Steelers Scouting Report: Indianapolis Colts, Week 9

Steel City Underground scouts the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponents each week of the 2025 NFL regular season ahead of the games to preview the upcoming matchup with a focus on key players, potential outcomes, news, and the latest social media chatter.

While the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride, the AFC South Indianapolis Colts (7-1) have been on a tear. The NFL Week 9 Sunday afternoon matchup is expected to be a competitive game but the Colts are early favorites. We scout their team and analyze what they will present as opposition to the Steelers this weekend.

Taylor presents a major challenge

In back to back weeks, Colts running back Jonathan Taylor wasn’t just the workhorse out of the offensive backfield – he was a scoring machine, ending up in the end zone three times. Last week, against the Tennessee Titans, Taylor carried the ball just @2 times but racked up 153 yards – including an 80-yard score. Two touchdowns were on the ground versus one via a reception. The week before, he scored three times against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Taylor leads the NFL in rushing yards (850) and total touchdowns (14) through eight weeks. His play has propelled him to an early lead in the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year race.

That presents a major challenge to a Pittsburgh defense that has lost defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale (knee) – potentially for the rest of the season – and struggled against other rushers.

Per ESPN stats, the Steelers rank 32nd in passing yards per game (273.3), 30th in total yards allowed (386), 24th in third-down conversion percentage (41.84%) and 22nd in points per game (25.0). The Steelers rank 18th in rushing yards allowed per game (112.7) and have given up 5 touchdowns to opponents’ ground game.

Whether Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin will alter his approach to containing Taylor remains to be seen. Head coach Mike Tomlin defended his embattled coordinator without naming him, saying,

“We make no excuses about how or why we fall short. Our job is to perform at a high level, and we haven’t done that… We certainly got more in front of us and more opportunities to write our story, whether it’s individuals, whether it’s a component of our team or whether it’s our team in general. I think that’s our general mindset.”

The Steelers may utilize more of rookies Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black on Sunday with Cameron Heyward and Keeanu Benton in order to corral Taylor. They’ll need to be strong on the edges of the line, as well, potentially utilizing less outright blitz pressure by their outside linebackers to force Taylor to run inside.