Steelers Have 1 Essential Job Before Colts Can Turn Sunday Into Their Kind Of Game

The Pittsburgh Steelers can spend all week designing third-down pressures, disguising coverages and finding clever ways to move their expensive defensive pieces around. None of it matters much if Indianapolis never has to play the game Pittsburgh wants. The easiest way to neutralize a complicated defense is to keep the playbook comfortable, the quarterback out of obvious passing situations and the chains moving before the pass rush can ever become the story.

Ben Roethlisberger believes Pittsburgh's first defensive priority Sunday has to be Jonathan Taylor. The former Steelers quarterback sees Taylor as the piece capable of letting the Indianapolis Colts dictate the afternoon if Pittsburgh allows the run game to keep them ahead of schedule.

That concern is backed by more than reputation. Taylor has carried 86 times for 353 yards and six touchdowns through four games, including 95 yards and two scores in Indianapolis' 30-13 win over Washington in London. He has already produced 22 rushing first downs, giving the Colts a steady way to avoid the second-and-long and third-and-long situations where Pittsburgh's pass rush can become much harder to manage.

The timing only raises the stakes. Indianapolis has recovered from an 0-2 start by winning consecutive games, and Taylor has scored two rushing touchdowns in three of the Colts' four contests. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, enters the matchup needing a response after Cleveland controlled too much of Thursday night's loss.

During a recent episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, Roethlisberger reduced Pittsburgh's defensive plan to one name.

“My first priority this week is make Jonathan Taylor the number one priority. If Taylor gets rolling and stays ahead of the chains, that’s what the Colts want,” Roethlisberger said.

There is no need to dress that up with much defensive jargon. Indianapolis wants Taylor turning first-and-10 into second-and-5, forcing linebackers downhill and keeping every part of the offense available. Once that happens, play-action becomes cleaner, protection gets easier and the quarterback no longer has to live in obvious passing situations.

That is where Pittsburgh's problem becomes more specific. The Steelers have allowed 451 rushing yards through four games, an average of 112.8 per contest and 4.3 per carry. They have also surrendered five runs of at least 20 yards. Those numbers are not disastrous, but they are loose enough that Taylor does not need much imagination to see a path toward the type of game Roethlisberger is warning about.

Pittsburgh already knows what the opposite version looks like. When these teams met last November, the Steelers held Taylor to 45 yards on 14 carries and forced Indianapolis into the exact script a defense wants. The Colts threw 50 passes, Pittsburgh generated five sacks and six total takeaways followed. The last meeting was not won because the Steelers discovered some secret coverage. It started by making Taylor irrelevant enough that the rest of Indianapolis' offense had to carry the burden.

The personnel has changed, but the logic has not. Daniel Jones has thrown for 754 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions through four games. Indianapolis is perfectly capable of moving the ball through him, but Pittsburgh would much rather ask Jones to solve third-and-8 than let Taylor spend the afternoon creating third-and-2.

That is also where Patrick Graham should want this matchup to live. Pittsburgh has 13 sacks through four games, and the defense is built around having enough pass-rush talent to affect quarterbacks without constantly sacrificing bodies in coverage. Those advantages become much harder to access when the opponent can hand the ball off, stay on schedule and make every down feel playable.

Taylor does not need 150 yards to control the game, either. Twenty carries for 90 yards can be every bit as damaging if enough of those runs come on early downs and keep drives out of uncomfortable situations. His 95-yard performance against Washington is a useful example: there was no 50-yard highlight inflating the total, just repeated positive runs and two touchdowns while Indianapolis controlled a 30-13 win.

That is why Roethlisberger's wording about staying ahead of the chains is more important than simply saying Pittsburgh needs to “stop the run.” A defense can technically hold a back under 100 yards and still lose the situational battle. If Taylor consistently turns first down into manageable second downs, Indianapolis gets to call the game from the comfortable half of its play sheet.

Steelers Cannot Let Taylor Decide What Kind Of Game This Becomes

Pittsburgh has spent plenty of money and draft capital building a defense capable of winning obvious passing downs. TJ Watt is at his most terrifying when a tackle knows he has to protect the edge. Graham's disguises become more useful when the quarterback has to identify pressure before the snap. None of those advantages mean much if Taylor keeps erasing the obvious part.

If Pittsburgh lets Taylor control down-and-distance Sunday, all of that pass-rush talent becomes expensive decoration. The Steelers do not need to completely erase one of the NFL's best backs, but they need to force Indianapolis to win in ways it would rather avoid.

Last season supplied the blueprint. Taylor was minimized, the Colts became one-dimensional and Pittsburgh's defense feasted on what came next. This year's Steelers have been far less consistent defensively, which makes repeating that formula more important rather than less.

Roethlisberger is not asking Pittsburgh to reinvent anything. He is asking the Steelers to earn the right to use the part of their defense they have spent the most resources building. Stop Taylor early, and Sunday can become Pittsburgh's kind of game; let him set the terms, and the Steelers may spend another afternoon chasing one.

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