Was Jonathan Taylor Held Back vs. Titans?

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor saw his first action over the weekend since Week 4. 

However, Taylor only had 17 touches in a 19-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans. It stands to reason the Colts would ease him back into action slowly, but head coach Frank Reich said on Sunday that Taylor wasn't necessarily on a "pitch count."

"He wasn't on a pitch count, but there was a planned rotation," said Reich of Taylor's game action. "You don't know how the game is going to go at the beginning of the game."

"We talked about – last week we had 80 plays of no-huddle offense. We said, ‘Hey, if it's going to be 80 plays, you don't know what's going to happen, but we're going to rotate the guys, rotate the receivers a little bit.’ We're going to rotate the running backs, and with the way we're running our no-huddle offense, I just thought that made a little bit of sense to give him a series break here or there."

The Colts scored 34 points against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the previous game in which they ran 80 plays. The Colts still ran 64 plays on Sunday against the Titans according to PFF, but that delta is 16 less opportunities for Taylor.

Reich insists Taylor's health isn't a big concern, good news for the Colts and their fans as Indianapolis sits 3-3-1 after seven games.

"Him being out the last number of days and the inactivity was a little bit of it," said Reich when pressed on Taylor's full availability. "Like I said, we're on the road. It's not hot, but it was a little bit warmer. We had talked about it all week as a staff. It wasn't going to be a lot of rotation. It was just going to be a little bit of rotation." 

"We think that's normal. We're going to get Nyheim (Hines) on a series. We’re going to get Deon (Jackson) on a series. That was part of the plan. We just need to be more productive in the first half to get more first downs, more opportunities." 

"I think it would have taken care of itself."

In other words... expect a bigger dose of Jonathan Taylor next Sunday at home against the Washington Commanders.