Colts Risers and Fallers in Horrifying Loss to Steelers

Indianapolis hadn't had a single 100-yard receiver heading into this matchup, but had two against the Steelers on Sunday afternoon.

Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce both had 115 receiving yards on nine and six receptions. While it's fair to say Jones had to air it out a lot, it's still impressive from two of Indy's top playmakers.

In a game where Jonathan Taylor couldn't generate any momentum, Pittman and Pierce stepped up when needed.

The Steelers also took away tight end Tyler Warren, but Pittman and Pierce showed the depth of Indy's offensive weaponry in this one.

Faller | Colts' Offensive Line

Again, shade will be thrown at Colts QB Jones for his five turnovers (three picks, two fumbles lost). However, whoever blames Jones for all of his woes didn't watch the game.

Indy's dominant offensive line was worked badly by names like T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Alex Highsmith, and Keeanu Benton.

The Colts' protection had looked nearly unstoppable until running into the Steelers' buzzsaw of a defensive front. While all of Indy's linemen could've done better, Bernhard Raimann and Braden Smith especially played rough.

Indy's offensive trenches will look back at the film from this loss and realize that they have no direction to go but up, as it's hard not to put the majority of the blame on them for this awful offensive showing.

Risers | Laiatu Latu and Kenny Moore II

Laiatu Latu and Kenny Moore II both put on fantastic performances for Lou Anarumo's defense in the loss to the Steelers.

Starting with Latu, he had the best game of his short career. The former 15th-overall pick put up 2.5 sacks, six total tackles, three tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits.

As for veteran cornerback Moore, he made play after play, finishing the game with three tackles, a pass breakup, and a huge fumble forced near the conclusion of the game.

The defense isn't to blame here, and I'll get to that into more detail later on in the piece.

Faller | Stopping Pittsburgh's Tight Ends

Indy's defense kept quarterback Aaron Rodgers in check, but what helped the future Hall of Famer the most was a trio of tight ends.

Pat Freiermuth (three catches, 27 receiving yards, TD), Darnell Washington (four catches, 43 receiving yards), and Jonnu Smith (three catches, 25 receiving yards) worked Indy's defense.

In fact, out of Rodgers' 25 completions and 203 passing yards, 10 completions went to these tight ends, and they accounted for 95 of Rodgers' passing yardage.

The Colts must get more from Zaire Franklin and Germaine Pratt in coverage, or risk letting up more to opposing tight ends as the season goes on.

Riser | Lou Anarumo

While the Steelers scored 27 points, it's hard for any defense to back up their offensive counterpart after a whopping six turnovers. However, Lou Anarumo called a fantastic game against the Steelers.

Knowing Tomlin well from his days with the Bengals, Anarumo held Pittsburgh to a measly 203 passing yards (187 when accounting for the 16 yards lost to sacks), and 38 rushing yards.

As mentioned before, any defense, even the elite-level groups, will have the hardest time finding ways to win when their offense coughs up six turnovers.

Give Anarumo his flowers. He's coached excellently despite bad injuries to his corners and showed the NFL he can limit an offense even in the worst circumstances.

Faller | Jonathan Taylor

While it's definitely not all on Jonathan Taylor for his worst performance of the year, he still has to be placed here.

The offensive line was already thrown into the 'Faller' category, but Taylor only logged 45 rushing yards for a 3.2 average per carry. He also tacked on just 12 receiving yards.

Indy's offense might have a bevy of talented pass-catchers, but Shane Steichen's offense runs through the momentum that Taylor creates.

Expect Taylor to bounce back from this, as it's hard to put up a worse performance when you're a high-level MVP candidate who is arguably the best running back in the NFL.