Dizzy
Footballguy
I don’t think the Colts are tanking. I think that with a healthy Richardson, a healthy Taylor, a healthy Pittman—-they have a nice solid foundation for the future. However, Richardson got hurt after they decided to pay Taylor. Moss had already showed that he was an effective runner while Taylor was “hurt” or dealing with his money situation. I think that now that Richardson is hurt—they fully know and understand that they have no chance to be a true contender this season. They could go out and put Taylor out there for 80-90% of the carries—risk overusing him and getting him hurt for next season (when they get Richardson back)—all for a 2023 season where they really don’t have a chance. Recent history has shown that when players take long periods of time off—-they don’t necessarily come back fresher and better. Look at Deshaun Watson. Leveon Bell didn’t come back fresher after effectively shelving himself. I don’t think the Colts are tanking. I think they have a realistic view of what they are even if they gave Taylor a full workload. They would be a non-contending middle of the pack team this year—-which is not far off from what they are now even protecting Taylor through sharing carries with Moss. They are a middle of the pack non-contending team at best. They might as well stay that way and protect their future as much as possible.This is exactly why I said a 35 or 45 percent timeshare. Taylor has been back for a month now. In his most recent game 2 days ago Moss had 1 fewer carry and 1 fewer passing target. Moss just disappearing and giving Taylor an 80-90% load of the carries is not going to randomly happen unless Moss gets traded or hurt. The Colts are not running their “real” team to appease Taylor fantasy owners. They are a team that clearly has two capable running backs—and are not afraid to use both. If anything, one could argue that not overusing Taylor protects their investment more than riding him into the ground. Overuse certainly didn’t help guys like Leveon Bell or Todd Gurley.Taylor has been back for 4 games so far for the Colts this season. Fantasy-wise—Moss has outperformed him in 3 of them. While I believe that this trend probably will start to shift/change—I think Taylor owners probably need to hope for a Moss trade or injury if they want to see him put up monster numbers. It just feels as though Moss is performing well enough to earn a 35-45% of the timeshare.
Sounds insane to me. Taylor is the feature back and paid as such. Moss is there to back him up. The description above sounds like a reward for doing well... similar to the agreement between my dogs and I.
Your comment makes perfect sense, IF they are tanking. In that case I get it... should have let him sit out 2023 then. Why start the clock ticking and pay out $$$ if you plan to mothball the guy on a planned lost season.
What I saw - or what I THINK I saw - was Taylor running wild through most of the 1st half of a winnable game, so they bench him in 2nd half for... tanking... to be fair to Moss for being a good teammate?
So we agree. The Colts aren't tanking... they're just not trying to win. OK. Makes sense now.