Antonio Brown, a year ago in Indianapolis during a three-touchdown performance. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Steelers

Carter: No need for Steelers to tiptoe

Nov 12, 2017 • 2:05 am

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Only a few hours remain before kickoff of the Steelers' second half, this afternoon against the Colts inside Lucas Oil Stadium, so a few final observations to add to my Carter's Classroom video preview:

• The Steelers' defense comes into the game ranked in the top five of several key statistical categories in the NFL. They're fifth in yards per game allowed with 286.6, second in points allowed with 16.4, second in passing yards allowed with 180, fourth in third-down percentage, only allowing 31.6% of opposing offensive attempts, and fourth in sacks forced with 26. Now they face a string of teams that either rank in the bottom half of the league in offensive points or have recently been stripped of their starting quarterback. Starting with that run is the Colts, whose offense ranks 25th in scoring and is led by second-year quarterback Jacoby Brissett, without a true feature running back, and their two decent receiving threats in T.Y. Hilton and Jack Doyle who together account for 55% of the team's receiving yards.

Watch for the Steelers to key on those two targets to force Brissett to look to his other options. This will require him to cycle through his reads, giving the Steelers' pass rushers that much more time to work against the league's worst protection unit that's allowed a league-high 36 sacks.

• Brissett is a dink-and-dunk quarterback, which fits the bill of anyone who comes from the Patriots' system, as he did earlier this year. He has attempted 270 passes, and only 22 were thrown more than 20 yards in the air, with five completed and no touchdowns. If that means anything to the Steelers, it should be that the secondary is ready to do what their defensive backs have classically been trained to do, and that's tackle the ball and keep the play in front of you.

• But don't think that the Steelers should hold back their aggressiveness in how they rush the quarterback and force Brissett to throw into max-coverage schemes. On the contrary, they need to ramp up their blitz packages to sharpen the various threats they can present with their loaded box formations.

Typically, when a team blitzes, they expect their defensive linemen and outside linebackers to be the ones getting after the quarterback. But the Steelers have six of their 26 total sacks coming from either inside linebackers or defensive backs, highlighting how they like to generate pressure from various positions.

Yeah, sure, it's vital to a defense to get pressure from four-man rushes and all that. But we know this defensive front can do that. Cam Heyward leads the team with five sacks and draws attention from offensive lines every time he lines up, while Stephon Tuitt has yet to register a sack this season due to injuries, but is a constant threat. T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree have seven sacks between them and are showing the athleticism to not only rush the passer but also recover when a play breaks down, working through their assignments and finishing plays.

But what can terrify an offense just as much as a four-man rush is the ability to come with additional rushers who overload different parts of the line of scrimmage in unconventional ways. Given the Colts' problems in protection, this is the game for Keith Butler to pull out all the stops and test his most exotic blitz calls that might require the most sophistication from his players, thus ironing out their roles and responsibilities in those schemes.

Down the road, the more varied the blitzes they can present from the same kind of looks, the harder they will be to gameplan against.

• Antonio Brown scored three touchdowns here last Thanksgiving when the Steelers defeated the Colts, 28-7. And with the Colts cutting their best cornerback in injured Vontae Davis, the home team could be in for another drubbing from the NFL's top receiver again.

But while we're all marveling at Brown's elite route-running and how he'll be getting wide open all game, look for Ben Roethlisberger to use this game as an opportunity to improve that chemistry he's been missing with other receivers. Working the ball to Martavis Bryant could be a priority, not just for his confidence, but also for Roethlisberger's comfort with a player who once showed the potential to be a top-10 receiver in the NFL. Roethlisberger has shown he's at his best when he can work with receiving options he already knows, like Brown and his trusty Heath Miller of old.

Look for this to be the day, ideally, that Roethlisberger puts together what the team has been working on in practice and prove to all concerned that the offense can get back on track.

• What could be just as important as how strong the Steelers open their second half is how healthy they can remain.

While the NFL has seen a long list of All-Pro caliber players fall with what seems to be irregular frequency, the Steelers, for once, look healthy. But make no mistake, all that can change in one play. Look at how Richard Sherman was lost to the Seahawks on Thursday night while facing the Cardinals, who'd had already lost quarterback Carson Palmer and running back David Johnson while also losing backup quarterback Drew Stanton to injury during the game.

Injuries mount quickly. So, if the Steelers get control of this game and it's late, look for more opportunities for James Conner, Eli Rogers and others.

WHAT'S BREWING?

• We had an outstanding PNC Main Street Meetup in Indianapolis, where DK, Dale Lolley, Matt Sunday and I had the pleasure of meeting subscribers, buying coffee and handing out free Steelers merchandise brought from Pittsburgh by PNC's Pat Boston. We'll do it again soon on the road, this time before a Penguins game!

• Matt Gajtka brings the coverage of the Penguins' shootout loss in Nashville. We couldn't watch, so we followed the game on Matt's live file. He made it real.

• This weekend's Site Stuff praises those who serve.

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