Pictured: me at 12:59PM Eastern on Sunday in anticipation of the Steelers-Colts game

As you probably gathered last week, I did not have the highest hopes that the Steelers would beat the Indianapolis Colts yesterday, a team that entered week 9 with a 7-1 record and a serious MVP candidate in running back Jonathan Taylor. 

This lack of confidence was further exacerbated by the absences of three safeties—Chuck Clark, DeShon Elliott (who is out for the season), and Jabril Peppers—as well as inside linebacker Cole Holcomb. In fact, the Steelers entered the contest against quarterback Daniel Jones and his case for comeback player of the year with two healthy safeties, one of whom was a midweek acquisition in Kyle Dugger. 

The game started about how I expected. The Steelers’ offense went three-and-out, and the Colts methodically marched down the field on their first drive for a touchdown. In less than seven minutes, there was already concern for a blowout. 

The Steelers went three-and-out again and were set to punt the ball back to Indianapolis’s potent offense. I had basically called the game as a loss already. However, Corliss Waitman’s punt bounced off of the returner and was recovered by Brandin Echols, setting Pittsburgh up at the Colts’ 11. This time, they would not go three-and-out…because they went for it on fourth down and failed to convert that, too. 

The Steelers’ defense began to take over from that point, though. On the ensuing Colts’ drive, TJ Watt would force a Daniel Jones fumble on a strip sack, the first of five turnovers for Jones in the game—the Colts as a team had only four giveaways through the previous eight weeks. Jones would throw three interceptions and fumble three times, two of which were recovered by the Steelers. He was also sacked five times on his 55 dropbacks. 

The Steelers scored 17 of their 27 points in the second quarter, capitalizing on Jones’s turnovers. Their two touchdown drives were 56 and 14 yards long, as the offense still was not able to move the ball the full length of the field. 

When the Steelers entered the locker room up 17-7, I was hit with deja vu. They were up 16-7 last week against the Packers and completely fell apart in the second half. I was almost certain that that would be the case again. 

It was not. After each team traded punts to start the third, Daniel Jones threw another interception in Steelers’ territory, leading to Pittsburgh’s third touchdown of the day, as Jaylen Warren’s second score put them up 24-7. The Colts would hit a 52-yard field goal on their next drive, and after a punt by Waitman, Daniel Jones fumbled again, a turnover that led to a Chris Boswell 46-yard kick to make it 27-10 with 6:55 left in the game. 

Naturally, the game had to become interesting. The Colts cut the lead to ten with 4:30 left. After an unsuccessful onside kick, the Steelers picked up a first down with a pass to Roman Wilson, who moronically decided to leap in the air to hurdle a defender, and subsequently fumbled. The Colts would get the ball back with 3:43 left down by ten. 

Thankfully, Jones threw another interception, and the Steelers could wind the clock down to 1:12 before punting back to Indy, who would kick a field goal with 13 seconds left to reach a final score of 27-20. 

It was, by no means, a pretty game. The Colts out-gained the Steelers by 143 yards, and the home team only won by seven despite being plus-five in the turnover column. The Colts were also a perfect five for five on fourth-down conversions. 

At the end of the day, though, it is very difficult to win games in the NFL, especially against a team that entered the week as the only one-loss team in football. Instead of being .500 and on a three-game skid, the Steelers are now 5-3, two games ahead of the Ravens in the AFC North, and will have an opportunity to get their sixth win against a tough 6-3 Chargers squad on Sunday night. Hopefully, the men clad in black and yellow can do to Justin Herbert what they did to Daniel Jones.