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Five things we learned from Steelers 28, Colts 24:
1. Award season
It isn’t known whether outside linebacker T.J. Watt will play much — if at all — in the season finale at Cleveland on Sunday. With the AFC North title decided and the Steelers guaranteed of finishing no lower than the No. 3 seed, coach Mike Tomlin may elect to rest his star players until the playoffs.
That leads to the question of whether Watt has done enough in 15 games to be worthy of the defensive player of the year award. Based on his play against the Colts, the answer should be a resounding yes.
It was Watt’s strip sack that led to Mike Hilton’s fumble recovery and a chance for the offense to score its first touchdown from the 3. Watt had another sack, hiking his NFL-leading total to 15.
Watt also leads the NFL with 23 tackles for loss and 41 quarterback hits. He has been consistent in his fourth NFL season, being held without a sack in just four games this season.
Former Pitt star Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams is viewed nationally as the favorite to win the award for the third time in his career. In 2017, the first time Donald captured the award, he had 11 sacks, 15 tackles for loss and 27 quarterback hits — which all pale in comparison to what Watt has accomplished this season. In 2018, when Donald repeated as the NFL’s top defensive player, he totaled 20.5 sacks, 25 tackles for loss and 41 quarterback hits. Except for sacks, Watt is having a similarly disruptive season.
2. Sack stars
For the second year in a row, the Steelers have two players with double digits in sacks. Stephon Tuitt joined Watt with his 10th sack of the season. It came in the third quarter when he dropped Philip Rivers for an 8-yard loss that pushed the Colts further away from the end zone for a field-goal try.
Tuitt’s 10 sacks are a career high and represent a nice turnaround from the 2019 season when he missed the second half because of a torn pectoral muscle.
Had Bud Dupree not sustained a torn ACL, the Steelers almost certainly would have gotten three players into double digits. Dupree had eight sacks when his season ended Dec. 2 against Baltimore.
The five sacks the Steelers got on Rivers hiked their season total to an NFL-high 52. The Steelers have reached the 50-sack plateau four years in a row, becoming the first team to do it since the Lawrence Taylor-led New York Giants from 1985-88. With a three-sack lead on the Rams, the Steelers are trying to lead the NFL for the fourth year in a row.
3. Catching on
Tight end Eric Ebron’s touchdown catch was his fifth of the season, which isn’t a lofty total as much as an example of how Ben Roethlisberger has spread the wealth among his pass catchers this season.
Ebron became the fifth Steelers player to record at least five touchdowns. He joins JuJu Smith-Schuster (eight), Chase Claypool (eight), Diontae Johnson (seven) and James Washington (five).
The Steelers became the seventh team in NFL history to have five players with at least five TD catches. The others are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2018), New Orleans Saints (2011), Green Bay Packers (2011), Indianapolis Colts (2004), St. Louis Rams (1999) and New York Giants (1963).
Smith-Schuster, by the way, tied his season high with nine receptions and had his most yardage when he gained 96 against the Colts.
4. Rush to the bottom
Less than a month after the Steelers rushed for 21 yards against Washington, the sixth-lowest total in franchise history and second-worst effort in the Mike Tomlin era, they set the bar even lower by rushing for 20 yards against the Colts.
The Steelers came within a yard of matching the low from the Tomlin era when they totaled 19 in a Week 4 loss to Baltimore in 2018. Other low points were 21 yards against the Ravens in 2006 when Bill Cowher was coach and 18 against Denver in 1970, which was Chuck Noll’s second season.
The record low was a minus-3 effort against Detroit in 1952.
The Steelers have dropped to last in the NFL in rushing at 1,264 yards. Unless the Steelers get 121 yards on the ground in the finale, they will set the franchise record for fewest rushing yards in a 16-game season. The 2013 Steelers totaled 1,383.
5. Kicking around
With Chris Boswell missing a second game this month because of injury, the Steelers turned again to Matthew Wright, who generously is listed at 6-foot and 179 pounds.
Wright doesn’t have the same leg strength as Boswell, which was why Tomlin elected to bypass a long field goal attempt against Washington. Wright didn’t have to attempt any field goals against the Colts, and he made all four of his extra-point tries.
Wright’s lack of leg strength, though, was evident in warm-ups when he routinely placed his kickoffs between the 5 and 10. It continued into the game, but ultimately didn’t seriously hurt the Steelers in terms of field position.
Once in five kickoffs Wright put the ball at the goal line. His other kicks were fielded at the 8, 4, 9 and 11, respectively. His first two kicks were returned to the 25, the same starting point for a touchback. The Colts started their remaining possessions at the 28, 27 and 30.
The Steelers may have to live with Wright’s, uh, shortcomings if Boswell’s injury lingers into the postseason.
Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe by email at jrutter@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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