Jonathan Taylor is an MVP Candidate, But Daniel Jones Has to Get His Shit Together if The Colts Want Any Chance to Compete For a Super Bowl

For Colts fans, on the bright side, we didn't lose in Germany. On the double bright side, for any Colts fans holding Jonathan Taylor MVP tickets (i.e. me), today could not have gone better. Jonathan Taylor ran for 244 yards and 3 TD's. And if we're being realistic, the ONLY way Jonathan Taylor breaks the streak of QB's winning MVP's is if the Colts keep winning, JT eclipses 2,000 yards, he breaks LT's single season rushing TD record (or comes close to it)... and he has to do all of that in a way that makes it abundantly clear that the Colts offense runs through him. Which it does. It always has. He proved it again today.

Anybody who watches Colts games regularly knows that. But unfortunately, for Jonathan Taylor to win the MVP, it probably means Daniel Jones has to suck a bit. Which is what happened today. He sucked (a bit).  

As a Colts fan, I had a lot of mean thoughts about Daniel Jones today. Thoughts I'm not necessarily proud of. When the Colts were down 3 with just under 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter, with the ball at the 50-yard line, and they needed only 15 yards to get into field goal range… when Shane Steichen put the ball in Daniel Jones for hands 4 straight plays. Plays that went like this…

I was beside myself. I still have no clue how the Colts managed to get out of that one. But fuck it. I suppose I can't argue with results. They got the field goal.

Anyways… those intrusive thoughts that I know deep down are incorrect, but I can't help but think in heat of a game, were telling me to fire Daniel Jones into the sun. That there are 60 other quarterbacks in the NFL (and roughly 10 in college) who could have won that game for the Colts. That if the Colts & Giants swapped QB's right now, the Colts with Jaxon Dart would be even better than they are now. And the Giants with Daniel Jones would be even worse.

In hindsight… all things considered… Daniel Jones wasn't actually that bad. Overall, he was pretty solid. The guy went 19/26 for 255 yards. He only threw one interception at the tail end of the first half. And he ran for another 57 yards. But my god, Daniel Jones. He also fumbled 3 times. Does he just not have a lick of peripheral vision? Did he miss pocket awareness day at QB school? He's low-key fast as hell. There are not many situations in the pocket that Daniel Jones shouldn't be able to escape from with relative ease. But I'm not sure he's ever actually felt the presence of an edge rusher in his life. 

That shit is infuriating. When you have a quarterback who has SO MUCH god given talent… who can do SO MANY things SO WELL… who is in one of the best situations an NFL QB can be in (a solid O-line and the best running back in football)… and all he has to do is not give the ball away… I don't even mind the interceptions. Those are inevitably going to happen when you're trying to make big plays downfield. I can live with those. But the fumbles… if he's going to keep handing the ball on a silver platter to any edge rusher within the vicinity, the Colts are never going to get over the hump and be a real Super Bowl contender. Not if Daniel Jones can't figure out that very specific part of his game.

But when you have Jonathan Taylor, that can make up for a lot of dumb bullshit on offense. The fact that any person would think Daniel Jones is an MVP candidate when Jonathan Taylor is doing things like this for the Colts… I mean you'd have to an illiterate moron who's only pumping up Daniel Jones because you're a Giants fan who had some pro-Daniel Jones take years ago that you're still holding onto. And because your own team is so shitty, Daniel Jones playing QB for the Colts is the one thing you have to hang your hat on. Or you've just resorted to tweeting rage bait. 

Sorry Marty, I love you, but the "Daniel Jones for MVP" shit is driving me crazy when the Colts are so clearly led by Jonathan Taylor. If anybody should be getting MVP votes for the Colts, it's JT. And that certainly has NOTHING to do with that fact that I'm holding a Jonathon Taylor MVP ticket for +10000… 

Anyways… good win Colts. Thanks for not losing us the game, Daniel Jones. I guess your bloody mouth thing was kinda cool.

But let's be honest… a bloody mouth is kinda the fakest tough guy injury in the world. If you have the slightest bit of blood in your mouth, it's gonna make you look like Dracula. Hockey players will literally bite off the end of their tongue to get an extra 2 minutes on a power play in a meaningless regular season game. I'm not quite ready to give Daniel Jones tough guy credit for inadvertently cutting his lip. There's not a QB in the league (other than maybe Anthony Richardson) who isn't playing through that. 

Today game vs the Falcons was the first game of the season (even more so than last weeks loss vs the Steelers) where I really thought, "Fuck… the Colts need a major change if they're going to compete for a Super Bowl."

Not a change in personnel. We just need Daniel Jones to be smarter. He has the potential to be so good. He can make so many plays. He has all the physical tools in the world to be a great NFL quarterback. And he's been doing it for most of the year. All he has left to do is learn when to tuck the damn football. To stop holding it all loosey goosey 3 feet way from his body when the pocket is collapsing around him. To stop making dumb mistakes and ride Jonathan Taylor as far as he'll take you. If that's something Daniel Jones (and Shane Steichen) can figure out, then the Colts are in business. But after today's game, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pretty fucking worried about it. Daniel Jones is a dumb mistakes guy. The Colts need him to be anything but that.