Not a strong performance from the offense last Sunday for the Indianapolis Colts, and it doesn’t get easier for the offense in Week 9. While Pittsburgh doesn’t have the “Steeler Curtain” anymore, they still have one very stout defense. The Steelers are near the top of the NFL in all major defensive categories, yards, points, and sacks.
Let’s take a look at some of the keys for the Colts’ offense as they travel to Pittsburgh to get a win versus the Steelers for the first time since 2008:
Pass to win?
The Colts are very much a ground-and-pound team, but when the matchup is favorable, they will get pass-heavy. That could be the case Sunday. As Colts fans saw versus the Falcons and Texans when the Colts need to rely on the passing game, they come through.
Now the Steelers are a very strong defense all-around, but they aren’t as good in the passing game. Pittsburgh has a top-five rush defense, only allowing on average, 103 rush yards per game and 3.7 per rush. On the flip side, Pittsburgh allows a 66% completion rate, bottom in the NFL, and give up 233 passing yards per game.
What the Steelers do well is forcing turnovers. They average nearly three takeaways per game which is good for second-most. If the Colts can not turn the ball over and find a way to move the ball via the pass, that could help the offense in this matchup.
Containing the pass rush
Probably the Steelers’ best position group on defense is their defensive line. Guys like Bud Dupree, T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt are all players that can wreck a gameplan for an opposing offense. The offensive line will have to bring their “A” game Sunday versus the Steelers.
The Steelers run a 3-4 type defense, with a lot of exotic looks where pre-snap they won’t show who is rushing and who is dropping back in coverage, so the Colts will have to recognize that pre-snap. Pittsburgh is top-10 in the NFL in sack percentage, nearly 9% of the time a team passes. They get to the QB, that number will have to be way lower for the Colts to move the ball.
24 sacks in seven games for the Steelers this year. Their leading sacker is Watt with six sacks, and he can line up everywhere. Expect him to line up on the right side Sunday over Braden Smith and Mark Glowinski. Another guy to worry about specifically is Cameron Heyward. He’s second on the team in sacks with 4.5 and is their fourth-leading tackler with 34. Indianapolis must key on those two guys to allow Brissett time to throw.
Scoring touchdowns
The Steelers defense is a little like the Colts defense in that they allow a lot of yards, but they don’t allow offenses to score touchdowns. Clearly scoring touchdowns in the red zone is very key for an offense, but in what should be a tight low-scoring game, the Colts must turn red zone drives into touchdowns.
Pittsburgh only gives up around 20 points per game, good for 13th in the NFL. The reason for the low points per game is their red zone defense is very good. A top-six unit in the NFL, they allow touchdowns on only 47% of all drives that get into the red zone. They’re also top-10 in touchdowns allowed per game, they only give up around two per game so they’re forcing teams to kick field goals in the red zone.
As mentioned, the Colts are one of the better teams in the NFL in scoring touchdowns in the red zone. With Indianapolis going 1-1 scoring touchdowns in the red zone, and Denver only going 1-3, that allowed Indianapolis to stay in the game. If the Colts can find a high success rate of scoring touchdowns in the red zone Sunday, they could beat the Steelers.
