The NFL compiles a stats packet each week during the season that it makes available to media outlets, and the final page contains offensive and defensive rankings for each of the 32 teams. There are 17 offensive categories, and in last week’s packet, the Indianapolis Colts ranked in the top 7 in 16 of the 17 listed categories.
Not coincidently, the Colts also employ the best running back in football. Jonathan Taylor, and he is doing historic things at the position in 2025. Taylor came into the game with 12 touchdowns, a total that was better or tied with 4 other teams. Taylor also was on pace to lead the NFL in carries, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns – what’s referred to as a running back’s Triple Crown. Since Taylor also won a Triple Crown in 2021, if he does it again in 2025 he becomes the first guy to have more than 1 Triple Crown since a guy named Jim Brown did it in 1958, 1959, and 1965.
A daunting task under any circumstances, but especially so for a team such as the Steelers, whose defense had allowed a combined 68 points and 924 total net yards in its previous two games, both losses, to Cincinnati and Green Bay.
For the Steelers, there seemed to be only one path to snapping their 2-game losing streak and getting to 5-3 against the 7-1 Colts, on a 4-game winning streak and averaging 33.8 points per, and that was to score at least 30 and then hope for the best.
“I don’t,” Coach Mike Tomlin had said a couple of days before the game about that premise. “No disrespect to their body of work and what they’ve done, but this is the National Football League. Every weekend you’ve got to prove it. You begin anew every weekend. That applies to us, that applies to those we compete against. I’m not going to anoint them. They’ve got to earn that in-stadium. We all have to earn that in-stadium each and every week. And I just think that’s the mindset held by all parties involved that compete on this stage.”
Attributing the 27-20 victory on Nov. 2 to the team believing it had something to prove trivializes the complexity of defeating a team like Indianapolis at this point in time, but there’s no question the Steelers proved something, nonetheless.
“You know, it was a tough week, but we certainly deserved it based on the last performance,” said Tomlin in the immediate aftermath. “I like the way the guys absorbed it, smiled in the face of it, and prepared and waited for the next opportunity. That’s the National Football League. You get one opportunity every seven days. Sometimes you gotta wear it. We certainly wore it this week. I’m appreciative of their spirit, their efforts, their resolve. Certainly, we weren’t perfect in any of the three phases, but we fought. We did what was necessary. We made plays. So it’s a big-time win for the collective.”
When it comes time to hand out bouquets for that “big-time win for the collective” it’s appropriate to start with the defense, the unit that might have had the toughest week. Based on the pedigree and resumes of the players, and the size of the W-2s required to assemble them, expectations for the defense were high before the first snap in the opener, and got ridiculous from there.
Then came back-to-back stinkers, in Cincinnati on a Thursday night when Chase Brown rushed for 108, and Joe Flacco threw for 342, and JaMarr Chase caught 16 for 161; and then at home against the Packers when Jordan Love to tight end Tucker Kraft accounted for 7 catches for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Things didn’t start well against the Colts, either. In the first quarter, Indianapolis’ offense had a 12-play, 79-yard touchdown drive, 7 first downs, was 5-for-5 combined on possession downs, and possessed the ball for 9-and-a-half of the 15 minutes. The one thing the Steelers defense was doing, though, was controlling Jonathan Taylor, who has been impacting games this season the way Saquon Barkley did last season.
“Can’t say enough about the defense’s effort to minimize the runner,” said Tomlin. “I don’t think you slow that group down unless you minimize their runner, and we were able to do that. I think that’s why we were able to get them in some one-dimensional circumstances, create some pressure, create some sacks and the turnovers that go with that. It started with minimizing their dynamic runner. He is that. He’s dynamic.”
A few minutes into the second quarter, because Taylor had 7 carries for just 18 yards the Steelers were controlling the linchpin of the NFL’s No. 1 offense, which allowed them to create some pressure. T.J. Watt took it from there. With the Colts fast approaching field goal range and a 10-0 lead at least, Watt beat his man, strip-sacked Daniel Jones and recovered the ball himself at the Steelers 44-yard line.
An offense that hadn’t done much right to that point put together a 12-play 56-yard drive capped by a 1-yard run by Jaylen Warren, and it was 7-7. That was a spark, and it became a 27-10 lead for the Steelers midway through the fourth quarter.
Payton Wilson had an interception, a batted ball that Jack Sawyer turned into another interception, and a whole bunch of tackles all over the field. Alex Highsmith had 2 sacks, one of which was a strip-sack that Derrick Harmon recovered. Brandin Echols recovered a muffed punt. Joey Porter Jr. had an interception and 4 total passes defensed. Kyle Dugger came from New England in a trade on Tuesday, practice with his new team for the first time on Thursday, and played a lot of snaps on Sunday because injuries meant it was gonna have to be him and Jalen Ramsey carrying the load at safety.
“Can’t say enough about Kyle Dugger. Just gave him the game ball in there. This guy got on the moving train, and played a lot of defense for us today, and we needed it. We were really short at the safety position. We’re running super thin, and that dude came in here and gave us some quality work.”
Ramsey played well, too, and he provided something extra. He spoke to the team on Saturday night at the hotel.
“But I noticed that something kind of changed last night when Jalen spoke,” said Aaron Rodgers. “It’s not easy to speak in front of the team, even when you’re a player. It’s unnatural … Jalen went on and on. Had the attention in the room. He said good stuff. I’m not going to get into it. It’s kind of need-to-know information. It was meaningful to me on the offensive side. I felt like we had a different energy in the locker room today.”
They’re 5-3, atop the AFC North. It’s November. Time for that spark to turn into a flame.
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