'Full of emotions': Colts Tyler Goodson goes from season-ending mistake last year to 1st TD

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyler Goodson had to find the ball.

It had slipped out of his hand.

When Goodson scored the first NFL touchdown of his career on Sunday, the only touchdown the Colts scored in a 16-10 win over the Dolphins , the third-year running back started celebrating with the ball clasped firmly in his left hand, until his teammates came over to celebrate with him and accidentally knocked it to the turf.

Goodson finished celebrating, then looked back frantically for his prize.

“I knew I was coming back for it,” Goodson said. “I just had to hit my little dance with my teammates, celebrate with my teammates, but I was definitely coming back for that ball.”

For Goodson, that ball represents more than the lone Indianapolis touchdown in an ugly 16-10 win over the Dolphins.

That ball is perseverance, resilience, growth.

Proof he belongs in the NFL after everything he’s been through.

“It’s just surreal for me to be in this position,” Goodson said.

Goodson went undrafted out of Iowa, left unselected despite a 1,000-yard season in his final year in Iowa City, a 4.42-second time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine and three years of experience at a Big Ten School.

He stuck on Green Bay’s practice squad as a rookie, briefly made the Packers’ 53-man roster at the end of the season, failed to see action and found himself on the chopping block at the end of his second training camp in Green Bay.

Indianapolis picked up Goodson a couple of weeks later, placed him on the practice squad and activated him late. The Colts gave Goodson his first NFL carry, his first big game (against the Steelers) and a defined role even after Indianapolis got back the services of superstar running back Jonathan Taylor struck.

Goodson seemed on his way.

Then disaster struck. Indianapolis put its season in his hands on fourth down of the season finale against the Texans last year, and although quarterback Gardner Minshew did Goodson no favors by throwing the ball to the opposite spot of where it was supposed to be, the young running back blamed himself for the drop that essentially ended the Colts’ season.

“The way we ended the season, the way I ended the season, is not the way we wanted to go, how I wanted to go,” Goodson said. “I just felt like the world was crashing down on me. The people that loved me stayed close to me and kept me up. I’m just full of emotions right now.”

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His teammates had his back. Taylor defended Goodson in the locker room after the loss.

But Goodson felt the reality of the moment, the uncertainty of his NFL career to that point and started worrying about his place.

“When you go through things like that, it’s more of a mental thing on yourself,” Goodson said. “You start thinking all types of negative thoughts going through your head.”

He did not have to worry.

Indianapolis counted on Goodson this offseason, betting heavily that the performance he and Trey Sermon produced against Pittsburgh would carry over if Taylor was injured again. The Colts had opportunities to add a running back this offseason to replace former Indianapolis backup Zack Moss, but they never made a move.

Their reason for keeping Goodson boiled down to one word.

“Explosiveness,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said.

Goodson does not dance in the backfield, waiting for a hole to open.

“I want it bad,” Goodson said. “Every time I see a hole — the hole doesn’t stay open too long — I’ve got to hit it as quick as possible. Any time I see a little light of day, I’m going to hit it.”

But the Colts did not turn to Goodson when Taylor suffered a high ankle sprain against Pittsburgh two weeks ago. The Colts handed the job to Sermon, betting on the bigger player’s all-around game over Goodson’s “bat out of hell” approach to running the ball.

The decision backfired.

Sermon struggled in the team’s first two games without Taylor, averaging just 2.4 yards per carry on 28 attempts without the team’s superstar back.

Indianapolis made a change on Sunday.

The Colts emphasized Goodson over Sermon against the Dolphins, handing him a career-high 14 carries.

Goodson responded with 51 yards, picking his spots on a day when the Colts had to rely on the running game to move the chains because of Richardson’s struggles through the air.

The touchdown was the cherry on top of Goodson’s Sunday. By the time he met with local media after the game, the third-year back felt the words tumbling out of him.

“I’m talking too fast, because I’m so happy right now,” Goodson said.

He got his ball out of the end zone, headed to the sideline and handed the ball to an equipment manager, planning to get it back on Monday morning.

Goodson plans to frame it.

That ball means a lot more than just a touchdown.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 'Full of emotions': Colts Tyler Goodson goes from season-ending mistake last year to 1st TD