Back to .500 and looking good, back to backup quarterbacks?
MVP of the Game: Joe Flacco / Nick Cross
Flacco continues the trend of Colts’ backups coming in and impressing the game Anthony Richardson goes down with injury, but before you all start saying we should start him, and he looked much better, Flacco took advantage of the same scenario that helped Gardner Minshew last year, defenses prepared all week to face a mobile quarterback with little-to-no short/intermediate accuracy, and then they have to face an inmobile quarterback that can consistently hit those intermediate passes. Anyways, the veteran quarterback finished the game clean with over 150 passing yards and two well-thrown touchdowns. Nick Cross continues proving anyone who doubted him going into the year wrong, as he continued being the defensive MVP for the team. This time he complemented his sound tackling with a forced fumble (though it was more Pickens’ own fault than Cross’ merit) near the goal line.
Dud of the Game: Matt Gay
It was hard to pick a player for this one, as given the circumstance I could not find a player who had a bad day, but Matt Gay once again disappointed. He had the perfect chance to leave his struggles behind, with a 54-yard kick to put the game 20-3 and essentially out of reach. Instead, he missed wide left and gave the Steelers excellent field position, which they took advantage of and scored a touchdown. Since the Ravens game, Gay is now 30/40 on field goal attempts, which is among the worst in the NFL.
Play of the Game: Justin Fields’ 12-yard loss on a missed snap
This one had little to do with the Colts, but it was a huge break on a key moment of the game. The Steelers were driving on what seemed like at least sure to be an overtime forcing drive. First play, Fields scrambles for 12 yards, then a 9-yard completion to Van Jefferson, a fresh set of downs after a 4-yard rush by Harris and suddenly it is first and 10 on their own 42-yard line. Then, at the best time, there was a miscommunication between Fields and the center resulting in a fumble costing the Steelers 12 yards they could never recover.
Worst play of the Game: AR’s scramble after getting back in the game
While I am in favour of running Richardson more, there has to be a balance between taking a hit on every single scramble and him not running at all. Coming back after missing a couple plays, the Colts ran a zone-read and AR kept the ball. He was hit late by Minkah Fitzpatrick (who then had the audacity of complaining about the officials) and knocked out of the game. I am 100% sure that if this was a one possesion game near the playoffs AR would have stayed on the field, but given the circumstances the Colts thought it best to let him sit that one out.
Best Position Group: Offensive line
I was close to giving MVP of the game to the entire offensive line, who even without their starting center in Ryan Kelly did not miss a beat against one of the best defensive fronts in the NFL. Sure, they did get a couple of hits and pressures in, as expected, but overall I would say that the Colts won the matchup.
Rookie of the Week: Tanor Bortolini
Speaking of offensive line, what an NFL debut by Bortolini, one that has to make Chris Ballard really happy about the long term outlook of the position if Ryan Kelly decides to retire. His solid play helps a lot also because it allows the Colts to be conservative in how they handle Kelly’s injury.
