PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Steelers offensive struggles were real until the mid-point of the third quarter on Sunday. But it’s the defense that really started the ball rolling in the right direction in the Steelers 28-24 comeback win over the Colts.
“You talk about winning in the NFL it’s always about the turnover ratio, especially as a defense and trying to support the offense as much as we can by giving them good field position to score points,” said outside linebacker TJ Watt.
It was Watt’s strip sack early in the second quarter, returned by Mike Hilton to the Colts three that led to the only Steelers touchdown in the first half.
“We weren’t able to force turnovers in the last three losses,” Hilton said. “It kind of put a little more pressure on the offense. As a defense, we know we put them on the short field, our offense will succeed. We were able to do that today.”
Given the offensive struggles in the first half; it was likely the only way they would have scored.
That’s not to say the defense was good in the first half, allowing 217 yards and three touchdowns. But captain Cam Heyward believes they settled in holding the Colts to a field goal on a long drive to start the second half.
Steelers offense found some momentum, going 79 yards to the Colts 1, but stopped on fourth down near the goalline. Mike Tomlin would say after the game that he made the decision to go for it on fourth because he had confidence in the defense getting a stop.
“I think the stop was a big point,” Heyward said. “Really getting off the field fast. Coach T trusted our offense. They didn ’t get it done, but we got off the field quick and our offense got another shot at it. We believe in our offense that they are going to get the job done.”
Ben Roethlisberger would find Diontae Johnson for a 39-yard touchdown and JuJu Smith-Schuster said they rode a wave of momentum from there.
“I just can’t say enough about our defense in the second half, kind of shutting them down, getting us the ball, guys making plays on offense,” Roethlisberger said. “It was a lot of fun.”
The following series, the defense forced a three and out as Roethlisberger hit Eric Ebron for a touchdown to cut the lead to three.
A Cam Heyward sack on the next series got the ball back to the offense and they scored again, this time Roethlisberger to JuJu Smith-Schuster from 25 yards to take the lead.
First time trailing, Philip Rivers has the ball at the Colts 47, but there is Hilton again. The four year vet with only the 10th interception of Rivers this year to keep the lead.
“Mike is a special cat on this defense,” said TJ Watt. “He blitzes. He drops in coverage. He does man-to-man coverage. He does basically anything we ask him to do. He’s a very gritty football player. At the end of the day, Mike Hilton makes plays for us. We are very fortunate to have him on our team.”
Steelers would close the day as Alex Highsmith (7 tackles) would have one of his two quarterback hurries to force an incompletion on fourth down and the offense ran out the clock.
Linebacker Avery Williamson had 14 tackles including a sack and a pair of tackles for loss. Watt finished with a pair of sacks, Stephon Tuitt sacked Rivers on third and three from the 7 to force their field goal.
“We had a slow start, but we came back out in the second half and made the plays we needed to make and I think in the second half we played great team football,” Tuitt said.
“We hadn’t lost confidence,” Hilton said. “We know what kind of team we are capable of being. When we play well in all three phases. It showed what we can do. If we all work as one, we have the ability to succeed.”
“You talk about winning in the NFL it’s always about the turnover ratio, especially as a defense and trying to support the offense as much as we can by giving them good field position to score points,” Watt said. “I feel like we did a good job today, but there is still a lot to build on and improve on going forward.”