The Indianapolis Colts rose to the challenge in Week 2 of the NFL season. There's no other way to put it. After they trounced Miami, many were skeptical, as the Dolphins rank among the worst teams in the league.
The Denver Broncos, however? This is a team that had a lot of momentum coming into the 2025 NFL season, and many national pundits were putting them in the elite tier of teams. This team is no pushover, and in many ways, they were Indianapolis' first real test of the season. Unlike the Colts teams of the recent past, this iteration of the team did not wilt when the pressure was highest.
It's time to face facts, Colts fans. This is a team that features a lot of really good players, and in order to win the biggest games, a good team needs its best players to perform like stars. That is exactly what happened against Denver, so without further ado, let's see who were the biggest winners and losers from the Colts' second game of the 2025 season.
Jonathan Taylor proved he is still one of the very best running backs in the league.
Winner No 1: Jonathan Taylor
What else is there to say about what Jonathan Taylor accomplished against the Broncos? The man finished with a stat line of 25 carries for 165 yards, with the longest of those being a 68-yard breakaway that set up a Colts score.
That's an awesome outing, right? But wait, there's more! Taylor added another 50 yards on two receptions, with most of those yards coming from a huge 43-yard catch and run. Taylor proved in 2021 that he was a true bellcow on the ground, but if what we saw in Week 2 is any indication, Taylor has become a receiving threat to be reckoned with as well.
After this monstrous performance, Colts fans can now proudly say that their team has the NFL's leading rusher on the roster. Taylor, through only two games, has already amassed 236 rushing yards. To put that into perspective, that means the man is on pace for over 2,000 yards!
Obviously, this has only been two weeks of production, and a lot of things can happen over the course of the season. That doesn't change the fact that Taylor has been nothing short of elite so far this season, and if he can keep humming in the offense, the Colts might have something special brewing. Speaking of the offense...
Winner No. 2: Tyler Warren
Another week, another performance that only solidifies that the Colts being able to snag Tyler Warren in the draft was nothing short of highway robbery. Similarly, it's another week that makes the Bears selection of tight end Colston Loveland over Warren even more head scratching. Warren turned heads in Miami last week, but this week proved that the rookie is here to stay.
Warren finished the game with four receptions for 79 yards (one of which was an electric 41 yard jaunt down the field). In fact, with this performance Warren solidified himself among the elite at the tight end position. Through the first two weeks of the season, Warren leads the league in yards among tight ends, beating out last year's rookie phenom Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Warren has amassed 155 yards through the air this year, and arguably more impressive, 90 of those yards have come after the catch. That leads all tight ends in the league by a margin of almost twenty yards to the next closest (Tucker Kraft with 73 YAC).
On top of all of this, Warren has been every bit as good as advertised in the blocking part of the position. It's not a dream, Colts fans, this offense features both a top ten running back and top ten tight end, not to mention elite wide receiver depth and a quarterback that has been nothing short of sensational this year.
Winner No. 3: Nick Cross
We don't have to sugarcoat it. The Colts defense did not perform as well as we would've all preferred against the Broncos. They did allow 28 points, after all. Still, we've got to take in the context of the unit to their performance. Their top cornerback, Charvarius Ward? Out. Arugably their second best corner, Jaylon Jones? Also out. Second year edge Laiatu Latu, the first defender taken in the entire draft just two years ago? Out as well.
When all of that is taken into consideration, while the on field product wasn't great for the defense, it could have been downright catastrophic. Luckily, it wasn't, and a big part of that was fourth year safety Nick Cross, who was all over the field. Cross broke out as an impact player last year, and has only continued to build on that through the first two weeks of 2025.
Cross was the highest rated player on the Colts defense, per PFF. He clocked in at an outstanding 87.5. For reference, the next highest graded Colts player was cornerback Cam Bynum at 76.8. Cross was great last year, but this year he's been nothing short of amazing. If he can keep this level of play up, the Colts might have a star on their hands.
Loser No. 1: The defense
Yes, Nick Cross was great, and a couple of other Colts defenders made impact plays too (Cam Bynum with his second pick in as many weeks, anyone?). Still, if you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig. The defensive performance that the Colts put up in Week 2 was not a good one, as can be seen by the final score.
It was enough to win this time, but this is also a Broncos offense that looked subpar last week against the Titans. The Broncos through two weeks are not a bad offense this year, but they are no juggernaut like the truly elite offenses of the league.
Ultimately, the team did enough to take home the victory, but the formula for a winning team is not one that relies on the offense to put up herculean efforts week in and week out. This Colts offense is an elite one so far, but the defense needs to shore up, and quick, or the honeymoon that has been the Colts season this year could be nothing but a mirage.
Loser No. 2: Shane Steichen's late game decision making
This statement should be first prefaced by saying this: for almost the entirety of the game against Denver, Steichen called a great offensive performance. However, that doesn't make up for the mind boggling late game management he put together on the Colts final drive of the game.
The Colts still had timeouts, and they had crossed to a little past the fifty yard line. This is a team that features Spencer Shrader at kicker, who had been good this year, but whose career long field goal is 48 yards. Instead of trying to set up a closer kick and increasing Shrader's chances of making it, Steichen allows the clock to run out and sends his kicker out to attempt a 60(!) yard field goal.
Yes, earlier that same day we watched Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey kick sixty yard field goals like they were nothing, but the Colts do not have a weapon at the kicking position like Aubrey. Were it not for a leverage penalty on Denver, Shrader would have missed the game winning field goal and we'd all be lamenting Steichen's decision making a lot more than we are.
Steichen has proven himself to be a good coach through these two weeks of the NFL season, but these are the types of baffling decisions that lose you games against the best teams in the league. He has to clean it up if the Colts want any chance at true contention.
Overall, the Colts game against the Broncos was nothing short of a great success. They rose to the challenge and beat a team who many thought to be among the elite in the NFL. This Indianapolis team is for real, and if they can keep going they have been these first two weeks, they're going to be a real threat come the end of the year.