It's been a rough season for the once-vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers' defense, coming into their Week 9 matchup against the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts ranked as one of the worst units in the league. They had seemingly lost their ability to create havoc with a ferocious pass rush and opportunistic secondary.
They looked old, slow, and, quite frankly, soft. Their massive lead in the AFC North was suddenly looking very tenuous, with the Ravens winning consecutive games to close the gap. They needed a huge performance against a Colts offense that seemingly could do no wrong eight games into the season.
So far, so good. Pittsburgh holds a 17-7 lead at halftime, thanks in large part to two huge turnovers forced by T.J. Watt and Payton Wilson. There is plenty of game left to be played, but this is the first sign of life from the defense in quite some time.
Pittsburgh Steelers' defense finally shows signs of life against high-powered Colts offense
With how poorly the Steelers' defense has played this season, many expected this Colts offense to be able to move the ball with ease, even on the road. That looked to be the case early on, with Indianapolis driving 79 yards in 13 plays on their first drive to score the game's first touchdown.
Their next two drives, however, went much differently.
After a wild sequence including a muffed punt by the Colts and failed fourth down by the Steelers, Indianapolis was driving into Steelers territory before Watt came up with a huge strip sack on quarterback Daniel Jones. After Pittsburgh paid off that turnover with a game-tying score, The Steelers forced another turnover thanks to Payton Wilson jumping a pass for an interception.
Another touchdown from the Steelers put them ahead 14-7, and the defense stood tall again on the next possession by forcing a punt. Chris Boswell finished the half with a chip shot field goal, and that completed th best half of football the Steelers defense has played all season.
It's shocking to see the defense finally figure things out against this Colts team, especially given their struggles against them ever since Shane Steichen was hired as their head coach. They were 0-2 and had given up 28.5 points and 365 yards per game against them heading into today's meeting.
Hopefully, they can keep it up as the second-half gets going.