Jonathan Taylor's record day leads Colts past depleted Commanders in London

The Indianapolis Colts beat a badly undermanned Washington Commanders team 30-13 on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, closing out the NFL's Week 4 International Series game with a lopsided second half that pulled Indianapolis back to .500 and dropped Washington to 1-3. Running back Jonathan Taylor scored twice and set a league record for career rushing touchdowns in games played outside the United States, according to the Colts' official recap of the win.

A lopsided finish in London

Indianapolis trailed 6-0 after an early Commanders field goal set up by a Colts turnover, and the visitors were still only ahead 10-6 at halftime, a margin built on a five-yard Taylor touchdown run and a 47-yard field goal from Spencer Shrader. The first half was sloppy on both sides, with the Colts averaging just 3.4 yards per play and committing two turnovers of their own. Indianapolis then outscored Washington 20-7 over the final two quarters, a stretch in which the home team's offense produced only one scoring drive. The official NFL box score lists the final quarter-by-quarter line as 0-10-10-10 for Indianapolis and 6-0-7-0 for Washington, with the game marked final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in front of a crowd that had traveled across London for the league's latest international showcase.

The result extended the Colts' international winning streak to three games, following a 2023 victory in Frankfurt and a dramatic overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin last December, when Taylor rushed for 244 yards and three touchdowns in a performance the team later called one of the best individual showings in International Series history. Sunday's game had none of that late drama, but it reinforced a pattern: Indianapolis has now made a habit of winning comfortably on the road abroad, even when the opening quarters look uneven.

The numbers

Taylor's two short touchdown runs, both from five yards out, pushed his career total to five rushing touchdowns scored in games played outside the United States, a mark the Colts' recap described as a new league record for a single player. Quarterback Daniel Jones threw a touchdown pass to receiver Laquon Treadwell and added a four-yard rushing score of his own in the second half, giving Indianapolis three different touchdown-scoring plays after halftime. Shrader made all three of his field-goal attempts, from 47, 52 and 44 yards, continuing a dependable season for the Colts' kicking game.

Washington's only offensive touchdown came on a 47-yard pass from emergency starter Athan Kaliakmanis to receiver Treylon Burks. An apparent 87-yard touchdown catch by Antonio Williams was wiped out by an illegal-shift penalty, one of ten flags against the Commanders compared with a single penalty on the Colts, according to Washington's own account of the loss. Linebacker Jaylon Carlies recorded the first interception of his career early in the third quarter, a turnover that set up Jones' touchdown pass and effectively swung the game. Defensive end Laiatu Latu later forced a fourth-and-one stop that killed a late Washington possession, closing off any realistic path back into the game.

A quarterback crisis in Washington

The Commanders arrived in London already without starter Jayden Daniels, who has been sidelined by an elbow injury, and lost backup Marcus Mariota to a knee injury after Washington's second offensive series. That forced rookie seventh-round pick Athan Kaliakmanis into his first extended NFL action; he finished 15 of 33 for 186 yards with one touchdown and one interception, according to the Commanders' own instant analysis of the loss. Mariota's return timetable is undetermined, the team said, while Daniels is expected to be back at practice this week, though no date has been set for his return to games.

Washington's banged-up roster extended well beyond the quarterback position. The team also listed injuries sustained during the game to cornerback Jaylin Lane, defensive lineman Charles Omenihu, Sonny Styles, Amik Robertson and Jeremy Reaves, an attrition rate that compounded the difficulty of playing a true road game roughly 3,700 miles from home with a lineup already missing its top two passers. The quarterback depth chart now reads third- and fourth-string options with no clear timetable for either Daniels or Mariota to return.

Reaction and what it means

Neither team's locker room offered extended on-camera comment in the immediate aftermath, but both clubs' own recaps framed the game in starkly different terms. Indianapolis described a team that survived a slow start and leaned on its best player when it mattered, with Taylor again doing the heaviest lifting for an offense built around the run. Washington's write-up was more clinical, cataloguing injuries and penalties rather than offering any optimism about the week ahead. The gap in tone mirrored the gap on the scoreboard: a Colts team that is finding ways to win even imperfect games, and a Commanders team whose season is increasingly defined by who is not available to play.

What happens next

For Indianapolis, the win was about restoring equilibrium after a pair of earlier losses this season. The Colts are 2-2 and have now shown they can win comfortably through a slow start, buoyed by Taylor's continued production and a defense that tightened considerably after halftime. For Washington, the trip to London leaves a far more complicated question. With Daniels targeting a return to practice and Mariota's knee injury status unresolved, coach Dan Quinn's staff may have to turn back to Kaliakmanis, or to third option Sam Hartman, for at least part of next week's preparation. At 1-3, the Commanders have little margin left if they hope to contend in a crowded NFC East, and the quarterback uncertainty that shadowed them into London has only deepened on the flight home.

Both teams now shift from a jet-lagged London week back into the normal season rhythm. The Colts return home having bought themselves an extra line of good feeling before their next matchup, while the Commanders need clarity at quarterback, and quickly, before they fall further behind in a division race that is only four weeks old but already unforgiving for a team missing its starter and his primary backup at the same time.