Colts Stock Report: Week 16 vs Steelers

The Indianapolis Colts went into Sunday’s game on the back of a important win against one of the their AFC South division rivals in the Houston Texans in week 15 needing a win to remain in the playoff picture. The Colts came up against a team who were coming off a three game losing streak having been beat the previous week by the Cincinnati Bengals. There were some strong showings during the 28-24 loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers and a few poor ones, as well.

Stock Up:

The Colts rushing attack led by Jonathan Taylor started the game very well. Taylor rushed for 74 yards on 18 carries for 2 touchdowns. Taylor did this excellent running behind an offensive line that was down both its start left and right tackles. The Steelers are known for having a strong run defense but Taylor ran rampant over them in the first half especially. The Colts seemingly abandoned the run in the second half despite having a three score lead. Taylor did impress in pass blocking and helped keep Rivers clean several times against the blitz too.

Zach Pascal was excellent yesterday, coming up several times to help the Colts out for critical catches. Pascal finished the day with 3 catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. Pascal was a main reason why the Colts took such a commanding lead in the first half against a very good Steelers defense. Pascal continues to make plays and is highly underrated member of the Colts offense.

Stock Down:

The Colts took a commanding lead into the early third quarter of the game, leading 24-7 with just over 9 minutes left in the third quarter. However that is where the Colts points scoring ended. The Colts second half performance, outside of the first offensive drive, was very poor. The offense couldn’t score any points, outside of the field goal to start the second half, the defense couldn’t stop the Steelers moving down the field and ended up allowing 21 points and the coaches were severely out coached by the Steelers coaches. The Steelers looked to have made several adjustments at the half however the Colts looked to have made none and it showed, the Steelers scored 21 unanswered points and won the game whereas the Colts couldn’t score or stop the Steelers scoring and lost the game. There was plenty of blame to throw around after the game but it wasn’t any clear and obvious person to blame it was a collective second half collapse and it may end up costing the Colts a playoff berth.