Steelers Look to Stay Unbeaten

The talk of the NFL in this early part of the season has certainly been the Pittsburgh Steelers undefeated start.

The Steelers look to keep their unblemished record going on the road against the Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers lost to the Colts last season and are looking for some payback on Sunday afternoon.

Steeler quarterback, Justin Fields, has impressed so far this season. Field was a question mark heading into the season due to his up and down play in Chicago. However, what he didn’t have in Chicago his first few years in Chicago, he has in Pittsburgh.

When Fields was asked who has the better coaching staff, Chicago or Pittsburgh. Fields spoke candidly on Cam Heywards podcast “Not Just Football”.

“Pittsburgh. It’s not close.” (Yahoo Sports)

For the Steelers to win on the road on Sunday Fields is going to have to come up big again for his team. In his first three games for Pittsburgh Fields has an overall completion percentage of 73.3%, 518 passing yards, and most importantly he isn’t turning the ball over. He only has one interception on the season.

Defense travels and the Pittsburgh has the top rated defense in the league. The physicality of the Steelers defense will be looking for their opportunities.

Led by TJ Watt who has treated offensive linemen as his own personal play toys will be looking to add to the suffering of the opposing teams offense.

Watt needs to get into Colt quarterback Anthony Richardson’s personal space and trying to get him to throw an interception. If Watt becomes a menace on defense Patrick Queen and Minkah Fitzpatrick will be looking to pick off Anthony Richardson. Richardson leads the NFL in interceptions thrown.

Pittsburgh has done pretty well with mobile quarterbacks. They’ve had plenty of practice with having Lamar Jackson in their own division. Richardson gets a bit loose with the ball in terms of his accuracy and decision making. Watt and Cam Hayward need to force the pressure on Richardson to get him to make some throwing errors and giving the Steeler offense some extra possessions.

For the moment, the Steelers have the balance that the Colts are missing.

However, that balance needs to be a bit more offensive for Steelers. The Steelers have been winning, but they haven’t been putting a ton of points on the scoreboard. Ask any Steeler fan about the offense and I think most, if not all, will say “Thank God, for Chris Boswell.”

Boswell has been a great kicker for Pittsburgh for a long time. This year his exploits have taken on a bigger meaning. If it wasn’t for Boswell, Pittsburgh may not have won any games this season. He was the offense for the Steelers in their Week 1 win at Atlanta. Boswell hit on all six of his attempts to help his team escape with a 18-10 win against the Falcons.

Boswell hit from 57, 51, 56, 44, 40, and 25 yards in that Atlanta game. Boswell has a career 87% success rate in the NFL.

Pittsburgh has avoided the huge drive killing mistakes so far, have run the ball pretty well, and have certainly dominated the time of possession through three games.

At the end of the day, if Pittsburgh can get the run game going to keep the Colt defense honest then Justin Fields can have an easier time getting the ball to George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth.

Pickens is quickly becoming a quality number one receiver. He’s that receiver now that defensive coordinators have to try and scheme against. He catches most balls thrown his way and that’s a great thing with a new quarterback in Justin Fields.

Pittsburgh needs to get this win because their schedule gets monumentally tougher as the season moves on. The Steelers need to stack wins up early this season.

Prediction: Steelers 24 Colts 10

Michael J. Wilson-The Daily Waiver