Pittsburgh Steelers: What to expect against the Colts
By Zack Goncz
The Pittsburgh Steelers are playing hot, but there’s still a depth chart to sort out. What can we expect against the Colts this Saturday?
Two down two to go. The Steelers may have, for the first time in a long time and a rare occurrence in the 21st century, a winning preseason. Granted, the record is irrelevant, but what happens during the games is not. So let’s take a look at the next opponent, the Indianapolis Colts.
Now Pittsburgh has used the Colts as a punching bag during the regular season for a few seasons now, but I’d be surprised if Joshua Dobbs throws six touchdowns. But what can we expect this weekend?
First, let’s look at Pittsburgh. It’s the third preseason game, so we’re going to see some decent playing time from all healthy starters with the possible exceptions of the killer Bs, possible. Brown rarely gets injured anyway. Ben’s a pro, but the reps couldn’t hurt. They might get a series. Bell reportedly won’t be done with his CrossFit routine or pouting, or whatever it is he’s doing.
Jacob Klinger of Pennlive.com quoted Roosevelt Nix as saying, of Bell’s return, “That’d be dope.” But for now Ramon Foster has the right idea, saying, “No Le’Veon Bell questions though. No, no, no Le’Veon. It’s pointless at this point. It’s pointless at this point.”
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On the offensive side, what battles or developments can we focus on? Well, Bryant showed some rust last game so expect the Steelers to play him a lot, both for practice and to get a good look at whether he should be safe in the number 2 spot. Expect all the wideouts to get plenty of time. Pittsburgh has an enviable mess on their hands with the need to sort out the receiver depth chart.
James Connor is also going to get a lot of reps both because he missed the first game and he’s a rookie, and because Bell missing a couple games is pretty typical. He made a splash in his first go with 98 yards though. That said, who the third back will be is not clear, so both the wideouts and the backs won’t have enough playing time to go around.
There isn’t really a tight end battle but both are still young so they’ll play a lot, and the offensive line will get their time, but it’s mostly the backups who will need to play to sort out the depth chart. Villanueva should play a lot too being the only one not an established top caliber veteran at this point.
Now the defense is where it gets interesting. Among the defensive backs, Mitchell and Gay will probably see some relatively brief time, but the rest are young and/or not established. Jordan Dangerfield has been on the fringe for a couple of years now and expect the Steelers to want to see him a lot, especially after an impressive preseason. Mitchell, Davis, and Burns have starting spots locked up, but the number 2, nickel, and dime are wide open.
The linebackers are even more up in the air. Shazier has a starting spot locked up, but since he’s always injured, including during the preseason, his backup is going to get starts. Luckily for the Steelers, there are multiple players stepping up. Arthur Moats and T.J. Watt have had great preseasons. Five sacks between them. Anthony Chickillo has two sacks as well. LJ Fort leads the team with 12 tackles, and Pittsburgh will need tackles with Timmons gone.
As far as the defensive line, all the starters got to play. All the starters are pretty set in stone in this position. The backups are a little more unsettled. However, they’ve been generating their own sacks. Hopefully, all this sacking and intercepting continues in the regular season.
Let’s consider the Colts now. They, or more accurately, their backups, have not been performing particularly well. They’re 0-2 and have only had two touchdowns. Stephen Morris has done fine throwing the ball. None of the runners have done much. The defense has two sacks and one interception.
That said, the 3rd preseason game is where we generally see some starters play more. It will be a good test for the Steelers position battles and young players.
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Pittsburgh is going to win this one, make no mistake. Keep an eye on the wideouts, particularly Bryant. On the defensive side, the defensive backs are a unit to keep your eye on. The unit most in need of these preseason games though in order to improve, prepare, and sort out the depth chart is the linebackers. Let’s see where the chips fall.