Only injuries can stop the Steelers offense

[fordfixer]

[url]http://www.observer-reporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20151205/COLUMN0103/151209725[/url]

Column Dale Lolley

Only injuries can stop Steelers’ offense

December 5, 2015


It’s crazy how fans ride the roller coaster with the Steelers.

When they win, it’s on to the Super Bowl. When they lose, it’s time to start thinking about draft picks and firing the entire coaching staff.

It was the latter last week as the Steelers went to Seattle – only a few people predicted them to win there – and lost 39-30.

It was an ugly game for the defense to be sure. But when you think about it, there were plenty of positives to take from the game.

The Steelers scored 30 points on the road against the NFL’s second-rated defense despite turning the ball over four times. And they did it despite getting just 51 receiving yards out of wide receiver Antonio Brown.

The Seahawks put All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman on Brown every time the latter wasn’t lined up as the slot receiver and he was held – literally at times – to six catches.

But with Brown tied up, Markus Wheaton had a breakout game with nine receptions for 201 yards and a touchdown.

And there’s the rub for opponents trying to defend the Steelers. With Wheaton’s big game, the Steelers are the first team since the 1996 Rams (Isaac Bruce and Eddie Kennison) to have two players with 200-yard receiving games in the same season.

And Martavis Bryant and Heath Miller also have had 100-yard games, and running backs Le’Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams each have had games of at least 70 receiving yards. Both Bell, who is out for the season with a knee injury, and William had 100-yard rushing games.

In other words, the only thing that can stop the Steelers offense is the Steelers not having quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger was no guarantee to play today against the Indianapolis Colts after he left the Seattle game with a concussion. He will, however, play barring an unforeseen setback. When the Steelers hosted the Colts last season, he lit up the Colts for 522 passing yards and six touchdowns in a 51-34 Pittsburgh victory.

Roethlisberger won’t throw for 500 yards or six TDs in this one because it won’t be needed. With 40-year-old Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback instead of Andrew Luck, the Colts are limited on offense.

With Hasselbeck, running back Frank Gore and receiver Andre Johnson, the Colts had a good offense – in 2010. Now, not so much.

Pittsburgh is a 7-point favorite in this game and should put all of the fans back on the Super Bowl bandwagon.

Take the Steelers to win, 37-20

[fordfixer]

Colts vs. Steelers: What's the Game Plan for Indianapolis?

[url]http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2595972-colts-vs-steelers-whats-the-game-plan-for-indianapolis[/url]

By Daniel Rogers


Colts vs. Steelers: What's the Game Plan for Indianapolis?



Not many would have expected it following an injury to Andrew Luck, but based on current form the Indianapolis Colts are one of the hottest teams in the NFL.

Despite sitting at 6-5, the Colts have turned their season around, with veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck at the helm for the past two weeks, Indianapolis is on a three-game winning streak and look to make it four when the team travels to Pittsburgh for Sunday Night Football.

Standing in the way though is red-hot Ben Roethlisberger, who is averaging 389.7 yards passing in his last three outings, and the Pittsburgh Steelers who look to end the Colts' run as part of their own battle for the playoffs.

With the Houston Texans breathing down their neck in the AFC South, the Colts can’t afford a loss and will be hoping to build momentum for a possible playoff run in a few weeks. But how does Indianapolis stop Roethlisberger, and what is the best way for the offense to get going as it has under Hasselbeck for the past two weeks?

Let’s take a look at the game plan for the Colts' game against the Steelers.



Offensive Game Plan

Ideally there should be absolutely no running of the ball against Pittsburgh. The Colts' strength is through the passing game and the Steelers weakness is in the secondary, so why not combine the two and throw the ball as many times as a team can?

In no world will the Colts refuse to run the ball entirely—this isn’t college where the air raid offense can actually be successful—but airing the ball out is when Indianapolis has found the most success this season, so why not replicate it against Pittsburgh?

With running backs dropping like flies as well and the pass protection looking better last week than it has all season long, there is no reason to think Matt Hasselbeck can’t handle the increased workload with a huge number of passes thrown.

Odds are Pittsburgh is going to have plenty of success against the Colts secondary, so there might not even be a choice for Indianapolis when it comes to throwing the ball. This is going to be a shootout, which could mean Hasselbeck gets the chance to surpass his season high of 47 attempts.

The Colts have been in their two-minute offense for what feels like the entire season, having to come back from big deficits time and time again, so what is another week of ignoring the run and airing it out going to hurt?



Defensive Game Plan


In a similar manner to the Colts' game plan of airing the ball out and doing whatever they can to find success through the air, odds are the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to throw the ball a ton on Sunday night.

The Colts secondary can be rough at times—ranked No. 27 in the league in passing yards allowed per game—and with Ben Roethlisberger on a tear in his last few games and Antonio Brown among the best receivers in the league, the Steelers would be remiss to not throw it a ton.

Assuming such a game plan for Pittsburgh, Indianapolis should focus on doing what it did against Tampa Bay and get as much pressure on Roethlisberger as possible in an attempt to disrupt his game.

Indianapolis has been awful in terms of pass rush through most of the year, but it turned things around in the second half against Tampa Bay and needs to continue to blitz and get pressure on the quarterback. The secondary has shown even with extra help awarded from refusing to blitz there isn’t much hope of stopping an opposing quarterback, so the best game plan is to stop him from even throwing the ball.

Although Roethlisberger has an inhuman ability to evade pressure when it is coming at him, the Colts showed last week they can put together a strong pass rush and hurry the veteran signal-caller, which could be their only shot at stopping him.



Key Matchups and Players


WR Donte Moncrief

T.Y. Hilton might have scored two touchdowns and tallied nearly 100 yards receiving against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it was young Donte Moncrief who left his most indelible impression on the game.

Having had an up-and-down season so far, Moncrief led the Colts with 114 yards, including a number of game-changing third-down receptions. With a pass-heavy attack against the Steelers, expect to see the ball in the second-year receiver’s hands.



WR Andre Johnson

In a similar vein to Moncrief, the Colts will need all receivers on deck against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and that includes Andre Johnson who has been an afterthought through most of the year.

While he has shown he is capable at times of recreating the past, the veteran receiver has been a massive disappointment since joining the team in the offseason and needs to be more involved in the Indianapolis passing attack moving forward.



LB Robert Mathis

When the Colts turned their pass rush around in the second half against the Buccaneers, it was Erik Walden who benefited the most with a pair of sacks, but there is little doubt Indianapolis’ best weapon when blitzing is Robert Mathis.

Despite missing games early in the season while recovering from his Achilles injury and only playing on a limited number of snaps when he has been active, Mathis leads the team with four sacks and is always a threat to get to the quarterback when he is on the field. If given the opportunity, Mathis could be a serious threat to the Steelers.

CB Darius Butler

Vontae Davis gets the displeasure of covering Antonio Brown and Greg Toler is likely going to struggle covering either of the pair of Martavis Bryant or Markus Wheaton, which means the Colts pass defense could largely hinge on the performance of Darius Butler.

As the slot corner, Butler isn’t on the field as much as Toler or Davis, and when he has played he hasn’t been great, but if he can shut down one of the Steelers' lower-tier receivers it will go a long way towards the Colts winning their fourth straight game.



Prediction


This is a game fantasy owners have to be drooling over, with two struggling pass defenses against two in-form passing offenses that are capable of putting up huge numbers any given week. So who holds the advantage in this high-scoring affair?

Oddly enough, while Ben Roethlisberger has been putting up mind-boggling stats over the past few weeks, this style of game actually plays into the Colts' hands more than it does the Steelers.

While both secondaries are bad and both passing attacks are great, the Colts have shown on multiple occasions this season their best game plan is the two-minute offense, and they can succeed even when the run game is almost completely ignored.

So without the Steelers being able to use their greatest defensive strength—stopping the run—the Colts should be able to keep up with the high-flying combination of Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown and walk away with another win, keeping Matt Hasselbeck’s undefeated streak alive.

Prediction: Colts 35, Steelers 31

[RuthlessBurgher]

With Wheaton’s big game, the Steelers are the first team since the 1996 Rams (Isaac Bruce and Eddie Kennison) to have two players with 200-yard receiving games in the same season.

I would not be surprised at all if Martavis had a 200 yard receiving game this year as well, especially considering that Ben's biggest games last year were back to back 6 TD games against the two organizations who have called Baltimore home.

[BURGH86STEEL]

Turnovers by the offense have killed this team's chances to win a few more games. The offense needs to do a better job taking care of the football.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Turnovers by the offense have killed this team's chances to win a few more games. The offense needs to do a better job taking care of the football.

Lolly should send you a check for finishing his article for him!

[skyhawk]

I would not be surprised at all if Martavis had a 200 yard receiving game this year as well, especially considering that Ben's biggest games last year were back to back 6 TD games against the two organizations who have called Baltimore home.

Yeah, if he doesn't drop three balls in the process.

[Steelwolf]

Yeah, if he doesn't drop three balls in the process.

I thought I counted 4 lol...whatever number it was killed us

[NJ-STEELER]

Scary to think what we could have had this year with a healthy bell, pouncey, and ben

[Ghost]

I thought the only thing that could stop the O was the red zone...

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Early into the 2nd quarter, the Steelers' offense is doing a pretty good job of stopping themselves.


Hope they get it fixed.