1. Jonathan Taylor couldn't get going.
Prior to Sunday, Taylor had five games with over 115 yards from scrimmage; he scored at least one touchdown in six of the Colts' eight games. His per-game averages, versus his final numbers from Sunday:
| Stat | Weeks 1-8 average | Week 9 |
|---|---|---|
| Rushing attempts | 17.9 | 14 |
| Rushing yards | 106.3 | 45 |
| Yards per carry | 5.9 | 3.2 |
| Yards from scrimmage | 132 | 57 |
| Yards per touch | 6.3 | 4.1 |
| Touchdowns | 1.8 | 0 |
Taylor carried eight times for 29 yards in the first half (2.9 yards per attempt), and his longest rush went for just six yards in the first 30 minutes. As the Colts were chasing two- and three-score deficits, he had five rushing attempts in the second half.
"Could I have got some more carries in there for him, yeah, probably," head coach Shane Steichen said. "I thought they did some good things, stopping the run early, getting some two, three yard carries and whatnot. And we got to go in there a little bit, and then obviously the turnovers, that stopped some drives. But yeah, we'll always look at those things."
Pittsburgh's run defense deserves plenty of credit here – Taylor, per Pro Football Focus, averaged 0.1 yards before contact, and 97.8 percent of his rushing yards came after he was hit.
"There's just little things we got to clean up there," Steichen said. "Obviously we'll go get them cleaned up tomorrow, and our O-line's been playing great all year, so I got a lot of faith in those guys going into the next game."
2. Daniel Jones committed five turnovers and was sacked five times. What happened?
Jones threw three interceptions, lost two fumbles and was sacked five times; nothing Jones did in his first eight games of the season would've given an inkling those issues would pop up on Sunday. In Weeks 1-8, Jones threw three interceptions, didn't lose a fumble and took only nine sacks.
Each of those five giveaways, though, was different – there wasn't necessarily a common thread between them, maybe outside of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith making fantastic plays to generate their strip-sacks.
Jones' first interception came when linebacker Payton Wilson looked like he was following Taylor in coverage into the flat before jumping back to his right – though because Taylor chipped Watt before releasing to the flat, Wilson wasn't sprinting out of what would become Jones' throwing lane. Instead, he kept his eyes on Jones and jumped to his left, where wide receiver Josh Downs (who was covered by cornerback Brandin Echols) was settling about three yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
"The one where the guy dropped out underneath it, (Wilson) made a good play," Steichen said.
Jones' next interception came when Wilson leapt and tipped a pass intended for wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., with outside linebacker Jack Sawyer catching the deflection. His final one came with the Colts down 10 late in the fourth quarter.
"We're in two-minute, we're trying to get chunks," Steichen said. "They're in soft defense, we're trying to chuck it down the field."
Notably, Pro Football Focus did not tag Jones with a "turnover-worthy play" on Wilson's tipped interception to Sawyer, or on Highsmith's strip-sack.
Jones, though, took responsibility for all of his turnovers after the game.
"They're all independent," Jones said. "I think just evaluate the decision, the process, what could have changed, what I could have done better. But certainly, can't have them. Can't afford to put the ball in jeopardy those times. So yeah, go back and look at them on tape."
3. One other uncharacteristic thing: Two 100-yard receivers
The Colts' offense led the NFL in points per game entering Week 9 despite not having a single 100-yard receiver in a game this season; that stat was a feature, not a bug, of how this group operates.
On Sunday, both Pittman (on nine catches) and Alec Pierce (on six catches) had 115 yards. They both crossed the 100-yard mark as the Colts were trying to mount a late comeback with the Steelers leading by multiple possessions.
The Colts haven't had a 100-yard receiver this season in part because of how the offense is designed, with several differently-skilled pass catchers able to beat opposing defenses in multiple ways. The other part is five of the Colts' seven wins were by double-digit points, lessening the need for the sort of late-game, trying-to-come-back drives they had on Sunday.
4. The Colts' defense had a solid game against a largely risk-averse Steelers offense.
The Colts' defense held Pittsburgh to 3.7 yards per play and just 225 yards of total offense; the Steelers converted just four of 12 third down attempts, with that being an area in which the Colts' defense had some issues prior to Sunday.
There weren't, though, many opportunities for the Colts' defense to make game-shifting plays; that was, probably, by design as the Steelers' defense was having plenty of success against the Colts' offense. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers' average depth of target was just 3.3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, tied for his lowest ADOT of the season; his average time to throw was 2.3 seconds after receiving the snap, his second-lowest average in 2025. Only one of Rodgers' 35 pass attempts traveled at least 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Those six turnovers put plenty of pressure on the Colts' defense, which did force a turnover on downs after Downs' muffed punt, but allowed three touchdowns and a field goal after four of the other five. The longest of those Steelers scoring drives, though, was 56 yards.
Cornerback Kenny Moore II forced a late-game fumble that kept the Colts hanging around, giving the Colts a takeaway in all nine games this season.
5. Steichen had zero fear on fourth down.
This didn't wind up being the difference on Sunday, but it very well could've been had the Colts avoided so many turnovers: Steichen went for it with his offnese four times on fourth down and successfully called for a fake punt on another. Since 1991, only five other teams have converted five fourth down tries in a game; it's the most by a Colts team in that span.
Three of those fourth down conversions came inside the Colts' own 40-yard line, including the fake punt on which safety Rodney Thomas II gained three yards, and they all came before the fourth quarter. Taking into account those situational factors (first three quarters, inside own 40-yard line), the Colts prior to Sunday successfully converted one of those fourth down tries earlier this year – a Taylor rushing first down against the Los Angeles Chargers – but since 1978 had pulled off those plays just 15 times.
The Colts have now attempted to convert a fourth down 17 times this season, and are part of a larger trend around the NFL: Teams are going for it on fourth down more than in years past.
| Year | # fourth down conversion attempts, Weeks 1-8 |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 400 |
| 2024 | 330 |
| 2023 | 351 |
| 2022 | 334 |
| 2021 | 364 |
| 2020 | 297 |
| 2019 | 253 |
| 2018 | 234 |
| 2017 | 210 |
| 2016 | 227 |
What's changed? Coaches are naturally more aggressive now than they were 10 years ago (and certainly before that), but for 2025 specifically, the NFL's tweak to its dynamic kickoff to spot touchbacks at the 35-yard line might have an impact here. We're seeing a high rate of kickoff returns, and teams are on average starting possessions at the 30.45-yard line on kickoffs, per Pro Football Focus. That's up a tick from 2024, but last year, there was not a wide range of differences in average starting field position (the top teams were around the 31-yard line, the bottom teams were around the 28-yard line) because so many teams still took the touchback, which placed the ball on the 30.
This year, with a high percentage of kicks being returned, there's a wide range of average starting field positions – the bottom teams are around the 27-yard line while the top teams are as high as the 33- or 34-yard line (the Colts are 12th at the 31-yard line).
The point being here: If you start at the 35-yard line or beyond, an offense only needs a couple of first downs to get into field goal range (especially with 50+ yard field goals being made at a higher than usual rate this year, too). Teams are scoring on 41.4 percent of their possessions that begin with a kickoff (excluding onside kicks), which is up from 2024's rate of 38.2 percent, and way up from 33.5 percent in 2023, the last year of the traditional kickoff.
How does this all tie into fourth down? It makes an impact specifically in going for it on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal. If a team is more likely to score after receiving a kickoff, trying to maximize your points in those situations makes sense.
The Colts in 2025 have run six fourth down plays inside the red zone and converted all into first downs, including three touchdowns. Two of those came in quick succession on Sunday, with Taylor rushing for a first down on fourth-and-2 at the seven-yard line and Jones plunging in the first touchdown of the game from fourth-and-goal at the one.
NFL teams ran 104 fourth down offensive plays in the red zone in Weeks 1-8, up from 88 in 2024, 92 in 2023, 97 in 2022, 89 in 2021 and 82 in 2020. For some context: In 2005, there were just 51 fourth down red zone offensive plays in Weeks 1-8; that year, there were 120 total such plays over the entire season.
Anyways, consider this some additional context for why the Colts – like a large swath of the NFL – is not merely taking the points in these situations, and also why you'll likely see more continued aggressiveness on fourth down in 2025.
