NFL: Jonathan Taylor vs. Bijan Robinson heads to Germany Daniel Jones and Indianapolis Colts face new pressure | NFL News

The NFL reached the penultimate stop of its international tour this weekend when two of the league’s most enigmatic teams met in Berlin, Germany.

Shane Steichen’s Indianapolis Colts entered the midseason as an unstoppable force in football with a league-best 7-1 record and a surge toward the playoffs behind Daniel Jones, who recently had a surprising quarterback career resurgence. A crafty, almost error-free operation was bound to be torpedoed by a rampant Pittsburgh Steelers defense.

Raheem Morris’ Atlanta Falcons cut a familiar and infuriating picture of mismatch, getting a statement win over the Super Bowl rival Buffalo Bills before dropping three straight while running one of the most talented offenses in the NFL.

Football wants to know what and who they really are.

Their one sure thing and obvious area of ​​common ground is in their backfield engines.

Taylor vs Robinson

Awaiting Berlin is a showdown between two of the league’s best running backs this season, Jonathan Taylor and Bijan Robinson, who are at least the defining focal points of their respective teams. Their quiet days are just as notable as their game-breaking days. It would be almost nothing if the Colts didn’t pass on Taylor and the Falcons fired Robinson.

Taylor is the top enforcer of Steichen’s multi-faceted, shape-shifting run scheme, equipped to move between the outside and inside zones, leading the NFL with 157 carries for 895 yards and 12 touchdowns, and is the frontrunner for Offensive Player of the Year honors, with 47 first down runs. He is second only to San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey in yards from scrimmage with 1,113, and leads the team in scoring with 86 points on 14 total touchdowns. He’s notably the only non-kicker in the top 16 in scoring, with Green Bay running back Josh Jacobs coming in at 17th with 60 points.

For all you can say about the resurgent Jones under center, Taylor is the Colts. And that showed as much when Pittsburgh was able to hold him to just 45 yards on 14 carries in Sunday’s blowout 27-20 loss.

Across from him, Robinson finished third behind Taylor in yards from scrimmage with 1,058, with 595 rushing yards and two scores, 41 catches for 463 receiving yards and two scores. He had 238 yards from scrimmage, including 170 rushing yards and a touchdown, against the Bills on Oct. 13 and has not reached 50 rushing yards or found the end zone in a single game since then in a three-game skid.

Taylor’s fellow Offensive Player of the Year candidate was likewise limited to 46 rushing yards on 12 carries in Atlanta’s 24-23 loss to the Patriots, but mustered eight catches for 50 yards. Some say his lack of usage may be to blame. Not only is he the X Factor in the run game, changing the pace and dictating the defense, but he’s also a pivotal threat behind needy Drake London.

The Colts defense is currently allowing the fourth-fewest rushing yards per game, while Atlanta is allowing the fourth-most rushing yards per game. Whoever can get the running back going early will have an advantage in their favor.

How does Daniel Jones react?

At the center of the early Colts’ success was Jones, along with Taylor, and there were signs of a recent quarterback career resurgence followed by the likes of Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield at the peak of the trend. The former No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, taken out by the New York Giants, had the best half-season of his NFL career as the pilot of the league’s highest-scoring and third-ranked passing attack.

The team’s 7-1 start gave the Colts 270 points. That was more points than Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck achieved in their first eight games, and only Johnny Unitas won in 1964 and 1958. In that time, Jones has thrown for 2,062 yards and 13 touchdowns along with four rushing scores, leading to a second-best 80.4 quarterback rating and a record-setting 91.8 quarterback rating against pressure. In New York, it was famously lacking. He was navigating tight windows with confidence, attacking downfield aggressively, thriving on a well-camouflaged high-low concept with smooth, balanced handling at precisely the right moment, and had a passer rating of 100 or better in seven of eight games.

It was a change that resulted in a completely different new Jones, and he didn’t generate much excitement in the offseason as he competed with Anthony Richardson for the starting job. Suddenly he was leading a surprise competitor. Jones was destroying teams with his three-level passing attack, blunting the offense with some ease, and playing off-platform and off-structure, but a new, more difficult challenge loomed for him and the Colts.

The first arrived on Sunday when Mike Tomlin’s Steelers delivered the definition of Steelers football by intercepting Jones three times, scooping up two of his three fumbles and sacking him five times to fuel the offense for success. Uncharacteristically, the Colts’ offensive line, which had been one of the most reliable offensive lines in the league for eight weeks, collapsed under the sheer ferocity and depth of Pittsburgh, with a nervous indecision and failure of balance and on-field diagnosis that reminded me of Jones in New York. Does that mean the end of his run? Are the Colts’ playoff credentials in question? Of course not. But an ideally timed test of response awaits the first-ranked Falcons to get past their defense.

“It was like flashbacks to seeing him in New York in a blue uniform and another blue uniform with a blank look on his face,” said Jeff Reinebold of Sky Sports NFL.

“I know it’s just his personality, but body language is very important, especially for a quarterback, and I think there is cause for concern.

“The Colts were embarrassed, and now you’re going to have to step up and prove that you’re one of the best teams in the league, and as your record shows, so are you.”

london effect

Even if it isn’t Robinson, it’s Drake London who the Falcons rely on as a catch-privileged vertical threat on the outside, competing with the best of Michael Penix Jr. London showed his impact in Week 9, recording nine catches for 118 yards and three touchdowns. This included an incredible textbook one-handed end zone haul by London and a leaping contest over star corner Christian Gonzalez. His efforts were cruelly unrewarded as John Parker Romo missed a late extra point after squandering a chance to draw level after London’s third goal. It wasn’t London, but the Falcons were already out of the game.

London, the No. 8 pick in the 2022 draft, had as many as 47 catches for 587 yards and five touchdowns at the halfway point of the campaign, and has a career-high 1,271 yards and nine touchdowns in 2024. He is now targeted 25 more times than Robinson, second in receiving yards, 23 more than tight end Kyle Pitts and 50 more than the closest true wide receiver. That’s the case with Darnell Mooney, who played just six games. When it comes to traditional receiver options, London is short on company. In good times, Penix Jr was aggressive and decisive. But the jury seems to be still out on the second-year quarterback, who mixes inconsistency with pinpoint accuracy, searing speed to split tight windows, pinpoint anticipation and the opportunity to make plays on high balls that his receivers overthrow through the rifling of his arms. Much like the Green Bay Packers, and keeping in mind Penix’s breakthrough win over the Bills, they have the offense to beat anyone and the team can lose to anyone.

History of the German NFL

The NFL returns to Germany for its fifth game since Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Game 1 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Munich in 2022. Two more games will follow before Munich hosts the second game last November, with Jones and the Giants losing to the Carolina Panthers in Frankfurt in 2023.

Berlin will become one of three new regions in 2025, along with Dublin and Madrid. Spain’s iconic Santiago Bernabeu is ready to welcome the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders for their first match of Week 11, live on Sky Sports NFL from 2pm.

It comes as part of a record seven games played internationally this season as the NFL works toward its ambition of a 16-game international slate over the next few years. Australia’s famous Melbourne Cricket Ground is scheduled to join the schedule in 2026, Mexico City is set to re-enter as a host city, and Paris and Asia are both expected to be on the horizon.

Colts vs the Falcons can be watched live on Sky Sports NFL on Sunday, with coverage from 2pm until 2.30pm before kick-off.

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