Heading into the Bucs Week 12 showdown against the Colts, the heralded matchup was the Bucs run defense vs the Colts rushing attack. But on Sunday, the matchup was extremely one-sided through most of the game. Indianapolis attempted to get Jonathan Taylor going early in the run game, but to no avail. Taylor had just eight carries for 25 yards at halftime, and Nyheim Hines added one for three yards.

“Yeah, I mean nobody runs the ball on us,” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said. “I don’t care who the hell you are. I mean you are going to end up throwing it. Because if you’re going to run it all day, you’re not going to get much. [Well], they did that last drive. We were a playing pass defense a little bit and they ran it on us. But I’ll take our run defense versus anybody’s run offense anytime.”

Bucs NT Vita Vea – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

At one point in the third quarter, the Colts had dropped back on 26 straight plays. Some of those were run-pass options that became throws due to how the Bucs were playing up front. Tampa Bay wanted to dare Colts quarterback Carson Wentz to beat them. Wentz nearly delivered, throwing for 306 yards and three touchdowns. The veteran quarterback also turned the ball over three times, but only one was his fault.

Taylor did finally get going on the Colts penultimate drive of the game. The second-year back got his first carry of the second half with around ten minutes left in the final quarter. Taylor erupted to life, rushing for 58 yards on eight carries during the drive. The former Wisconsin back capped the effort in the end zone to tie the game at 31-31. But the Bucs deployed plenty of light boxes, expecting the Colts to throw the ball more.

“No, we were playing six-man box a lot and playing pass coverage,” Arians said. “They did a good job of sticking with the run. We really didn’t think they would stick with the run.”

When the Bucs geared up to stop the run, it wasn’t pretty for Indianapolis. Taylor finished the game with 82 yards and a score on 16 carries. Respectable numbers, but ultimately it was the Colts who fell short, losing 38-31.