Blue
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- Mar 19, 2019
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» How exactly will the "1-1 punch" of Marlon Mack and Jonathan Taylor work out in terms of actual workload for each back?
It was one of those "the rich getting richer" type of scenarios earlier this offseason, as the Colts, who already had one of the league's top rushing attacks, went out and selected college football's top running back, Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor, in the second round of this year's NFL Draft. With Taylor in the mix, Indy's run game could be downright scary: all five starting offensive linemen return, and every single one of them are considered by Pro Football Focus to be among the top run blockers at their respective positions; also, the team was already returning starter Marlon Mack, who had his first-career 1,000-yard rushing season in 2019, as well as the versatile Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins, who has among the best yards-per-carry average of any running back in the NFL the last two seasons. Adding Taylor to that potion creates what head coach Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni have deemed a "1-1 punch" scenario alongside Mack, which begs the question: how, exactly, is that going to work out? Will Reich truly try to split the carries? Will he go with the hot hand? Could both Mack and Taylor be on the field at the same time on occasion? Could even a super slow Colts.com writer average a couple yards a carry behind this offensive line? OK, let's not get crazy here, but this storyline specifically will be one of the more interesting ones to keep an eye on as the season progresses.