On an ugly evening of football, at least one team came to play – the Indianapolis Colts’ defense. Unfortunately, their offense showed up as well, and spoiled what was almost a massive upset over a logey Pittsburgh Steelers team.
The Good: Colts defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis were their usual terrifying selves, rushing the pocket with abandon. While Mathis drew double-teams, the undersized Freeney displayed a flurry of pass rush moves, at one point bull rushing the Steelers’ massive left tackle, spinning him around like a ballroom dancer, and shoving him like a 350-pound missle into Roethlisberger’s face.
Freeney and Mathis were set free to crash the pocket thanks to the efforts of the rest of the Colts’ defensive front seven, who utterly shut down Rashard Mendenhall and the Steelers’ run game. But Big Ben continues to make plays downfield with the help of the electric Mike Wallace, and put up just enough points on the board to keep Indianapolis out of the win column.
The Bad: Even on a rare day when the Colts’ had their running game going, they couldn’t help but throw the game away from the quarterback position. Kerry Collins continues to look like the old retired man that he is, throwing myopically short passes that utterly failed to defeat the pressure Pittsburgh was applying.
Surfer-haired Curtis Painter appeared in relief after Collins was knocked from the game on a grill-to-grill hit, and if anything made fans hope for Collins’ return. His fumble on a strip-sack allowed Troy Polamalu to race for the end zone for a game-saving score.
The best the Colts could do was tie the game late, 20-20, and provide their fans with that bitter pill called the “moral victory.”
