2022 Steelers Season Recall: 3-7 Steelers begin to turn season around in Indy
Steel City Underground presents our 2022 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
The 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers season had been a mixed bag to date. Without T.J. Watt since their Week 1 win in Cincinnati, the team was only able to achieve two victories before their bye week – when the reigning Defensive Player of the Year returned.
That return was a solid home victory against the New Orleans Saints, however, the Steelers would fall with a return engagement hosting the Bengals the next week. This left Week 12’s Monday Night Football trip to Indianapolis in limbo.
At this point in the season, the Colts were 4-7-1, technically a better record than the Steelers’ 3-7 with Indy marginally favored at a standard -2.5 points.
This was even with a Colts team that was in further turmoil than the one in Pittsburgh. They had fired head coach Frank Reich in favor of former standout center Jeff Saturday: who had never coached at either the collegiate or professional levels. Saturday reinstalled maligned veteran QB Matt Ryan as the starter, and this would prove to be a poor decision, among others, for this matchup.
The Steelers defense didn’t concede a single yard of offense to the Colts in the first quarter of Monday’s game. It would be the first time since their December 2017 meeting with the Cleveland Browns that Pittsburgh would hold their opponent to zero yards or less in a quarter.
The offense got in on the action too. Even with Najee Harris leaving the game due to an abdominal injury, the Steelers still managed to rush for 172 yards against a solid Colts defense. Benny Snell would lead all ball carriers with 12 attempts for 62 yards (5.2 YPA) while Anthony McFarland would add 30 yards on six carries.
The 172 yards rushing as a team was two yards shy of their passing offense for the evening (174) and represent their second-best output of the season to-date. (Their top game was 217 yards against the Saints, which would prove to be a winning formula as the season wore on.)
Kenny Pickett would also get in on the action, adding 32 yards rushing. The Steelers rookie quarterback had his best outing to date on primetime, completing 20 of 28 passes (71.4%) for 174 yards and an 87.5 rating.
Maybe the Colts underestimated the possibility that the Steelers could get the ground game going due to the way they’d shut down other opponents’ run ability. Maybe Indianapolis believed what analysts were saying, that Pittsburgh fielded a one-dimensional offense.
Whatever the case, Pickett never looked frustrated when plays didn’t go exactly as planned and, in the fourth quarter, capped off an 11-play, 60-yard touchdown drive that was balanced and under control.
Snell drove the ball into the end zone on a two-yard run and then Pickett connected with George Pickens for a beautiful two-point conversion and left things in the defense’s hands to keep the Colts from a comeback.
However, the Steelers almost blew their dominant first half, even in front of an estimated 43% of Steelers fans representing the crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium.
When Indianapolis pulled ahead, 17-16 late in the third quarter due to a complete meltdown by the special teams coverage unit that allowed Dallis Flowers to return the ball for 89 yards.
A subsequent six-play Colts series that was capped off by a six-yard pass to Michael Pittman, the air looked like it had been completely sucked out of the Steelers.
When the Steelers were unable to convert a first down and had to punt the ball back to the Colts, Indianapolis had an opportunity to change the outcome of the game due to the poor special teams play. They drove down the field and would have kicked a field goal had Cameron Sutton not jumped offsides. Minkah Fitzpatrick was then called for defensive pass interference in the end zone, putting Indianapolis at the Pittsburgh one-yard line.
The Steelers got the break they needed, though, when the handoff between Jonathan Taylor and Matt Ryan was mishandled, and fumbled. Chris Wormley was able to grab the ball that was beneath Ryan, but not secured, and come away with the recovery at a critical moment.
Jeff Saturday’s inexperience would be on full display in what happened next.
The Colts received the ball down seven points with 3:52 remaining in the game. They proceeded down to the Steelers 37-yard line at the two-minute warning and that’s when things went haywire for Indy. After a four-yard completion to Michael Pittman for a first down, Matt Ryan would be sacked for a loss of seven yards: the two plays would chew the clock down to 59 seconds remaining on 2nd-and-17.
Ryan would scramble up the field for a gain of 14 yards – and at this point, the Colts still did not use any of their three timeouts! With 34 seconds left, Ryan handed off to Jonathan Taylor… for no gain!
The Colts finally burned one of those timeouts facing 4th-and-3 from the Steelers 26 with 30 seconds left in the game. Ryan would come out and fire an incompletion to Parris Campbell, effectively ending it right there.
Following the game, Saturday defended his clock management, telling the media he “didn’t feel like time was really of the essence at that moment… I thought we had a good play.. Felt like we had time, we would have timeouts afterward… so, I never felt like the pressure of needing the timeout.”
The Steelers could thank the first-time head coach (who would later be replaced this offseason) for the gift, as Pittsburgh improved to four wins on the season with a final score of 24-17. Next up was another road game with another struggling team, the Atlanta Falcons.
