Pittsburgh Steelers 26 Indianapolis Colts 24

If the whole point of football is to kick the most field goals, the Steelers dominated this game. In reality, the Steelers were kind of meh. At best.

The Steelers jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead thanks to a couple of highlight-reel plays by Antonio Brown and Ike Taylor. Brown’s 57-yard TD reception started off as a simple screen pass, and then he broke a couple of tackles, crossed the field to avoid defenders, and then did a flip into the end zone. I don’t know how you can get any more Madden NFL than that. Meanwhile, Ike Taylor boost the lead to 14-0 on a pick six, which is amazing enough for Ike Taylor.

While the starters played into the second quarter, they did nothing since Taylor’s interception. The offense stalled and the defense allowed Andrew Luck to move the ball all over the field. Charlie Batch came in to relieve Ben Roethlisberger, but the Steelers were unable to get anything going on offense. Possibly because Batch was under a lot of pressure.

David Gilreath essentially willed the Steelers to win, what with him actually catching the ball and his awareness of the first down marker. Back-up back-up quarterback Jerrod Johnson also showed some great awareness of the first down marker by scrambling for a first down, and then cutting back into the field to keep the game clock rolling late in the game. His scramble help set up the game-winning field goal, which was actually blocked by the Colts.

Other observations:

• The Steelers showed a very run-heavy offense. Jonathan Dwyer was the leading rusher with 43 yards on 8 carries, despite injuring his shoulder in last week’s game in Philadelphia. Newly signed Jason Ford had 42 yards on 8 carries late in the game.
• The Steelers managed to win the turnover battle and time of possession.
• Unfortunately they continued their habit of settling for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns. Stop that.
• Ryan Clark was all over the field making plays. As usual.
• LaMarr Woodley had the Steelers’ only sack on the evening. The Steelers had plenty of opportunities for more sacks, but poor angles and lousy tackling did them in.
• I don’t care which defense is in. You can’t give up a first down on third-and-long.

The Steelers will have a short week of practice, as they travel to take on the Buffalo Bills on Saturday.