Taylor Runs Wild as Colts Outlast Falcons in Berlin Thriller
November 10, 2025
The Falcons and Colts kicked off early Sunday morning in Berlin, Germany at Olympic Stadium. The site, of course, is famous for Jesse Owens and his performance at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. It has gone on to host countless other world events and tournaments, and on Sunday, featured their first NFL game. The skies were gray, the field was wet, but the two teams came out ready to battle for an international win.
Indianapolis got to finally debut their expensive, shiny new toy in their defensive backfield and Sauce came out ready to go. Indy made the big move on trade deadline day earlier in the week, and you can read more about it HERE(Link the trade article). Per Next Gen Stats, Sauce Gardner has faced opponent’s number one receiver on 45.5% of his coverage snaps, leading all NFL defensive backs. When targeted, he’s also forced a tight window rate of 52% – Which also ranks first in the league, beating out other big time names like Pat Surtain II and Quinyon Mitchell.
The game opened with both teams exchanging punts. The second possession saw the Colts’ Cam Bynum strip sack Michael Penix for a turnover that immediately led to points behind on a one yard run by Jonathan Taylor. Taylor had a rough one with the Steelers last week when he was held to 3.2 YPC on 14 carries, so it was good to see his phenomenal season immediately pick back up where it left off.
Surprisingly, Penix and the Falcons responded very well and engineered a drive for a touchdown of their own. They did receive some help on a pass interference call but Penix found London for two big gains and had the drive finished off by a Tyler Allgeier run. While the positive response was nice to see, it’d also be great if the Falcons could come out prepared and ready to go for a change. Atlanta has had such an up and down season, looking great and then looking terrible. The big question from this point on was .. which Falcons team are we going to have today?
Daniel Jones went on to hit Alec Pierce in the end zone for a beautiful 37 yard touchdown grab. You almost forget how talented Pierce is when he’s healthy as he’s just missed so much time to injury, but most of the time he makes plays when he’s out there. The former Colts’ second round selection out of Cincinnati can not only fly but get UP, and he did so on this big TD grab.
Again, Atlanta responded with a touchdown drive of their own. The Penix to London connection was out in full force and went for a 16 yard touchdown before half. It would appear we’d have the “good” version of ATL today but it wasn’t all there. There were still some missed blocks, Penix was a bit slow in his reads but the defense was playing lights out. Through three quarters of play, Gardner and London had matched up 10 times resulting in 4 targets and only 12 receptions for 26 yards. Sauce was immediately paying off for the Colts and Penix was struggling to find consistency.
Jonathan Taylor had no problem finding consistency. He was finding little chunks here and there throughout the game but really found open space in the fourth quarter. By the end of the game, including OT, he had completely taken over the and reached 280 total yards. Once this one took to overtime, Taylor continued to grind. The gassed Falcons defense had no answer. They knew he was getting the ball but couldn’t do anything to stop it. Taylor would carry the ball into the endzone in OT to seal the victory for Indianapolis and his third touchdown of the day.
Though Atlanta received the ball first in overtime, they couldn’t cash anything in. Penix was throwing short, not putting enough into his passes and the offense looked inept. This offense is far too up and down as evidenced by the early part of this game. The opening drive sack fumble followed by a second drive touchdown. The Falcons don’t know who they are. They’ll continue this disaster until they’re able to iron out their 2025 identity. Indianapolis beat Atlanta into the ground and showed once again that they’re for real after a rough week 9 in Pittsburgh. It’s also time to consider crowning a running back as the league MVP.
Keith, Author
Keith runs youth flag football leagues by day, and by night he hosts the podcast and writes articles with the confidence of a man who’s been rushing quarterbacks since dial-up. A longtime flag football DE and lifelong Falcons fan, he’s no stranger to heartbreak and enjoys watching the bears get slaughtered each week. Equal parts coach, critic, and chaos, Keith calls it like he sees it… even if it hurts.
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