Indianapolis, IN

Winners and losers from Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts

Published

3 months ago

September 29, 2024

Winners and losers from Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts

INDIANAPOLIS — The Pittsburgh Steelers came out slow against the Indianapolis Colts and paid the price for it, falling 27-24 in a valiant comeback attempt. However, Pittsburgh still sits at 3-1 and will be atop the AFC North, so it’s not all bad for the Steelers. Regardless, this loss highlighted a lot of issues that bubbled to the surface despite some very good play all around the team through their first three wins.

Here are the winners and losers from the Steelers’ loss to the Colts:

Loser: Linebackers

You can put Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson in this bucket, especially. The Steelers’ linebackers have struggled throughout much of the year, but a dominant defensive line has made most of the issues. With the Colts having the offensive line to neutralize Pittsburgh’s defensive line. In the second half, the linebackers did step up their play against the run, but with consistent miscommunication across the defense, some of that comes back to Queen. Queen himself missed a few keys and struggled to fit the run early. Wilson struggled in coverage mightily, getting caught being too aggressive on too many reps.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen did an excellent job pitting the linebackers in conflict, which sank the defense for much of the day. Without the linebacker play to stay afloat, Pittsburgh could not secure themselves a win.

Winner: Darnell Washington

Washington continues to prove that he is fantastic. He has taken a second-year leap as a blocker and cleared out numerous lanes for the Steelers running backs, but the plus ones in the box, which we will get to in a bit, prevented much of that from mattering. As a pass catcher, there is untapped potential, and he can be deadly after the catch when given space.

Washington is a solid player who gets better each week. The Steelers will want to acquire that type of player as they continue to build their team into a contender.

Loser: Coaching Staff

The entire Steelers coaching staff deserves some flack. Mike Tomlin does for a poor challenge and awful clock awareness throughout the game. From that perspective, the way he called the game made no sense. Tomlin failed to challenge a third down where Najee Harris clearly got a first one. The Steelers came out extremely flat and that goes to the head coach.

Defenisve coordinator Teryl Austin struggled to adjust after the quarterback switch due to Anthony Richardson’s injury. The Steelers never blitzed or disguised their coverages, and instead let the Colts dissect their vanilla Cover 3 scheme. Pittsburgh needs to go deeper into its bag of tricks against clever offensive coordinators, something they have struggled to do. For the predictability, that falls on Austin.

Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith called a brutal game that put his team in tough spots. The Steelers ran on second-and-long five times throughout the game, and Smith’s insistence on running the football in bad situations hurt the team significantly. Pittsburgh’s run game continues to run in the mud, and their play-action game has shown no life down the field through four weeks of the season. All of that falls on him, and Pittsburgh’s struggles are, to a large point, on him.

Winner: DeShon Elliott

Elliott played well in this game, and the Steelers have themselves a legitimately solid safety. In a game where many players, including Joey Porter Jr. and Minkah Fitzpatrick, uncharacteristically struggled, Elliott was like a shining diamond in the sea. He continues to make the Steelers’ investment in him look smarter by the day.

Loser: Najee Harris

Harris averaged less than two yards per carry, posting 19 yards on 13 rush attempts. He did have a big play on the screen, but it did not make up the day. Harris is not a great schematic fit and Smith has done little to nothing to tweak it to him, even when the Steelers showed they could be a deadly pulling team last year.

However, Harris continues to show that his lack of burst, especially getting downhill with zone runs, is a huge issue for the Steelers. The icing on the cake was Harris not going out of bounds on the final drive, forcing the Steelers to rush their final play. He is a loser in this one, and is off to a disappointing start.

Winner: Cordarrelle Patterson

Patterson is efficient and fits this offense like a glove. Before his unfortunate ankle injury, the Steelers were working extremely well with Patterson taking much of the work from Harris, and his explosive, hit-it-quick style is just what the Steelers need. If he can get healthy, Patterson should take up even more time.

BETTING: Check out our guide to the best PA sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks.

Source link

Click to comment

Indianapolis, IN

Colts’ Taylor repents for gaffe with 218-yard day

Published

6 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Colts’ Taylor repents for gaffe with 218-yard day

Stephen Holder, ESPNDec 22, 2024, 06:41 PM ET
Close

INDIANAPOLIS — Jonathan Taylor made a lightning-quick jump cut through the hole and saw nothing but daylight ahead.

Once the Indianapolis Colts running back reached the goal line, some 65 yards later, his run was still not complete. Taylor kept going, running into the tunnel that leads to the Colts’ locker room in the southwest corner of Lucas Oil Stadium. It was Taylor’s way of sending a message: This time, he would hold on to the football after arriving at the end zone — something he did not do a week ago.

Taylor reached the end zone two more times Sunday, including a 70-yard scoring run, during his 218-yard performance in the Colts’ historic 38-30 win over the Tennessee Titans. Indianapolis’ offense dominated the line of scrimmage, rushing for a franchise-record 335 yards in a victory that kept the team’s faint playoff hopes alive. The Colts surpassed the previous high established in 1956, nearly three decades before the franchise left Baltimore for the Midwest in 1984.

It was Taylor’s second career 200-yard performance behind only his career-high 253-yard game in the final week of the 2020 season. His most recent performance came on the heels of last Sunday’s game in which Taylor committed a costly miscue, dropping the ball prematurely as he crossed the goal line on a would-be 41-yard run that could’ve given Indianapolis a two-touchdown lead.

The Colts went on to lose the critical matchup, dealing a severe blow to their playoff hopes. Taylor didn’t make the mistake again this week.

“I had already predetermined in my mind that next time, I’m going all the way in the tunnel,” Taylor said Sunday.

In fact, Taylor approached the whole situation with levity. He and backup running back Tyler Goodson planned a bit ahead of the game. After Taylor emerged from the tunnel, Goodson ran up to him and playfully tried to strip the ball, with Taylor keeping a tight grip.

“Just trolling, making the crowd laugh a little bit,” Goodson said.

In reality, there was nothing funny about the way the Colts pushed around the Titans. Tennessee allowed the most rushing yards of any team this season and the second most in Titans/Oilers franchise history. The Colts made no pretense about their intentions, either, at one point running on 12 consecutive plays during three possessions in the second quarter.

“That’s kind of the exciting part,” Taylor said “It’s kind of when you start imposing your will, establishing that line of scrimmage. Those are the types of football games as a running back … you love.”

Tight end Mo Alie-Cox added: “By the end of the game … we were still getting 5 yards a pop. They still couldn’t really stop it. They were calling it, but they couldn’t do nothing about it.”

Then, Alie-Cox relayed a story that unfolded before a particular play.

“It’s hilarious,” he said. “One time, they were like, ‘It’s a screen. Boom.’ And then one of their [defensive] ends was like, ‘Man, they’re about to give it to Jonathan Taylor. He’s about to run for 300 [yards] on us.’ Once he said that, I was like, ‘Yeah, we got him.’”

In light of the rushing success, Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson wasn’t asked to do much from the pocket. He completed just 7 of 11 passes for 131 yards. But Richardson was a part of the rushing bonanza, running for a career-high 70 yards.

Now, the Colts hope to finish with wins over the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars in their remaining two games, along with hoping numerous other dominoes fall their way in their bid to make the postseason.

Source link

Indianapolis, IN

How the Colts can make the NFL playoffs

Published

14 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts’ playoff odds are at 10% according to the New York Times, and that seems high. Here is what to know:

The Colts are out of the playoffs if they lose to the Titans

This is pretty straightforward. If the Colts lose, the most games they can win this season is 8. Seven teams — Kansas City, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Houston, Los Angeles and Denver — already have nine wins.

The Colts can make the playoffs if they win out, Chargers lose out

If the Colts win out against the Titans, Giants and Jaguars, they’ll be 9-8. If the Chargers lose to the Raiders and Patriots. The Colts would win the conference record tiebreaker if they are the only two teams with nine wins.

There are multiple-team scenarios involving Los Angeles but the Colts will make the playoffs if these two scenarios happen.

How the Colts can make the playoffs if they win out and the Broncos lose out

If the Broncos lose to Cincinnati and Kansas City and the Colts win out, the Colts make the playoffs if Cincinnati or Miami win out or the Chargers lose out.

The Colts lose the head-to-head tiebreaker to Denver if its just those two teams.

If Los Angeles is also 9-8, it wins the division tiebreaker over the Broncos due to head-to-head and advances to the wild card tiebreaker.

In this scenario, the Colts and Dolphins would have the best conference record at 7-5, eliminating the other possible teams. Indianapolis beat Miami, putting them in the playoffs.

Source link

Indianapolis, IN

Colts vs Titans TV coverage map in NFL Week 16

Published

21 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Colts vs Titans TV coverage map in NFL Week 16

The Indianapolis Colts host the Tennessee Titans in NFL Week 16 action as the Colts try to remain in the AFC playoff race.

The CBS game will be shown in only the Indianapolis and Nashville NFL markets. It will also air in much of Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee, and in parts of Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

When do the Colts play the Titans in NFL Week 16?

1 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis

How to watch Colts vs Titans in NFL Week 16

CBS, with Tom McCarthy (play-by-play), and Ross Tucker and Jay Feely (analysis).

How to stream, watch Titans-Colts game for NFL Week 16

The Colts-Broncos matchup will stream on Paramount+ at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. The app is available in the Apple App Store or on Google Play. Fans can also download NFL+ in the Apple App Store or on Google Play.