The Steelers streak continues, winning their second straight road game, and improving their record to 6-5.

In doing so, the snap totals are a bit skewed this time, as several starters got rest following the 28-7 route of the Colts. Yet, a few players saw upticks in their playing time, while a few trends also continued.

Offense

The entire offensive line played the whole of the game again, with exception of Ramon Foster, who was yanked for the final possession in favor of B.J. Finney.

I think the Steelers did this to give Finney some live reps in Foster’s spot, as Foster is responsible for silent counts on the road (not that there was a whole lot of noise in the building by this point, but it’s good practice).

Landry Jones came in for the same series, and got to attempt one pass: a pass that was on the money for TE Jesse James, his only target of the game.

It was dropped.

James still played about 3/4 of the offensive snaps, while Ladarius Green saw a small uptick in playing time with 14 reps (26%). It appears Green is starting to get a feel for playing, and could see even more playing time following the mini-bye.

Roosevelt Nix (15 snaps) and David Johnson (12) helped plow the way on about 25% of the Steelers running plays. Fitzgerald Toussaint also saw 7 reps, and received 6 carries, good for 28 yards. (2 of those carries were on the last drive as well.)

As for the receivers, Sammie Coates finally saw some more time on the offense, registering 10 plays (19%) but failed to haul in any of his 3 targets. Cobi Hamilton and Eli Rogers both caught passes for third downs, but were otherwise absent as they played a little more than half of the game to allow for the multiple tight end looks, and use of Nix and DJ as fullbacks in the running game. (The Steelers ran the ball 29 times versus 21 passes.)

Defense

Only one player played all 63 snaps.

For a second straight game, Sean Davis never left the field. His impact was felt several times throughout the game, and his improvement is showing by the week. The coaches are so confident in his abilities, that he’s too valuable to take out of the game; a chess piece that can be moved around and asked to do everything from run stop, to line up on receivers in coverage.

Ryan Shazier, Ross Cockrell, Lawrence Timmons, Artie Burns, Mike Mitchell, and Stephon Tuitt all logged 94% or more of the snaps. Tuitt had the least with 59, while Burns and Mitchell played 60, and the others added 2 more plays.

The playmakers stayed in and it showed, with Mitchell also making some thumping, gamechanging plays throughout the contest.

Javon Hargrave showed up big again, playing in 73% of the game. Another situational player, William Gay, was in for over half of the sub packages as well (35 snaps, 56%).

Anthony Chickillo once again lead all outside linebackers in playing time, adding 3 tackles (1 for a loss).

James Harrison was right behind him with one less snap, registering another sack and QB hit in the game. Jarvis Jones got 41% of the playing time, mostly on the Colts longest drive (19 plays) while Arthur Moats saw his numbers dip in favor of Bud Dupree, who followed a 1 rep game on Sunday against the Browns with 20 reps against the Colts (32% of the total playing time on D).

It looks as if the Steelers are done resting Harrison, that Chickillo is making a steady progression, and Dupree is healthy. I would expect similar splits moving forward, where Jarvis sees his time diminished in favor of seeing what Bud and Chick can do.

Upfront Ricardo Mathews saw more time than Daniel McCullers or L.T. Walton this week, though Walton was still in for an impressive 14/22% share of the plays. However, Hargrave is firmly entrenched as Cam Heyward’s replacement, while the Steelers use this committee to locate their third defensive lineman to sub packages.

The combination of defenders held the Colts to 1-of-3 in the redzone on Thursday night. It wasn’t always pretty, but the “bend but don’t break” style is back in Pittsburgh, and appears to have teeth. It will be interesting to see what they can do against better offensive lines going forward.