Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Indianapolis Colts: Players to Watch
After 27 minutes it looked like the Pittsburgh Steelers were on their way to a 3-4 record. The coaches hot seat was getting hotter every second that passed. Then all of a sudden the Steelers were up 24-13 and on their way to big Monday night win. 4-3 looks a lot better than 3-4 through seven weeks. In week eight the Steelers welcome in the 5-2 Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers have flip flopped wins and losses through seven weeks this season, meaning week eight might not go well if you believe those trends will continue. Here are a few players to watch for on Sunday.
Andrew Luck
Before the season I ranked Andrew Luck ahead of Ben Roethlisberger on the list of top NFL quarterbacks. Through seven weeks it would be hard to argue that anybody other than Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning is playing better than Andrew Luck at the moment. After an 0-2 start for the Colts, Luck has carried the Colts offense over the past five games throwing 14 touchdowns to only four interceptions. Luck is tied for the league lead with 19 touchdown passes and he has thrown for the most yards in the NFL. Almost halfway through his third NFL season, Luck has the highest QB rating of his career at 100.5. Luck has never faced the Steelers before, who currently rank 13th in passing yards allowed per game. In the past five games for the Colts they have not faced a team ranked in the top 20 of pass yards allowed.
Le’Veon Bell
The Colts defense has been very good this season. That’s easy to say after the just shut out the Bengals last week, but during their five game win streak only the Texans have scored over 20 points. The Colts defense ranks third in fewest yards allowed per game and they are fourth in points allowed per game at 19.4. Therefore this is going to be a very good test for the Steelers offense and Le’Veon Bell, who has recorded over 100 total yards from scrimmage in every game this season. If it wasn’t for DeMarco Murray rushing for 100 yards in seven straight games, Le’Veon would be getting a lot more headlines for his incredible season so far. Between Bell and Antonio Brown the Steelers have two of the top weapons in the NFL. They are going to need to find ways to get Bell the ball if they struggle to run, like they did against the Texans. Bell proved that he is a receiving weapon as well catching all eight of his targets, while also scoring his first NFL receiving touchdown. If the Steelers want to beat the Colts, Bell will need to go over 100 yards for the eighth straight week.
Cortez Allen
As stated earlier the Steelers defense is about to go up against a pretty good quarterback on Sunday. Ike Taylor is still out due to his broken forearm, leaving Cortez Allen, William Gay, and Brice McCain the job of stopping Reggie Wayne (currently listed as doubtful), T.Y. Hilton, and others. The reason I’m choosing Allen as the player to watch is because he has been so inconsistent this year. He’s actually been horrible at times. The fact that Brice McCain was playing over him on Monday says it all. Jon Gruden was talking about McCain covering his former teammate Andre Johnson. Gruden was calling for the Texans to throw to Johnson because he was being covered by a guy who was cut by the Texans. McCain actually did pretty well in the game. The Steelers only allowed 261 passing yards in the Texans game but Cortez Allen struggled. He had one pass interference call covering Johnson and on the DeAndre Hopkins fumble, Allen allowed Hopkins to catch the ball in space before Mike Mitchell thankfully separated him from the ball. Cortez needs to play much better not only this week but in the upcoming weeks as well if the Steelers defense wants to improve at all.
There you have it Steelers Nation. Who else should we keep an eye on during the Colts game?