PITTSBURGH — Everything about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game against the Indianapolis Colts spelled doom for them heading into it.
Other than the obvious struggles they have put together defensively throughout the season, Pittsburgh’s safety depth was depleted with DeShon Elliott, Jabrill Peppers, and Chuck Clark all out due to injury.
As a result, the Steelers have put Jalen Ramsey and newly acquired safety Kyle Dugger back there. They switched on and off between the box and free safety, but this week, it did not matter as much for the Steelers.
So, what allowed the Steelers to force six turnovers and thwart a hyper-efficient Colts offense?
The pass rush was dormant the last two weeks, but that was largely due to quarterbacks getting the ball out quickly. This week? The Steelers made sure that would not happen, sending different pressure looks and dropping linebackers and others into quick passing lanes to shut down the easy outlets.
As a result, T.J. Watt, Nick Herbig, and Alex Highsmith were able to dominate this game. Watt had a strip sack, Highsmith had one of his own, and even others, like Patrick Queen, were able to force a fumble off the attention the edge rushers received. Linebacker Payton Wilson got his hands up to force an interception to edge rusher Jack Sawyer.
It was all different. Throughout the week, the Steelers noted they changed some things around to make it ‘simpler’ and allow this defense to play fast, especially considering the restraints.
What was that change?
The Steelers went to their two-high coverages more than they ever have. On the day, they played in their single-high coverages on just 50 percent of the time, a season-low for the unit. Instead, the Steelers kept things in front of them and made the Colts have to dink and dunk their way down the field.
It worked for the Steelers and completely neutralized a quick game passing advantage, as they allowed the Steelers to play some combo coverages and get Joey Porter Jr. up in press coverage while rotating on the back end into cloud coverages and off-man looks.
On top of that, the Steelers did an excellent job slowing down MVP candidate Jonathan Taylor. They held him to a season-low 45 yards on 14 carries. Holding up out of those two-high looks was the key to unlocking the pass rush and allowing the defensive backfield to sit back in those two-high shells.
The offense did its part and put up 27 points, though things could have been much crisper on that side of the football. Still, the story of the game was the Steelers badly needed to correct their defensive woes, and they held what has been one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL to just a modest 20 points.
Kudos are deserved for a Steelers coaching staff that has been bashed throughout much of the game.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.