Colts vs Steelers Game Preview: Biggest Storylines & Players to Watch | NFL Week 9

Colts vs Steelers Game Preview: Biggest Storylines & Players to Watch | NFL Week 9

Welcome back into Spotlight on your Thursday. Week nine of the NFL is upon us. Hard to believe we’re already in week nine. And look at that lineup at 1 Eastern, beginning with a phenomenal game. You get the Colts sitting at 7-1. The best record in the NFL going up against Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. Steelers now coming off backto back losses. What is going on there? Also want to mention keeping an eye on Jonathan Taylor. has now had four games this season with three or more touchdowns. No other player has more than one. So, this Colts team has been phenomenal. A guy who’s been on the sideline for one of the games thus far. This will be his second Colts game of the season. Evan Washburn for Colts at Steelers. So, look, you know this Colts team that they are believers in themselves. It does seem though that there are others uh maybe the lady sitting next to me that have yet to fully buy into this team. Why do we think some people are hesitant on that? Because we didn’t see this coming, Amanda. It’s completely normal. It’s honestly understandable. I wasn’t a Colts believer until I saw it in person in LA. But I am a believer and I think over the course of time and really the next three weeks or three games over the course of four weeks because they have the Steelers on the road. They play the Falcons in Berlin. Maybe not the challenge in terms of opponent, but that’s a unique environment and all the things that go with it are a challenge by week and then they got the Chiefs. So, if you’re not a believer and they’re able to get through this gauntlet over the next month, then it would be hardressed not to believe in what they can do. And I think what makes them special right now starts with their offense and they have the best player in the NFL in terms of performance in Jonathan Taylor. and they have a real belief in one another and they recognize that they have a lot to prove over the second half of this season. They’re okay with it. They don’t need all the flowers right now. They’re more interested in those coming in in January and they have a defense that is a bit of a vulnerability at times, but I think if you look deeper is playing pretty well. We asked you for an impact player to watch and I I love the guy you gave me because last week it was what was it called? it’s National Tighten’s Day or whatever it was and we needed a anytime scorer for a a tight end and I went with Tyler Warren and and thankfully uh he got me that. Why is he your impact player to watch? Because along with Daniel Jones, he’s been the biggest difference maker on this offense when you look at what they had a year ago to where they are now. He’s the ultimate Swiss Army knife. Where they got him in the draft shocked everybody within that organization. They couldn’t put it in that card fast enough to get Tyler Warren in a Colts uniform. and he’s proved to live up to their expectation. And yeah, there’s the numbers, but he really does everything. He is part of the run game. He’s basically on the field, the line in so many different areas. So, he’s challenging defenses. And the reason he’s the matchup or player to watch in this one, Amanda, is if you look at what the Pittsburgh Steelers most recently on Sunday Night Football struggled with most, it’s defending tight ends. Tucker Craft had an absolute day in that game. So, they lose to Shawn Elliott. They’re really their their safety who covers tight ends due to a knee injury. So, I I see Tyler Warren as a guy that could really break this game open for Indianapolis. You mentioned if there is some sort of liability for the Colts, you’re you’re kind of looking at the defense. What are the concerns there if any? It’s their back end, Amanda. They got hit hard by injuries going all the way back to training camp. Justin Wallally, one of their top picks, he’s expected to be a starter at corner. He goes down with a torn ACL. And then in recent weeks, we’ve seen Trevarious Ward, their top corner, suffered his second concussion of the season during pregame warm-ups. He’s on IR, so there’s hopes he could come back. They just they’ve been hit hard at that spot. So, they’ve got a lot of guys playing, I would say, larger roles than they expected. And they’ve held up pretty well. A lot of the yards they’ve given up, if you look at it, it’s been in the second half when they’ve been up by a lot of points. So, that’s not really a reflection truly of how good they’ve played. the points per game totals top 10. That’s really where you hang your hat obviously as a defense. But again, as they go up against an Aaron Rogers who will challenge them and they face a Patrick Mahomes and down the stretch of the season, that defense is going to have to play up to the standard that maybe not their offensive set because that’s historic, but at least in that ballpark. Let’s go to the other side. Let’s talk about the Steelers here. Um they now have back-to-back losses, which look obviously nobody loves if you’re a Steelers fan. What’s the level of concern there for this team uh that had a chance to to really make a move in this division and just kind of fell flat? I’m kind of teetering on kind of not panic but real concern or is this just a lull for a team that is littered with vets and all pros and I think is still figuring themselves out. I think the way they started the season and and I imagine they would tell you this to some uh in some ways as well. I mean, as early as week one, I mean, they won that Jets game based off a couple plays late, and that’s really this league in a nutshell. But I think for Pittsburgh, the margin for error is is relatively small. Their defense has to play a bunch better, and they they know that. We might get to it, but they haven’t taken the ball away since week four, and they’ve turned it over three times, and they’ve increased their penalty totals almost twofold over the course of that stretch. So, those are three areas that they can view as, hey, we clean these things up. We’re back to the team that started the season four and one. But it’s real. They’ve faced some adversity and they’ve admitted that they haven’t handled it well in game. That’s what makes Sunday so interesting, fun, fascinating, intriguing, all those adjectives. To me, this is a desperate Steelers team in the sense that not they need to win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive, but they need to reset kind of where they are mentally going into the back half of the season. And they face the most explosive team in the NFL right now. Yeah. Yeah. And you’ve even had like guys like veteran Cam Hayward saying it doesn’t feel like the fight is there for the Steelers team. You mentioned the defense. Uh I was listening to a podcast earlier saying maybe this is the worst defense. Mike Tomlin has ever had in his what almost 20 years there. What is going on with this defense? It’s pretty stunning, Amanda. You mentioned it and even Mike Tomlin lent words during training camp about what he thought this defense could be in terms of all-time units or the highest paid defense in the NFL. These are all kind of buzzwords, bud buzz phrases that kind of sets the alarms off for exactly what you asked. What’s going wrong? Well, I think there are a number of things, but you have to start with the back end. And that’s really where they did a lot of reconstruction in the offseason, bringing in Jaylen Ramsay, San Darius Slay, Juan Thornhill, and they just haven’t played up to the standard to use Mike Tomlin term. And I think the Deshawn Elliott injury last week, the knee injury that hopefully isn’t season ending. That was kind of the concern coming out of that game. He hasn’t been placed on IR yet, is a big one because he’s so big in their run game. He covers tight ends. We touched on that. And it’s forcing a lot of guys coming in and out of the game that impacts communication. And when you’re playing a Colts offense or a Jordan Love Laflur offense, you’re challenged in that area. And I think communication in the back end has been a problem. I do believe there’s a version of events where they fix this largely based off of generating more pressure up front. Guys get the ball out super quick against this defense because of TJ Watt, Kim Hayward, Highmith, Herbig, and company. But if they can pick up that department, give their back end a little help, I think there’s a version where they get back to playing close to what they expected. maybe not that historic level that some had them in to start the season, but at least not be the reason they’re losing games. Let me ask you this out of curiosity, going back to the Colts and talking about uh Carly Ers Gordon. I What week did you have them initially? Sorry, Amanda, can you say again? Uh what week what week did you have the Colts initially? Oh, uh it was the Charger game, so uh that was two weeks ago. Okay, so not that long. Uh but I wanted to ask you about Carly Ers Gordon. We we’ve seen her on the sideline and and I mean people are giving her so much credit for for getting this team to where they are. I don’t I don’t know if you know this yet or or maybe you guys will talk to the players about it. How has that relationship been kind of behind the scenes? We see it on the sideline. We see her there. How has it been kind of between her and the players or the coaching staff or anything like that? This is pure curiosity. Yeah, I’m I’m glad you brought it up because it has been anybody that opens their phone, any form of content, whether it’s social media or otherwise, it’s become a story and hopefully continues to be a positive one because it is different and we haven’t had long form conversations with players or coaches to this point about how they view all of this, but it’s clear visually just how much they appreciate it and just how involved she is. And I think the key point and it was brought up during the broadcast last week in their game against the Titans. Charles Davis, Chase McCordi, Edger Catalan bringing up that this has been her role and her function for a number of years. And yes, her title has changed due to the passing of her father. So she’s now thrust into more of a spotlight. And that’s how things work in our world. And I understand that. I think they understand that. But they view it as business as usual. and just the level of detail and attention to detail she brings to the position. It’s not just game day, too. I think that was one of the things I learned. This is practice field checking in on meetings and not in a micromanaging sort of way. It’s just to be informed and I think that’s what people are are starting to learn and hopefully latching on to as opposed to it just being different than what we normally see because it is a way of doing business that I don’t know if it’s why they’re seven in one but it’s all part of a group that is so aligned right now and the product on the field is exposing that in such a positive way. Yeah, it has been it’s been so incredible just to watch her, you know, just praising another woman in sports and at that level and a position. It’s phenomenal. Evan, have a great call this week. Good luck with your meetings. We’ll talk to you soon. All right, the NFL Today Plus, we are going to be in studio. Actually, Damen Harris is going to be joining the broadcast. Matt Ryan heading out to Buffalo. Thoughts and prayers for him uh if he does decide to jump through another table. And make sure you stay safe out there, Mattie. We’ll be talking to him during our show, though.

Evan Washburn joins CBS Sports HQ to preview Colts-Steelers in Week 9.

(0:00) Are the Colts for real this season?
(2:02) Impact player to watch
(3:10) Is Colts defense a liability?
(4:20) Concern in Pittsburgh after 2 losses?
(7:46) Carlie Irsay-Gordon’s impact on Colts

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