At the end of The Nice Guys, and after a series of unfortunate events leading Ryan Reynolds’ Holland March and Russell Crowe’s Jackson Healy on a wild goose chase, March retrieves the film that he had
been chasing throughout the movie, which many have died trying to destroy, as Healy defeats the final bad guy in a brawl. Sitting and holding the film, the camera pans to March, who has a relieved smile on his face as we hear his narration: “And sometimes… You just win.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense had been the subject of nonstop, and rightful, criticism over the last two weeks. They allowed 924 yards of offense, 68 points, and took the ball away zero times in consecutive losses. And entering a game against a Colts offense that leads the NFL in points per game, point differential, and is scoring on the highest percentage of drives of any team since 2000, few had high expectations for Pittsburgh. That only made what the Steelers went out and did even more impressive.
The Steelers took the ball away from the Colts six times, sacked Daniel Jones five times, and held Jonathan Taylor to 45 yards rushing and zero touchdowns in a showing that was fitting of the highest-paid defense in the NFL.
Things looked grim to begin the game. The Steelers won the toss and elected to receive, but promptly went three-and-out. Indianapolis then took the ball 85 yards and scored on a Daniel Jones rush from one yard out to put an exclamation mark on a 13-play drive that featured two fourth-down conversions. The Steelers went three-and-out again, but a Josh Downs muffed punt began what was an afternoon of takeaways for Pittsburgh. And while the Steelers failed to score a touchdown on the ensuing drive, Mike Tomlin deserves credit for trusting his offense and going for it.
The next two drives ended with Colts turnovers. The first was a strip sack by T.J. Watt that he also recovered. The Steelers turned that takeaway into a Jaylen Warren touchdown. A Payton Wilson interception set the Steelers up inside the red zone, and Pat Freiermuth scored two plays later on a touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers. That touchdown was Rodgers’ 17th of the season, which is the most any Steelers quarterback has had since Ben Roethlisberger retired. He finished the day 25-of-33 for 203 yards and that touchdown.
After two punts from the Colts with a Chris Boswell field goal sandwiched in between, Wilson deflected a Daniel Jones pass into the hands of Jack Sawyer, who recorded the first interception of his career. The Steelers drove seven plays and Warren punched it in for his second score of the day to put Pittsburgh up 24-7. A late rally by the Colts proved not to be enough, though, as the Steelers held on to win 27-20 and improve to 5-3 on the season.
There are plenty of names that deserve individual recognition, which, of course, we’ll get into tomorrow with Varsity & JV Performers, but Alex Highsmith and Payton Wilson deserve one here. Highsmith hadn’t made any splash plays, and many fans were talking about trading him before the deadline – he had two sacks, one of which was a strip sack. Wilson had the first Jones interception and forced the second one.
The Steelers have things to clean up. The Colts were 5-for-5 on fourth down, and Pittsburgh’s offense continues to struggle on third down. Several drops also left yards on the field. However, they were opportunistic in every facet of the game. While six turnovers a week isn’t sustainable, these are the types of games a unit this highly compensated should have. Mike Tomlin and the entire staff deserve credit for avoiding a third straight loss and doing so against the best offense in the league. In doing so, the Steelers remain two games ahead of the Baltimore Ravens, as well as the Cincinnati Bengals, who dropped to 3-6 in a loss to the Chicago Bears.
The road doesn’t get much easier for the Steelers, who will now head to Los Angeles to face the 6-3 Chargers in Week 10. For the time being, though, they can feel great about their biggest win of the season.
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