The Indianapolis Colts head to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers on Sunday, a location that the Colts haven’t won in since 2008.
Both teams are riding into this matchup hot. The Steelers have won their last two games and the Colts have won three straight. For Indianapolis to pull off an impressive win on the road in Pittsburgh, there are a few keys for the defense, in which we will highlight here:
Getting to Mason Rudolph
After a season-ending shoulder surgery for their starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph has manned the Steelers’ offense since Week 2. Rudolph has missed a few games, but he is the slated starter on Sunday.
Like last week, a key for the Colts defense is to get to the quarterback, but this week the cause and effect are different. For one, the Steelers are first in the NFL in sack percentage given up at only 3%. They have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. Rudolph is a young quarterback and if the Colts can get early pressure he will force some passes and the Colts will be able to force some turnovers.
Indianapolis’ pass rush has improved over the past few games, achieving multiple sacks in each of their past three games, but Sunday will be their biggest test yet.
Containing JuJu Smith-Schuster
A lot like last week, the Steelers don’t pose the most-lethal pass attack. Even with Rudolph in at quarterback instead of Roethlisberger, they don’t have a lot of game-breakers at receiver outside of Smith-Schuster.
Pittsburgh’s pass offense throws the ball nearly 60% percent of the time but they don’t really attack teams downfield, only averaging 6.4 yards per pass which is near the bottom of the league. The Steelers’ top receiving threat, Smith-Schuster, must be contained on Sunday. Smith-Schuster averages seven targets per game, by far the most on the Steelers.
As stated last week, the Colts have struggled to contain the opposing offenses’ top receiving threat. Last week they did a better job at that in only giving up three catches for 72 yards against Denver’s top receiver Courtland Sutton. The Colts must keep Smith-Schuster under raps if they want to win Sunday.
Forcing turnovers
One of the hallmarks of the Colts defense last year was forcing turnovers. Last season Indianapolis forced a turnover in an all-but-one game in the regular season and were a +2 in turnover margin. When Indianapolis went on their 9-1 run at the end of last season the main reason was the defense forced a lot of turnovers, 16 to be exact, and they will need to force a few on Sunday.
So far this season the Colts haven’t been great at forcing turnovers, they have only forced seven total turnovers, and they are even in turnover margin. Both the offense and defense will have to work together to swing the turnover margin in their favor in this matchup.
This key is more of a credit to the Steelers who are one of the top teams in the NFL in forcing turnovers themselves but if the Colts can swing that turnover differential their way, that could go a long way in beating the Steelers on Sunday.
