Jonathan Taylor vs. Derrick Henry, Keke Coutee,…

JJ Stankevitz: There would certainly be a good case to be made here. A quick look at the top five running backs in a few important rushing categories entering Week 8:

1. Derrick Henry (191)
2. Joe Mixon (123)
3. Alvin Kamara (114)
4. Jonathan Taylor (105)
5. Antonio Gibson (103)

1. Derrick Henry (869)
2. Jonathan Taylor (579)
3. Joe Mixon (539)
4. Nick Chubb (523)
5. Ezekiel Elliott (521)

Rushing yards per attempt (min. 60 carries)

1. Tony Pollard (6.0)
2. Nick Chubb (5.8)
3. Chase Edmonds (5.8)
4. Jonathan Taylor (5.5)
5. James Robinson (5.5)

1. Derrick Henry (10)
2. James Conner (6)
3. Jonathan Taylor, James Robinson, Kareem Hunt, Ezekiel Elliott, Damien Harris, Josh Jacobs (5)

Rushing yards after contact (via PFF)

1. Derrick Henry (699)
2. Jonathan Taylor (441)
3. Joe Mixon (423)
4. Nick Chubb (383)
5. James Robinson (354)

1. Derrick Henry (45)
2. Jonathan Taylor (36)
3. Ezekiel Elliott (29)
4. Antonio Gibson (25)
5. Damien Harris (25)

Explosive (10+ yard) rushes

1. Derrick Henry (22)
2. Dalvin Cook (17)
3. Jonathan Taylor (16)
4. Ezekiel Elliott (16)
5. Nick Chubb (14)

Missed tackles forced (via PFF)

1. Derrick Henry (30)
2. Nick Chubb (29)
3. Javonte Williams (25)
4. Jonathan Taylor, Joe Mixon (22)

A few names show up on here in addition to Henry – Taylor, Mixon, Chubb – that would be in that discussion. But no matter where folks nationally may rank Taylor, his impact on the Colts is massive and certainly appreciated in Indiana. The Colts, too, saw this all coming.

“We all saw that during training camp,” offensive coordinator Marcus Brady said. “You could tell he was taking that next step – just the confidence that he had while he was running the ball during training camp, he looked really sharp. He looked really good. His cuts were decisive, making defenders miss and just his understanding of the offense. You could just tell he could just play faster.”