It looked like it was going to be another week where things were going to go wrong for the Indianapolis Colts.
Following a shanked missed 56-yard field goal attempt by Matt Gay, the Pittsburgh Steelers marched down the field for a touchdown, but missed the PAT attempt to make it a 6-0 game. On the following drive for the Colts, they would go three-and-out, and the Steelers blocked the punt to set up their second touchdown of the game for the 13-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Then the game got flipped upside down. Indy would score a touchdown to respond to Pittsburgh and would go on to score 30 unanswered points despite losing Michael Pittman Jr. and Zack Moss in the second quarter.
This win ended the eight-game losing streak to the Steelers and the Colts are now 7-0 when they have the lead at halftime.
This was a crucial win for Indianapolis with the Cincinnati Bengals winning early today to keep their playoff hopes alive entering the final three weeks.
Here are five takeaways from Indy’s victory:
1
Unsung Heroes: Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson
When Zack Moss exited the game, there was the wonder if the Colts would get anything out of their rushing attack. Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson stepped up in his absence and delivered for the offense.
Sermon led the team with 88 rushing yards on 17 attempts. He was vital with his third down conversions in the fourth quarter on a drive where the offense burned 8:57 off the clock. Shane Stiehen leaned into the pair of backs with 13 straight runs on that series.
Sermon had nine of those 13 rush attempts and picked up three first downs on third down with his legs.
Trey Sermon out there running with bad intentions 😤#ForTheShoe | #NFL
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) December 17, 2023
The rookie running back had an impressive showing. Goodson took advantage of his opportunity and added some juice from the backfield. He finished with 79 total yards.
He picked up 31 yards on a drive in the third quarter that helped get the offense in field goal range that helped make it a 24-13 game.
Tyler Goodson followed Big Q to glory#Colts#ForTheShoe#Steelers#PITvsIND pic.twitter.com/Fjxwx6imRb
— Stampede Blue (@StampedeBlue) December 16, 2023
Sermon and Moss combined for 157 rushing yards, averaging 5.6 YPC. With Moss’ availability in doubt for Week 16, this was a promising showing from the depth in the backfield if he does miss next week.
2
Won the turnover battle
After the Colts scored their first touchdown to keep the game from getting ugly, the defense came up with a turnover that shifted the momentum their way. Nick Cross made one heck of a play to moss George Pickens on a deep shot to get his first career interception.
Nick Cross with the moss to get his first career interception for the #Coltspic.twitter.com/wMIMUOqt5I
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) December 16, 2023
The offense almost turned that into points after marching down to the one-yard line but D.J. Montgomery dropped a would-be touchdown on fourth-and-goal.
After going three-and-out on the opening drive of the second half, the Colts got the ball back on the first play of Pittsburgh’s drive. On E.J. Speed’s tackle attempt, his knee ended up perfectly hitting the ball out of Najee Harris’ hands to force the fumble. Julian Blackmon got the recovery.
This ball was absolutely coming out#Colts#ForTheShoe#Steelers#PITvsIND pic.twitter.com/HF2loCFGWQ
— Stampede Blue (@StampedeBlue) December 16, 2023
That gave Speed a career-high with three forced fumbles this season. Indianapolis would end up scoring a touchdown on the following play to make it a 21-13 game.
The final turnover was the nail in the coffin for the Steelers. In their comeback attempt, Mitch Trubisky sailed the ball into the waiting arms of Blackmon.
Julian Blackmon gets the interception for the #Colts.
He now has 4 this season. Blackmon had 3 in his first three seasons. pic.twitter.com/zqaI1x1fEY
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) December 17, 2023
That’s Blackmon’s fourth interception this season, which leads the team. He had three picks in his first three seasons.
Each turnover was huge for the Colts. Cross sparked the team, Speed led to an eight-point lead, and Blackmon helped close out the win.
3
Efficient day for Gardner Minshew
The erratic play of Gardner Minshew can be dumbfounding at times but today he played as well as you can ask for out of him. He had his moments where he held the ball too long but for the majority of the game, he took what was given to him and didn’t put the ball in danger.
An example of taking what is given to him, on a second-and-goal from the 16-yard line, instead of forcing a throw into coverage, he takes the checkdown and it leads to a Zack Moss touchdown for the first score for the Colts.
Zack Moss takes the dump off for a 16-yard touchdown for the #Colts pic.twitter.com/6IPsIOB491
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) December 16, 2023
His second touchdown of the game was big. On a drive where the Colts were just looking to get into field goal position before halftime, Minshew came off his first read and hit a wide-open D.J. Montgomery to give his team the lead.
D.J. Montgomery's first career touchdown give the #Colts their first lead of the gamepic.twitter.com/OrVOQ1O4oB
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) December 16, 2023
His final score of the game was following the E.J. Speed forced fumble. He dropped the ball right into the basket for Mo Alie-Cox for an 18-yard touchdown.
Gardner Minshew connects with Mo Alie-Cox for the 18-yard touchdown.
21 unanswered points by the #Coltspic.twitter.com/fxD7cOmIO6
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) December 16, 2023
Minshew finished the game going 18-of-28 for 215 yards and three touchdowns. He should’ve had a better completion percentage but there were a few drops by his receivers, which include a pair that would’ve been touchdowns if his receivers held onto the ball.
4
Defensive front bounces back
After a poor showing against the Cincinnati Bengals last week, the Indy defensive front bounced back in a big way. They were responsible for all the sacks (four), QB hits (nine), and TFLs (five).
The effort was led by Samson Ebukam and Dayo Odeyingbo. Ebukam finished the game with three tackles (two solo), one TFL, three QB hits, and one-and-a-half sacks. He set a career-high in QB hits with 16 on the season.
Odeyingbo had four tackles (two solo), one TFL, two QB hits, and one-and-a-half sacks. As far as the rest, DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart combined for three QB hits, a sack, and a TFL.
Kwity Paye and Tyquan Lewis each had a TFL. This was also the best rush defense the Colts have shown in a couple of months. They held Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren to 73 rushing yards, averaging 3.32 YPC.
With Bijan Robinson coming up next week, the Indy defensive front will have to repeat this performance in Week 16.
5
Rough stretch for Matt Gay
Whether it’s Matt Gay himself or the kicking operation, it has been a rough two weeks for the Colts kicker. After missing a field goal and a PAT attempt last week, his yips continued to start this game.
Shane Steichen elected to give him a shot at a 56-yard field goal, which is already a hard kick to make but the way he shanked his attempt makes one wonder if he’s in his head. The ball didn’t even have a shot to go between the uprights.
He would go on to make all his PAT attempts. Gay would seem to look like he was back on track after he hit his 29-yard and 31-yard attempts but when it came time to put the game out of reach after Blackmon’s interception, his woes came back to surface.
Gay ended up hitting the right upright on a 42-yard attempt. His two misses left six points off the board that would have led to the Colts beating the Steelers by more than 20 points.
Shane Steichen showed his trust in his kicker by allowing him to attempt a 43-yard field goal in the final minutes of the game. Gay would end up nailing that one. For him, that should help give him back some confidence but whatever is going on with his misses needs to be cleaned up this week in practice.
