Game Overview ::
By Mike johnson >>
- Indianapolis continues to churn out elite offensive production, leading the league in points per game, yards per play, and several other major metrics.
- Colts RB Jonathan Taylor is the current front-runner for NFL Offensive Player of the Year and has had FOUR games through eight weeks where he scored three touchdowns.
- Pittsburgh’s defense is being mentioned in the same breath as the Bengals and Cowboys, with embarrassing performances in the past two weeks.
- Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf has had a solid start to his career in Pittsburgh, but is in a position for his best game in the black and gold, as the game script will likely necessitate him being heavily involved.
- Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin tend to find ways to keep games competitive, which increases the likelihood of this game turning into a back and forth shootout in the second half.
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How indianapolis Will Try To Win ::
Jonathan Taylor has been absolutely incredible this season. Taylor has played eight games and in four of them, he has scored three touchdowns. To put that in perspective, there have only been 12 TOTAL three touchdown performances in the ENTIRE NFL this season. This puts the scoreboard at JT 4, the rest of the NFL 8. Not too shabby. To add to that scoring dominance, Taylor is second in the NFL at 5.9 yards per carry and leads the league in rushing yards. He has also expanded his game and become more of a threat in the passing game, as his 25 receptions put him on pace to easily surpass his previous career high of 40 receptions in a season. All of these things are telling most people something we already know, which is that JT is awesome. This is all being laid out at the start of this breakdown as a metaphor for how the Colts will approach this game in the same way that JT sets the tone for the rest of their offense.
The Colts decision to start Daniel Jones at quarterback has clearly been the right one and his elite performance tells us a lot about several things. First of all, how bad is Anthony Richardson? Second of all, what was Brian Daboll doing with Jones in New York? Finally, how good is Jaxson Dart if he can look as good as he does right now with Daboll calling the shots and a misfit cast of skill players? But I digress, we are here to talk about the Colts.
Jones has been terrific and obviously we know the Colts are built around JT, but their skill players also fit together seamlessly. Michael Pittman Jr. is a very good wide receiver, but not an elite “alpha” type of talent. He fits perfectly into this offense as he is a big target and strong in the short or intermediate areas, while being versatile enough to move around the formation. Rookie TE Tyler Warren is versatile and athletic, being effective in short yardage situations and also breaking open some plays up the seams and/or by breaking tackles after the catch. Josh Downs is a quick and talented slot receiver who can create separation and pick apart certain matchups and coverages. Alec Pierce plays a high snap rate and provides big play potential and forces defenses to respect the deep ball, which opens things up for the running game and the other receivers underneath. Pierce plays a much bigger role for this team than the box score sometimes shows, as his presence opens things up for everyone else and the efficiency of the running game and short area passing opens things up for him downfield – it truly is beautiful complementary football and this explains why the Colts have been a historically good offense so far this season, averaging 33.8 points and 385 yards of offense per game.
This week, the Colts juggernaut gets to face a Steelers defense that has been horrific by Pittsburgh standards. The Steelers have missed the third most tackles in the NFL this season, which could be a problem against the best tackle breaker in the league. Only the Bengals and Cowboys are giving up more yards per game to opponents, while only the Browns, with Dillon Gabriel at QB, and the Patriots, who turned the ball over five times, were held under 21 points by this Steelers team. Making matters worse for Pittsburgh is the fact that they lost defensive back DeShon Elliott, who had been one of their better players on that side of the ball, to a knee injury last week. The Colts should have no problem moving the ball down the field and explosive plays are likely to be easy to find. We have seen running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends have massive games against the Steelers in various spots this season. There should be no shortage of offensive production in this one and the Colts are likely to once again start their attack around Taylor and take advantage of the Steelers for whatever adjustments they make to slow him down.
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