Six turnovers will never cut it against an NFL opponent and the Indianapolis Colts found out the hard way in Sunday’s 27-20 road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium.
Quarterback Daniel Jones began with a promising start after he engineered a 13-play, 79-yard masterpiece on the opening drive. Jones converted a pair of fourth downs before sneaking across the goal line himself to give the Colts their only lead of the game.
Then, the wheels fell off.
The stats hide the true story as Jones completed 31 of 50 passes for 342 passing yards, which sounds promising, but his three interceptions and two fumbles lost describe the reality as the Steelers harassed Jones all game and finished with five sacks.
Josh Downs made a rare mistake and muffed a punt, which became the first of several unforced errors. The Colts (7-2) dug themselves in a hole, which left their signal caller flustered and the team was unable to recover from their own mistakes.
Indianapolis’ defense refused to fold and forced a turnover on downs, but the following drive was short-lived as Steelers All-Pro edge rusher T.J. Watt ripped around Colts right tackle Braden Smith and strip-sacked Jones to ignite a scoring avalanche. The Steelers (5-3) scored three touchdowns off turnovers to take full control of Sunday’s affair.
Pittsburgh pounced on the takeaway as running back Jaylen Warren punched in a one-yard equalizer. Less than one minute later, Jones tried to force a throw over the middle, but Steelers linebacker Patrick Wilson was waiting for an interception to return it back inside the red zone. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers soon found tight end Pat Freiermuth in the end zone to take the lead.
Receivers Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce matched each other with 115 receiving yards as the Colts clawed back to make it competitive in the fourth quarter. Jones found Downs on an out route for a 4-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 27-17.
Colts edge rusher Laiatu Latu had a breakout performance with 2.5 sacks, increasing his season total to a team-high five sacks. Cornerback Kenny Moore II forced a late fumble to give the Colts one final chance, but Jones gave it right back soon after.
Indianapolis finished with 26 first downs to Pittsburgh’s 17, while outgaining the Steelers by 146 total Net yards. Yet, costly turnovers often flipped the field and ultimately decided the outcome.
Chalk it up as a rare outing that demonstrates even the most electric offense in league history can come back down to Earth and get shut down on any given Sunday. The Colts won’t return to play inside Lucas Oil Stadium until the final day of November.
Indianapolis heads overseas across the Atlantic next week for an international showdown against the Atlanta Falcons scheduled for Sunday at Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. Indianapolis intends to leave Europe with a win, so the main message that should be clear is the Colts have to stop beating themselves.
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