ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Coach Frank Reich and the Indianapolis Colts discovered an easy fix to their problems holding fourth-quarter leads: Keep feeding Jonathan Taylor the ball.
The second-year running back set a franchise record by scoring five times, and took over the NFL lead in both yards rushing and touchdowns, in a 41-15 rout of the unraveling Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
"When J.T. turns on the jets, he's gone," tight end Mo Alie-Cox said of Taylor, who scored on runs of 1, 2, 3 and 10 yards and a 23-yard reception. "Like the one play at the goal line, I'm blocking and I just turn my head and I just see him flying through the air like a superhero."
All that was missing was a cape for Taylor, who scored three times in the first half as Indy built a 24-7 lead and finished with a season-best 185 yards rushing.
The Colts (6-5) have won five of six to get back into the AFC playoff race. Taylor helped ease the concerns of a team that had squandered three fourth-quarter leads this season.
"It meant a lot. I mean, that's something that we're going to have to do if we want to get to where we want to go at the end of the year," Taylor said. "We're going to have to be able to put games away in the fourth quarter, we're going to have to put points up."
Taylor became the NFL's first player to score five TDs in one game since New Orleans' Alvin Kamara had six TDs rushing in a 52-33 win over Minnesota last Christmas Day, and the first to do so against Buffalo.
The Bills (6-4) ceded their lead atop the AFC East, falling a half-game behind -- guess who? -- New England, which Buffalo will play twice over the next five weeks. Buffalo has dropped three of five, and hasn't won consecutive games since a 4-0 run ended with a 34-31 loss at Tennessee on Oct. 18.
Buffalo was undone by four turnovers, the first three leading to Colts touchdowns.
"We're a really good football team when we don't bite ourselves in the butt. What we put on the field today is not who we are," said Josh Allen, who threw two touchdown passes, both to Stefon Diggs, and two interceptions. "We need to do a better job on all fronts. There's no way around it, but at the same time, it's not panic mode."
If not now, then perhaps soon. Buffalo has a short week before traveling to play New Orleans on Thursday night.
Buffalo was flat from the beginning on Sunday. After limiting opponents to two field goals in the first quarter through their first nine games, the Bills gave up two touchdowns to Taylor in the first 13:22.
The bottom then fell out in the second quarter after Michael Badgley capped a 15-play, 58-yard drive with a 36-yard field goal to put the Colts up 17-7 with 2:12 left before halftime. Isaiah McKenzie fielded the ensuing kickoff and lost the ball untouched while stumbling to the turf at Buffalo's 13. Taylor scored on the next play by diving over a pile.
