Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor ran the ball 34 times for 177 yards and a touchdown during their victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Taylor's 34 rushing attempts set a new career-high. Taylor punched in his score on a six-yard run in the second frame. His longest carry of the game went for 17 yards. Taylor has enjoyed a fantastic end to the season. The Wisconsin product has tallied at least 100 rushing yards in each of his past four contests and tallied six total touchdowns over this span. This was a nice improvement, as Taylor only eclipsed the century mark four times over his first 10 games of the season. The 25-year-old should continue to be viewed as a high-end RB1 heading into the 2025 season, as he currently stands alone as the clear No. 1 option in the Indianapolis backfield.

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Adonai Mitchell has been fairly quiet outside of his six-catch performance in Week 10. Last week, Mitchell hauled in two of his four targets for 22 yards in the loss to the New York Giants. The rookie wideout has put together a lackluster rookie season with 23 receptions for 312 yards and zero touchdowns heading into the Week 18 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Mitchell is too far down on the depth chart to be considered a viable option right now.

Indianapolis Colts placekicker Matt Gay will be a fringe top option in Week 18 when his team hosts the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars. The sixth-year pro has been excellent in his second season with the Colts -- hammering home all 31 extra-point attempts and missing just five field goals. It starkly contrasts his 2023 season when he missed eight of them and an additional extra point. Jacksonville has been one of the more favorable matchups for kickers this season -- letting up 8.6 fantasy points per game to the position. Quarterback Joe Flacco will again play in an injured Anthony Richardson's (back) stead, and he moved the ball well last week in their 45-33 loss to the Giants. Gay should again be productive and comes in at RotoBaller's K12 in this week's ranks.

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce is coming off a big game that saw him post season-highs in targets and catches, putting up a 6-122-1 line against the Giants. It surely helped that the Colts were playing from behind all game, but the speedy wideout surprisingly leads the Colts in receiving yards (767) despite having only 35 catches on the season, compared to Josh Downs with 62 and Michael Pittman Jr. with 63. That's because of his league-leading aDOT of 21.5 yards per target. While he likely won't see a ton of targets again this week, the 24-year-old should get his usual three to four targets of the deep variety, which should translate to at least a couple long gains. With Pierce, however, he can be "boom" like we saw last week, or he can be more "bust" as he's logged six games with one catch or fewer this season. The matchup versus the Jaguars is a good one, and he posted 134 yards with a TD on them earlier this season, but did so on just three catches. The third-year receiver projects as a volatile WR5 in Week 18.

After averaging over five catches per contest after Week 11, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Josh Downs has had four consecutive weeks with exactly three receptions. Be that as it may, Week 18 brings a matchup versus the Jaguars, the same team the 23-year-old posted nine catches on 12 targets for 69 yards and a touchdown back in Week 5. That game featured Joe Flacco under center too, so Downs will look to replicate that success and end the season on a high note. Jacksonville has allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to wide receivers this season, but the second-most to running backs, so the Colts may lean toward the ground game in this one instead. As a result, view Downs as a low-end WR3 with perhaps some upside in PPR formats if he and Flacco can get rolling again against the Jags.