Insider: Colts RB Jonathan Taylor's mentality is as special as his breakaway speed

LAS VEGAS, N.V. — Everybody knows about Jonathan Taylor’s physical gifts.

The lateral agility, the power, the speed to run away from just about anybody in the NFL.

When Taylor is right, running away from NFL defensive backs the way he did on the decisive run in Sunday’s 25-20 win over the Raiders, the Colts’ best player can seem superhuman, impervious to the obstacles and adversity the rest of the world has to overcome.

The physical gifts are not the only thing that make Taylor special.

His mentality has shined this season.

Taylor’s the kind of player who always says the right thing. Publicly, he’s unfailingly positive, always putting the team first, always willing to share the credit when things are going well, always trying to take a share of the blame when things aren’t going great.

But there is also a mental toughness to Taylor, a sense of perspective that makes performances like Sunday’s 22-carry, 147-yard performance possible in a season that has been arguably the toughest he’s faced since high school. Taylor has seen fewer holes than ever this season, suffered the kind of injury that could knock him out of the lineup for the first time, been through more turmoil than he’s ever seen before.

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Up until now, Taylor’s career has seemed charmed. From the outside, it’s fair to wonder how he’d handle all this adversity.

Taylor remains undaunted.

As starry as his career has been, he’s never lost sight of how hard it is to do the things he’s done, how unlikely it is to rush for 1,811 yards and come close to carrying a team to the playoffs on an annual basis.

“Because you’ve got to know that kind of season is not a normal season,” Taylor said. “That was a special season, in and of itself, and you appreciate that, you continue to work to have that kind of season, but you know that those kind of seasons don’t just happen.”

That knowledge keeps Taylor working, grinding, fuels his legendary work ethic and his desire to get back into a season that seems lost at times.

“You know the game can be taken away from you at any point,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s sense of perspective also keeps frustration from becoming overwhelming.

For the first time in his career, Taylor has been forced to miss games due to injury this season, a tough blow for a back who spends almost every free moment trying to prevent injury of any kind.

He fought his way back, played through pain, only to suffer a setback that cost him another game.

Taylor kept fighting, got his ankle in shape enough to run away from Duron Harmon, the veteran Raiders safety who clearly underestimated Taylor’s speed on the 66-yard run, taking such a poor angle that he stumbled in an effort to change direction. Taylor’s ankle felt strong enough to run away from Sam Webb, the rookie cornerback who tried valiantly to make up ground on Taylor by taking the widest angle possible.

For the first time in more than a month, Taylor looked like himself again.

“It definitely does feel better than it has since it has been injured,” Taylor said.

Injury wasn’t the only way frustration could have taken hold.

Taylor has always been one of the best big-play backs at whatever level of football he’s playing, the sort of back who’s capable of taking any run the distance. When he rushed for 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, Taylor led the NFL in every sort of big run imaginable, from just about every distance.

Nine games into the 2022 season, Taylor’s longest run was 27 yards.

A different player might have felt the frustration, might have started pressing or settled into the possibility that those runs just aren’t going to happen this season.

Taylor has never thought the big play is a given, even when his teammates and coaches have counted on him to hit the home run. When he had a few issues finding the hole earlier this season, it was less about a running back trying to make a highlight out of a 5-yard run and more about a running back trying to find his rhythm again.

Taylor just keeps hunting them, hunting something he knows can be hard for anyone to find.

“You know they’re far and few to come, so you always appreciate them when you get them,” Taylor said. “But the guys did a great job up front, blocking the guys, cutting the backside off, and after that, they always leave one for the back. It’s my job to make the safety miss.”

Or to run away from him, leaving the Raiders in the dust, proving he can overcome the kind of frustration that might cost another superstar dearly.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Jonathan Taylor's mentality is as special as his breakaway speed