As the Houston Texans gear up to face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, another critical game in their remaining schedule, the defense will be confronting, in figurative terms, a “Two-Headed Monster” in running back Jonathan Taylor and rookie tight end Tyler Warren.
“For the Colts, you can see they’ve been a very explosive offense,” said Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans. “The rookie tight end [Tyler Warren] is doing a good job as well. Then of course, running the football, Jonathan Taylor.
“Can’t say enough good things about him as a running back. Just his balance, his power, the explosiveness. You have to be able to set the edge because he can take the explosive run 50-plus yards and take it to the house. He can hit cutback lanes and make you pay.”
Taylor is on a career-best path as he aims to surpass his 2021 season, during which he rushed for 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns on 332 carries. He currently leads the league in rushing after 11 games with 1,197 yards and 15 touchdowns.
“He is a very patient runner,” said Texans edge rusher Danielle Hunter exclusively to Big Sarge Media about Taylor. “You have to play your lane and assignments and make sure you have eyes on him at all times because he is the type of runner who will wait for his offensive lineman to create any space, he can take advantage of.”
When the Texans’ defense isn’t trying to stop Taylor from making explosive runs behind the line of scrimmage, they will focus on the Colts’ leading receiver, Warren, who has 662 yards receiving and three touchdowns this season. His presence, along with Taylor’s rushing ability, has allowed the Colts’ offense to execute some very creative and dynamic play calls from head coach Shane Steichen and offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter.
Both Taylor and Warren are coming off of one of their worst games of the season statistically in an overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, as Taylor was limited to 58 yards rushing after amassing 244 yards the week prior. Meanwhile, Warren was only able to produce 45 receiving yards on seven receptions.
Still, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans and defensive coordinator Matt Burke understand that the Colts’ offense can have a breakout game at any moment if the defense does not pay attention to details.
“Defensively, first and foremost, stopping the run, but we know that’s not the only emphasis with this offense,” said Ryans in his press conference on Monday. “They do a good job of their play action pass game, really timing it up at the proper time and really catching a lot of defenses off guard. They’re creating a lot of explosives there as well. So, you’ve got to play true.
“So, I’m telling our defense, you have to play true, you have to play with elite eye discipline, elite awareness to what your job is and being on it. Because if not, Shane has always done a good job, offensively, of creating eye candy, as I call it, to mess with guys’ eyes, to put their guys in position to make plays.”