Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor made a big mistake in the Week 15 matchup against the Denver Broncos – a big, big wrong. In his premature celebration of the score, Taylor dropped what we learned on repeat: it was actually a live ball that hadn’t yet broken the plane, as he rumbled through the end zone on what should have been the play to give Indy a two-up lead bring scores.
It was painful to watch the replay; the overconfidence Taylor demonstrated was unbecoming of a former All-Pro and NFL title holder. The play would come back to bite not only his own team, still in the hunt for a playoff spot, but also many fantasy football rosters kicking off their own postseason — a hauntingly beautiful metaphor. So, how costly was Taylor’s pursuit of the goal line for fantasy football managers?
A whopping 7.9% of public league Yahoo Fantasy teams that hired Jonathan Taylor lost their respective games because he dropped the ball in front of the goal line. It was an 8.1-point swing in half-PPR scoring format, going from a 41-yard TD (worth 10.1 points) to a 40-yard run with a fumble (2 points).
Taylor addressed his blunder after the match.
“It just can’t happen, regardless of the game and the scenario,” Taylor said. “You can be ahead by 50, or behind by 50, play-off game, first game of the season, that should never happen.”
This isn’t the first time fantasy managers have seen this exact mistake this season. New York Jets rookie Malachi Corley did the exact same thing in Week 9, dropping the ball prematurely to celebrate what should have been an 18-yard touchdown run on the second touch of his career. However, that clumsy hassle was much less costly; that touchdown was never going to make or break the Jets’ season, nor would I dare think many fantasy football managers started Corley, even in the deepest dynasty leagues imaginable.
Did you lose your match because of Taylor’s costly fumble in Week 15? Or were you lucky enough to get a bye?
