Jonathan Taylor MVP Case Hyped by NFL Fans as Colts Beat Falcons After Sauce Trade

It turns out the Jonathan Taylor show is just as good in front of an international audience.

The Indianapolis Colts running back led his team to a 31-25 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Sunday’s contest at Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany.

The Colts, who were also playing their first game with Sauce Gardner on the defense, are now 8-2 on the campaign and bounced back from their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As for the Falcons, they dropped their fourth in a row and are just 3-6 on the campaign.

Taylor was unstoppable on his way to 244 rushing yards, 42 receiving yards and three touchdowns, one of which went for 83 yards in the fourth quarter and the last of which was the game-winner in overtime. Kicker Michael Badgley also played the role of hero with a field goal in the final minute of regulation to make up for some earlier misses.

But it was the star running back who stole the show and drew nothing but love from social media:

Taylor fittingly scored the first touchdown during the first-quarter fireworks that included Cam Bynum’s strip-sack of Penix to set up a short field. The Falcons also answered back with a Tyler Allgeier touchdown before Jones found Alec Pierce for a score on a deep ball.

The hot start didn’t last for Indianapolis, though, as Badgley missed an extra point and a field goal in the first half before Drake London’s touchdown catch gave the Falcons the lead heading into intermission.

Atlanta’s defense built on its momentum with a Jessie Bates III interception and James Pearce Jr. strip-sack of Jones on back-to-back possessions.

Indianapolis’ offensive issues went from turnovers to an inability to finish drives as the game progressed. The Falcons stuffed Taylor on a fourth-down play inside the 10-yard line and then sacked Jones in the red zone to force a field goal on two straight drives to maintain a narrow one-point lead with fewer than 10 minutes remaining.

The Colts defense at least kept them well within striking distance as Gardner broke up a third-down pass by just missing an interception.

And that proved to be particularly important when Taylor broke free for his 83-yard touchdown run to take the lead with just more than six minutes remaining. It appeared as if he was going to be stopped for a minimal gain in the middle of the field, but he broke outside and did the rest of the work himself.

That was just the start of the drama, though, as the Falcons went right down the field for another Allgeier touchdown before Indianapolis moved into field-goal range on its final possession of regulation.

The field-goal drive included a key fourth-down conversion from Tyler Warren, who also hauled in a deep ball on the game-winning drive in overtime.

But Taylor was the star, and the Colts are now tied with the Denver Broncos for the best record in the AFC.