Matchup of the Week: Steelers WRs vs. Colts’ depleted secondary
Sitting atop the AFC North with a 6-2 record, two wins ahead of the second place Baltimore Ravens (4-5), the Pittsburgh Steelers had plenty of rest last week during their bye. With Super Bowl aspirations on everyone’s mind, this team wants to continue to improve on the offensive side of the football. What better way to do that against an Indianapolis Colts’ depleted secondary which has gone from somewhat decent to horrific after several key injuries to starting athletes.
You can say that after easy consideration, there is one area that the Steelers need to focus on in order to be victorious on Sunday – exploiting a weak Colts secondary. In this week’s matchup, Nathaniel Bodnar and Christina Rivers team up to look at how this can be accomplished.
The Colts’ defensive secondary
Bodnar:
One key injury that has really impacted this Colts secondary is the loss of safety Malik Hooker, who suffered a season-ending ACL and MCL tear versus the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Week 7 matchup. He ended his stellar rookie campaign with 22 tackles, four pass deflections, and three interceptions.
Already ranked as the worst passing secondary in the NFL, giving up 280 yards per game on average, the Colts are also without their top cornerback in Vontae Davis this week versus the Steelers. (Update: The Colts have decided to release the 2x Pro Bowl cornerback the morning of November 9, 2017)
Rivers:
Just last week the Colts’ front office sent out an email stating that Davis would not make the trip with them to face the Houston Texans. According to the team, it was not injury-related, but Davis wasn’t pleased with the way the Colts handled the news, his benching or the opinion of Coach Pagano.
Davis, who hasn’t played well all season due to a groin injury, said, “I had a groin tear that I dealt with. I got different opinions on it. One doctor said I should have had surgery, other doctor told me to let it heal. I took the let-it-heal approach. I came back and probably came back a little too early and in the process, I probably hurt my teammates.”
Where Davis felt he was slighted was that after the game, Pagano insisted the benching was a “coach’s decision”, not mentioning the injury at all, and said he could not control what was said but even the injury report has him listed as missing time in practice for “rest”.
Davis doesn’t plan on returning until he is 100 percent, which creates an interesting dynamic between himself and the Colts organization that failed to trade him prior to the trade deadline last week and started Pierre Desir in Davis’ place opposite Rashaan Melvin (who was limited early in the week with a concussion and ankle injury). The Colts will also be without cornerback Quincy Wilson (knee). This puts the Colts’ defensive secondary in a very poor position.
How the Steelers can take advantage
Bodnar:
Taking advantage of the Colts’ weak secondary starts with going head-to-head with cornerbacks Pierre Desir and Rashaan Melvin. Both athletes had to cover two explosive receivers last week versus the Houston Texans in DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller V. When the game was all said and done, Hopkins caught a late touchdown strike from quarterback Tom Savage and finished with six receptions for 86 yards. Will Fuller was held to only two receptions for 32 yards; quite shocking after he has been on a roll lately catching almost as many touchdowns as he has receptions (15 receptions, 7 touchdowns) on the season.
The difference between the Houston receivers not really blowing away this weak Indianapolis secondary last week is that they don’t have a quarterback who has the ability to stretch the field with his vertical passing attack like the Steelers have Ben Roethlisberger and a mix of healthy, strong receivers. While Roethlisberger has been far from perfect this season, hampered some by miscues with the receiving roster as well, he is by far, without a doubt, better than Tom Savage. No question about that.
The Texans also do not have Antonio Brown, who is having another monster year leading the NFL in yards with 835 and receptions with 57. The second closest athlete is Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton who has 34 receptions for 702 yards on the year and was last week’s AFC Offensive Player of the Week.
Last season, when the Steelers faced this Colts secondary, Davis had to cover Brown. You can say that didn’t go as planned as the 28-year-old receiver went off for three touchdowns and registered five receptions for 91 yards. Expect the Colts to rely on their safeties to help with minimizing Brown’s explosive ability.
While you can minimize Brown, the Colts’ secondary still has to worry about rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster and veteran Martavis Bryant. After a week off, Bryant wants to show the team that he is still a defense’s worst nightmare. The last time Bryant played against the Colts (regular season) was in 2015 where he caught four receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown was a 68-yarder; he burnt both then cornerback Greg Toler and safety Mike Adams.
These Steelers receivers have had success against the Colts with their starting secondary intact. Without it, you can expect a fireworks show. The Steelers have too many weapons for this Colts team to cover. That is why I believe “AB” and Bryant will be able to take full advantage.
Rivers:
Considering the injuries and fact that Indianapolis has struggled all season to compete defensively with nearly every team they have faced, this week’s matchup between that squad and the Steelers receivers if highly favorable. The Colts’ defensive backfield has a nearly non-existent turnover ratio outside of injured Hooker and Melvin – who could be hindered if the ankle acts up or he suffers from further concussion symptoms. It doesn’t help that the Colts are having to rely on their linebackers to help more in coverage, either.
| COLTS INTERCEPTION STATISTICS | |||||
| Player | Int | Yds | Yds/Int | Long | TD |
| Hooker, Malik (FS) * | 3 | 73 | 24.3 | 32 | 0 |
| Melvin, Rashaan (CB) | 2 | 28 | 14.0 | 21 | 0 |
| Simon, John (OLB) | 1 | 26 | 26.0 | 26 | 1 |
| Farley, Matthias (SS) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| OPPONENTS | 6 | 156 | 26.0 | 39 | 4 |
* injured/reserved
Bryant has had some time to think about his social media tirade and head coach Mike Tomlin is looking to get more players involved on offense. Bryant will get an opportunity to show whether he can maturely step into this game against Indianapolis and make the necessary adjustments, give ‘Big Ben’ a nice target and control the catch.
As for Roethlisberger, Tomlin wants him to get back into controlled execution when firing the ball and playing with a sense of taking full advantage of opportunities. “Just like our football team, we have to take care of the football better, we need a flair for the dramatic,” said Tomlin. “I think that can apply to him, but it also can apply to any one of us… I am not opposed to guys putting up freakish numbers, but really we strive for balance.”
Where Tomlin has worked on creating an atmosphere within his team of removing distraction, opening lines of communication, getting veterans working with the younger guys in understanding urgency and handling their on-field responsibility, Pagano has failed in some ways. Where the Steelers are looking for opportunities to put opponents away, the Colts are struggling to hang on.
This weekend, the Steelers will unleash Brown, Bryant, and Smith-Schuster – maybe even toss in Eli Rogers – onto a Colts defensive backfield that looks weak against such a sizeable task as eliminating the threat the Steelers present offensively.
It’s #PITvsIND week and these numbers are still amazing.
Steelers have beaten the Colts 3 straight:
-Colts outscored 124-to-51
-Big Ben: 78-of-108 for 1,107 yards, 13 TDs, 0 INTs, 0 times sacked
-Antonio Brown: 23 catches for 342 yards, 8 total TDs— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) November 8, 2017
Ben Roethlisberger talks about his offensive line, ball distribution and the Colts. pic.twitter.com/UBHCmLp2bE
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 8, 2017
