get him on the ground,” he said. “So, I was upset with myself. And then to see that happen after the fact was a good thing. Big momentum swing.”
The other play of note for the Colts was a trick gone awry that resulted in a 50-yard Broncos touchdown.
With 12:29 remaining and the Broncos leading 17-13, Colts coach Shane Steichen called for quarterback Anthony Richardson to lateral across the field to receiver Adonai Mitchell, who then attempted to lateral back to Richardson. But Mitchell’s decision backfired when linebacker Nik Bonitto read the play and stepped in from of Richardson to intercept the ball. As a lateral, the play was ruled a fumble and Bonitto’s score was technically a fumble recovery.
“I don’t think he saw the guy to be completely honest,” Steichen said of Mitchell. If the throwback was not available, Steichen said, the instructions to Mitchell were to “throw it away.”
“We repped that play all week and it was great,” Steichen said. “It looked great all week.”
Interestingly, the Colts’ imperfect execution might have tipped off the Broncos that something was afoot.
“It was kind of a slow developing play, so I knew something was weird,” Bonitto said. ” … Once I saw Richardson drifting back a little bit, I decided to go try and break on it.”