Tale of Two Halves

The Steelers are back…well sort of.  The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Indianapolis Colts on December 27th, 2020.  A game that sent fans and reportedly players, through a roller coaster of emotions.  

In the first half, the same Pittsburgh team who dropped three straight showed up.  The offense looked out of sync and showed no ferocity.  According to JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Colts were calling out their plays pre-snap.  Ben was held to 75 yards and the run game was yet again non-existent.  The only bright spot came when T. J. Watt forced a fumble at the 14:37 mark in the second quarter, which resulted in a Steeler touchdown three plays later. By the end of the half, the Steelers went into the locker room down 21-7. 

The Steelers had to show something they haven’t shown in 3 games to get back into the game.  Out of the gate, they flipped the switch.  Indianapolis was held to a field goal on the first possession of the second half, after that possession, they would not score again.  The Steelers ripped off 28 straight points in a passing attack that looked potent.  After the Colts were calling the Steelers plays out, Big Ben started to call plays and looked like a maestro.  He carved up the Colts secondary going on a 5 play touchdown drive as well as a 10 play touchdown drive to give the Steelers a 28-24 victory. 

This game was truly a tale of two halves.  After the game, Steelers’ players admitted having no emotion and coming out flat in the first half.  It was not until team captains Ben Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey rallied the troops with a halftime speech.  Unfortunately, we will have to wait to see Big Ben maestro again as he is out for week 17 against the Cleveland Browns.  Hopefully, he can keep the offense rolling into the playoffs.