Reich’s Best/Worst Decisions: Week 17 vs. Jacksonville

Best Decisions

Letting Jonathan Taylor run wild

Finally, look what happens when you let Taylor keep on trucking when he is having a career game. In the past few weeks, a trend started to appear where Frank just inexplicably stopped using JT when he was having a career day, but against the Jaguars he just let the rookie keep on running and the results showed: Taylor had a franchise-record breaking day where he racked up 253 yards and 2 scores. The running back out of Wisconsin is inarguably the Colts’ most important weapon on offense right now, so it is really encouraging that he is heading into the playoffs scorching hot.

Getting T.Y. Hilton back in a groove

For the first 9/10 weeks of the season, T.Y. Hilton did not look like his usual self. He was not as bad as some fans pointed him out to be, but he was not the difference-maker he used to be. As the season progressed, his chemistry with Rivers really started to improve, and we have to credit Reich for sticking with his #1 receiver and allowing him to play through his slump. In the last 6 weeks of the season, Hilton had 27 catches for 435 yards and 5 scores, after racking up just 29 catches for 327 yards and no scores in his first 9 games.

Trusting Jared Veldheer as the LT

After Castonzo was placed on IR my first thought was “Oh well, there goes the season,” especially with Will Holden out and the only healthy tackle being Chaz Green, who has looked awful. The Colts signed Veldheer out of retirement during the week and he was starting on Sunday. He actually did pretty well, mostly in the run game. With another week of practice, I expect even better things from him against the Bills.

Worst Decisions

Soft zone prevent defense to finish the half

The Colts prevent defense just sucks. Time and time again this season the opponent has scored in the two-minute drill and had it not been for some lucky fumbles against the Texans on both matchups, it would be even worse. With the Colts up 20-0, the Jaguars moved down the ball with no impediments at all and scored a touchdown to go into halftime 20-7. No disrespect to the Jags, but if your defense is supposed to be elite, there is no way on earth that you allow an offense led by Mike Glennon, without their top two weapons, to move the ball so easily on you.

Settling for field goals instead of burying the Jags

This was not that bad, but I would have liked Reich being more aggressive against a really bad team, and try and put them away for good. The Colts settled for field goals from inside the 5-yard line on two different occasions, and while Blankenship nailed both of them, even if the Colts converted the touchdown on just one of the two occasions it would mean being up by 7 more points instead of 6.