Steelers beating Colts the ‘surprise of the week’ | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC

Steelers beating Colts the ‘surprise of the week’ | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC

Our next game, this was the surprise of the week to me, Chris. The Steelers beating the Colts 27 to 20. This game actually felt much uh further away than the score reflected. The Steelers defense is the story of the game. They had six takeaways and five sacks. Uh the Colts had four total turnovers in the first eight games. This was completely unlike anything we’ve seen from them. Daniel Jones a careerhigh five turnovers. He had the three picks and the two fumbles lost. This was the most takeaways in a single game for the Steelers since 2010. Yeah, it’s I mean, man, those those defenses in 2009, 10, 11, they were special defenses. Holy crap. Yeah, they were scary getting ready for that group. But that’s what we expected the Steelers to look like this year. I mean, again, I never thought they were going to be a top five defense in football, but I thought, hey, Aaron Rogers will come. They’ll be efficient on offense. He’ll hit the open receivers, and their defense will be good and make plays like we always see kind of Pittsburgh do. But that was the first game this year we’ve kind of seen that. That’s I mean the two edge guys who are the guys that I look at to go no no no you guys got to make the big plays in the big moments. TJ Watt, Alex Highmith, even Nick Herbig be behind him. Those are the guys that got to show up. Those are the guys that at least to me when I look at their defense go they can go above and beyond the playbook, right? That’s the big thing. And they popped out in a big way yesterday. Also, I had said this in the viewing room earlier in the day, right? I was kind of like I think you know I you know I know some people in football and I know a bunch of people in Pittsburgh and I was texting with one of them during the week and not that they told me the game plan but they I got the sense they were going to change it up on defense and I told the room that yesterday. I was like I think Pittsburgh’s going to play a little different. I was like I don’t know what that means. I I’m not trying to like ask somebody their game plan right but they’re going to change a little bit in their approach. That was what I was led to believe. And what what it was in the game was they played zone the whole game. They played zone 70% of the snaps or something like that, right? 70% high. Season high, right? And I think that was their change up. You know, they they said, “Wait, why are we putting some of these guys on islands that are just not island corners anymore?” So, you do that, you play an offense that’s got 90 million guys going different ways. What’s zone defense do? Helps you keep your eyes on everything. Now, your back’s not turned covering Tyler Warren or somebody like that, right? So, you can see everything in front of you. Also, within that, when you play zone defenses, a lot of the time, hey, Daniel Jones, hey, said Hut. He drops back. Oh, wait. What coverage is this? Hold on. He pats the ball one extra time. Oh, man. TJ Watt just knocked me out. Right. That’s what playing zone can do to you, too. Instead of the week before where Jordan Love’s like, “Wait, I’m about to get hit. Oh, wait. I have a one-on-one. Let me just throw it up.” Tucker Craft catches it and then runs 60 yards or Christian Watson catches it, right? And the free safety is not deep enough and the other guys getting beaten man-to-man coverage. So, I think that approach was was brilliant. They need to do that. You know, they they don’t have the cover guys to play man-to-man 60% of the time. And that that I think was the first thing that jumped out to me about the football game and then the Colts doing some things that we just haven’t seen them do. Making mistakes. You just really haven’t made mistakes this year until yesterday. going to look at the Steelers offense. I’m still going to sit here and go, “That’s got to be better, right?” I mean, again, we were we were the turnover ratio at one point was like 5-0 and it was like, “Wait, the Colts are driving at 177, right?” Even with five turnovers, you’re like, “Oh, they’re they’re driving like it doesn’t matter. They they they’re moving the ball.” And then I believe that was the Alex Highmith strip sack maybe. And then they go down and make the game 24 to7. And that’s where it got a little out of hand as far as the score is concerned. But the game fell perfectly for Pittsburgh. Almost like I’m going to say with Buffalo is I like where they’re going, but am I sold it’s all fixed? No. I’d like to see another game. I mean, it’s 7 nothing Colts. They go right down the field. Then Josh DS drops the punt or the punt hits him, right? And I know the Steelers didn’t score on this next drive. They got stopped on the fourth and goal. I get that. But it still was a big play and a big moment for me as far as momentum was concerned because it was a little bit like, whoa, the Colts went down the field easy. They made another stop. Aaron Rogers and them are off the field again and it looks like they’re going to get the ball and get going. And that kind of just disrupted the flow of the football game a little bit. And then of course we saw the defense start to make some plays. It really was more the same for the Steelers offense. Rogers 5.6 yards per attempt. His average time to throw 2.33 seconds. They’re they’re not going to probably change who they are in in that aspect, Chris. Just that it’s balls out real quick. Quick game. And if I just think if you’re going to play that way, it feels like they need one more playmaker on this offense. I I I I It’s very hard to live this way against And they beat the Colts. Like credit to an amazing defensive performance. I hear you. But the story with the Steelers is can they win a playoff game this year? Feels like they need one more guy in that offense. I it I I don’t disagree. I mean, I don’t disagree. I don’t, you know, I’ll be interested to see if they make that aggressive type move. They’ve done some things this year in the offseason. Aaron Rogers, DK Metav, you know, more years of guaranteed money for TJ Watt and his contract where those aren’t normal Steelers things, right? Cam, I think Hayward a little more sprinkle on the the pot that way. So, yeah, will they do something? I mean, I’ll be interested as well. They’re they’re a playoff caliber team, right? But, yeah, the defense is got to look the way it did yesterday. And I know Rogers and that’s going to be efficient, but like to your point is it it’s just it’s hard work all the time to play that way. Feels that way. It is hard work. And you heard me say it last week. I mean, tell somebody tell me the last time you saw Aaron Rogers drop back and throw a deep in cut on rhythm or everything is here, here, here. Oh, I scrambled a little or a bootleg, boom, I did that. You know, there’s not a lot of in the pocket, work the middle of the field type of passes in their offense. So, it’s just hard to survive that way. But their defense did a lot of good things yesterday. And I mean, damn, all those turnovers. I don’t care who you are. You got a good chance to win when when you cost six turnovers. How about this take from K Gemma 89. The case for JT as MVP is made in that game. For those wanting to give Daniel Jones MVP votes, the Steelers took away JT and put the game on Daniel Jones and stopped putting their old DBs on an island. Yeah, I there’s a lot to it there. There’s no doubt. They did not let Jonathan Taylor get going. And of course, them getting the lead, it hurt that even more because then I think, you know, Indianapolis felt the urgency to let’s drop back and throw the ball and do stuff like that. I hear you there. And the the one of the other great underlying things of the football game, too. The Steelers did a great job of getting their hands up and tipping passes. There was a number of times where when you play some of these great offenses, you can’t stop everything. You can’t. And there, this is one of those offenses is kind of like that to where you go, wait, sometimes they’re so creative and they get people’s open so quickly five and six yards down the middle of the field. The only way to stop it is a little bit is either you better have some unreal cover corners or D lineman got to get their hands up. And that seemed like it was on the radar of the Steelers from the get-go yesterday in the football game. There there was even a play on one point. Uh yeah, Daniel Jones had a few balls batted where I went, “Ooh, that would have been complete. That might have been a big play, but the Steelers were able to do that and disrupt everything. Yo yo yo. Thanks for watching, homies. We are now in the NFL season here on Chris Sims Unbutton. Hit subscribe to get our weekly picks, game recaps, film deep dives, and much, much more. Thanks again for watching. Subscribe, rate, review. Peace out. You know where to find us.

Chris Simms and Connor Rogers recap a surprising win by the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Indianapolis Colts, forcing several turnovers against a good Colts offense. #NBCSports #NFL #ChrisSimmsUnbuttoned
» Watch Live Sports on Peacock: https://peacocktv.smart.link/v82e9dl56
» Subscribe to NFL on NBC: https://www.youtube.com/NFLonNBC?sub_confirmation=1

NBC Sports Group serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. NBC Sports is an established leader in the sports media landscape with an unparalleled collection of sports properties that include the Olympics, NFL, Premier League, Big Ten, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, the Kentucky Derby, Tour de France and many more. Subscribe to our channel for the latest sporting news and highlights!

‘Chris Simms Unbuttoned’ features in-depth Xs and Os NFL analysis; one-on-one interviews with players, coaches, executives, and draft prospects; game recaps and previews; gambling segments; extensive player analysis leading into the NFL draft; and much more.

Watch more from NBC Sports on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nbcsports
Visit NBC Sports: https://www.nbcsports.com
Find NBC Sports on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NBCSports
Follow NBC Sports on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nbcsports
Follow NBC Sports on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nbcsports/

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/sunday-night-football
https://nbcsports.com/motors/nascar
https://nbcsports.com/soccer/premier-league

Steelers beating Colts the ‘surprise of the week’ | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC
https://www.youtube.com/NFLonNBC