Who I like, Steelers at Colts
When news broke Monday that Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck would miss Thursday night’s game against the Steelers because of a concussion, the line, which was at that time, Steelers minus-3, was immediately pulled.
Yes, the Steelers were favored to beat the Colts in Indianapolis because Las Vegas apparently felt what happened the previous two seasons, when the Steelers had smoked the Colts, 45-10 and 51-34, matter.
Those games do matter in that Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for more than 800 yards and 10 touchdowns in those two games. He had his way with Indianapolis’ defense.
But, both of those games were at Heinz Field, not Lucas Oil Field.
And as we know, Roethlisberger has had his struggles on the road.
Against Luck, that could have been an issue, even though Indianapolis’ defense is probably the worst in the league – yes, even worse than Cleveland’s.
Luck made that defense better by keeping Indianapolis’ offense moving despite being sacked 35 times this season, the most in the NFL. He made the Colts a dangerous team.
But Scott Tolzien will now make his third career start Thursday night against the Steelers. He’s thrown 1 touchdown and five interceptions in his previous action, which accounts for 91 passes.
And people in Pittsburgh think Landry Jones is a bad backup.
Perhaps just as big news for the Colts is that cornerback Vontae Davis and free safety Clayton Geathers also are unlikely to play in this game. And even if they do, Davis is dealing with an ankle injury and Geathers also has a concussion.
Despite not having a viable No. 2 receiver, Roethlisberger should carve up this defense.
This could also be a game where that whole No. 2 receiver thing gets sorted out, as well.
Sammie Coates has just one catch since breaking two fingers Oct. 9 and has played sparingly on offense the past few weeks. But he wasn’t going to be a factor last week in Cleveland in that wind. So there wasn’t going to be a lot of reason to use him as a receiver there.
Indoors, this week, however, the Steelers should try to re-establish him as a deep threat as he was in the team’s 4-1 start. Even if he doesn’t come down with the catch, the Steelers have to show a willingness to get him down the field.
The Steelers already have shown a willingness to go back to their blitzing style on defense the past few weeks, which has resulted in 12 sacks in the past three games. Now, it’s time to get back to being the high-scoring team everyone felt they would be or at least could be heading into this season.
The Steelers have become overly reliant on Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. But they need to get their diversity back.
They’ll do that this week.
You don’t ever apologize for beating a team when it’s down. Certainly, nobody was feeling sorry for the Steelers when Roethlisberger was banged up earlier this season. So the Steelers need to take care of business in this game.
While the line still isn’t set on this game, I expect the Steelers to be at least 7-point favorites once it is set again.
They should more than take care of that.
Take the Steelers, 31-13.