Much of the focus on the Steelers' comeback win over the Colts here Sunday at Heinz Field will focus on the offense and what it did.
And rightfully so. The offense coming alive was a huge part of the Steelers erasing a 17-point second-half deficit, the largest ever overcome by a Mike Tomlin-coached team and turn it into a 28-24 win.
But don't forget what the defense did in this game, either.
While the offense was sleepwalking its way through the first half, the defense set it up for an easy score with a T.J. Watt strip-sack that was scooped up by Mike Hilton and returned to the Indianapolis 3.
Realistically, that was the only reason why the Steelers' deficit at the half was just 14 points at 21-7. Because the offense certainly didn't do anything noteworthy.
That said, the defense was taking on water in the first half of this game, as well.
Indianapolis had six possessions in the first half. The Colts scored three touchdowns, punted twice and lost the fumble, gaining 230 yards. The Steelers weren't going to win this one -- or even have a chance -- if the defense played like that in the final 30 minutes.
In the second half, the Colts had the same number of possessions as they did in the first. Only this time, their six possessions resulted in one field goal, three punts, an interception and turning the ball over on downs. Three times, they were on the field for three or fewer plays.
In between that field goal drive to open the second half, which gave the Colts a 24-7 lead, and the final, last-ditch drive, Indianapolis had two first downs on four possessions. That got the Steelers the ball back quickly and allowed the offense to keep its momentum.
Stephon Tuitt's third-down sack once the Colts had gotten into the red zone was as big as any play the Steelers made defensively. The Colts had been 4 for 6 on third downs in the first half. On that particular drive, the Colts never even got to third down, quickly moving down the field on eight plays to get to the Pittsburgh 7.
A touchdown there would have made a comeback nearly impossible.
Instead, Tuitt did this.
In the grand scheme of things, all it did was keep the Steelers from allowing seven points instead of three.
But from that point on, the Colts were 1 for 6 on third downs. They realized they couldn't simply block the Steelers with their five offensive linemen, something they had done well in the first half by keeping the Steelers off-balance with their mix of runs and passes.
"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," said Tuitt, who is now just the third Steelers defensive lineman since 1982 to have 10 or more sacks in a season.
That's the thing about the offense struggling as it had been. Eventually, all of the three-and-outs leaks over to the defense. You start to feel like even if you shut the other team down, your offense won't do anything to keep you in it. It's human nature.
But after Tuitt made that play, the Steelers started shutting the door on the Colts' running game. Indianapolis had 40 rushing yards on that opening possession of the second half and 117 yards on the ground to that point. The Colts gained 10 yards on three carries after that.
The Steelers started scoring on offense and the Colts fell into the trap of feeling like they needed to open things up to stem the tide. That led to three second-half sacks and an interception.
"We gave up the three points to start this second half, but after that, we settled in, and we needed everything," defensive lineman Cam Heyward said. "I think everybody played cohesive. You look for each group to complement each other. We gave up three. Then we get stopped on a fourth-and-1 and we don’t convert. The defense gets off the field. Offense gets a quick touchdown. You could just feel like, “Okay, let’s just ride this wave a little bit,” and we just kept battling back. I’m proud of the guys for doing that."
• If Heyward is looking for players to really be proud of, he needs look no further than rookie outside linebacker Alex Highsmith.
Highsmith still hasn't recorded a sack since stepping into the starting lineup in place of Bud Dupree. But he had seven tackles and two big quarterback hits in this game. What his stats don't include are this.
That's Highsmith putting pressure on Philip Rivers as he looks downfield on a deep throw to Michael Pittman that was intercepted by Hilton.
Highsmith's pressure forced Rivers to not be able to step completely into his throw and forced him to throw it before he wanted. And it was a nice little move jumping to the outside on J'Marcus Webb. Yes, Webb is a third-string left tackle. But he's also a player who has appeared in 96 career games, starting 73 of them.
Later, on Indianapolis' final play of the game, it was again pressure by Highsmith that forced Rivers to get rid of the ball before he wanted.
The Colts could see that Webb was unable to keep Highsmith from getting quick pressure, so they brought running back Nyheim Hines over to that side. And Highsmith's spin move led to a hit on Rivers, who threw high to Zach Pascal on the fourth-down throw, essentially ending the game.
• None of this excuses what the defense did in the first half of this game. That was about as bad as that unit had played all season. But they got their collective act together and recorded five sacks on Rivers, who had been sacked just 14 times all season coming into this game and hadn't been taken down behind the line more than three times in any one game before this one.
Pressure and turnovers. That's what this defense is designed to create. And the Steelers are now the first team since the 1985 through 1988 Giants to have 50 or more sacks in four-straight seasons.
• At the end of the first half in this game, Ben Roethlisberger, who had passed on making deeper throws for much of the first half, fired a couple of bullets to JuJu Smith-Schuster that went for gains of 17 and 18 yards. On the first play of that possession, he and Diontae Johnson had a miscommunication on a deep ball, with Johnson going inside when Roethlisberger thought he was going out.
But those two throws seemed to turn the lights on for the offense. "Hey, we can throw the ball down the field."
And they did that in the second half. The Indianapolis safeties, who had been crashing the line of scrimmage and immediately coming downhill at the snap before that, started moving back after the Steelers hit some downfield passes.
And then, and only then, were the underneath routes there for the remainder of the game. Those two things work hand in hand.
• What changed? It certainly wasn't the play calls per se. But those two throws to Smith-Schuster and the misfire to Johnson seemed to convince Roethlisberger that the downfield throws were available.
Those plays have been there the past few weeks. But Roethlisberger has passed on them too much.
He seemingly drew a line in the sand in this game. He was going to go down slinging.
Shooters shoot. Home run hitters swing for the fences. And gunslinging QBs push the ball down the field.
• I'm not sure what Tomlin was thinking at the end of the first half when, with three timeouts remaining, with 1:10 left on the clock, he chose not to call a timeout after the Colts ran Hines for a 2-yard gain to make it third-and-18 from their own 11.
As it was, the Colts ran the clock down to 26 seconds before another handoff to Hines for five yards forced a punt after a timeout.
Certainly it was nice to still have two timeouts remaining. But the Steelers also had just 14 seconds left in the half when they took over at their own 43.
It could have been a situation where Tomlin knew he was going to need both timeouts with placekicker Matthew Wright replacing injured Chris Boswell in this game. The Steelers do practice getting their field goal team onto the field quickly with the clock winding down, but that is always done with Boswell, not a player who has been on the roster for just a few weeks. And Boswell didn't crop up on the injury report this week until Friday, so they would have repped a lot of that stuff already.
That's the only explanation I can come up with for that. Otherwise, it looks like Tomlin didn't trust his defense not to give up a first down on second-and-18 from the 11. And I don't think that was the case.
• So, the Steelers have now beaten the Ravens (twice, albeit once with their backups), the Colts, Titans and Browns. Any one of those teams -- along with the Dolphins -- could be their first-round opponent in the AFC playoffs.
With a game pending next Sunday at Cleveland -- and I don't expect the Steelers to play many key starters, at least not for the entire game -- their record against the AFC playoff field as it currently stands is 4-1. The only loss came to the Bills during their three-game skid that was snapped Sunday.
And that doesn't include the win over the Colts, who if the playoffs started after Sunday, wouldn't be in the postseason.
That's how tight this race is this season, even with seven teams going to the postseason. During Sunday's game, the broadcast team was talking about the Colts early in the second half and mentioned that if they held on, they could be the No. 2 seed in the AFC. Now, they're on the outside looking in.
• Hilton is very much the heart and soul of this team. Watt is its best player. Roethlisberger is its most valuable player. And Heyward is its conscience.
But Hilton is such a spark plug. He helps make that defense special every bit as much as Watt with the many things he does.
If you haven't read Tom Reed's piece on Hilton yet because of the holiday, I suggest you do.
• If you don't think this is a topsy turvy league, look at some of the scores from the past two weeks. Not only did the Steelers lose to the Bengals last week, the Jets also knocked off the Rams.
This week, the Jets won their second straight, beating the COVID-19-riddled Browns, 23-16. The Chiefs were taken to the limit by the Falcons, holding on to win 17-14 when Pro Bowl kicker Younghoe Koo missed a 39-yard field goal that would have tied the game with nine seconds remaining.
Heck, the Bengals even won again and now have a two-game winning streak.
Bill Cowher used to always say it's a fine line between winning and losing in the NFL. I don't think that's ever been more true. Ask the Raiders.
That's why this win was so important for the Steelers. No matter what happens next weekend with guys playing or not playing, the Steelers regained some of their swagger, both offensively and defensively.
• Now, about that running game. It's not fixable this season.
But James Conner is clearly their best back. It's not even close.
The more Benny Snell plays, the more carries he gets, the more that is apparent.
The difference between the Steelers backs and those of the Colts, however, was clear. Jonathan Taylor always fell forward. So did Hines, for that matter.
All too often, Snell and Conner stop their feet. Or miss a hole. Or, there's no hole there to be had.
That changed a little in the second half once Roethlisberger backed the Colts off the line of scrimmage. Obviously, down 17 points, the Steelers were in a pass-first mode, but the Steelers did have five carries for 18 yards in the second half, not counting a pair of kneel downs by Roethlisberger to finish the game.
I know, five carries for 18 yards isn't much. But it's certainly better than the seven carries for four yards they had in the first half.
But the backs also have to be a factor in the passing game, and Conner certainly was that. He helped in pass protection and is clearly their best guy at that. And he finished this game with five receptions for 45 yards.
There isn't any reason to play the other guys if Conner is healthy. Roll with Conner and quit messing around with Snell and Jaylen Samuels. And then get a new feature back in 2021.
It doesn't have to be a first-round pick. Taylor was a second-round selection. So were Derrick Henry, Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb, three of the best in the league. Identify a game-changing back, one with some burst to go along with the ability to break tackles, and go get him.