Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts had a new rookie QB Anthony Richardson who deviates a little from the team’s recent essence of pocket passers. Now, with the QB injured, they turn to backup Gardner Minshew, who will play the rest of the season and is a de facto pocket passer. They have a good corps of receivers to help him, which will be great for the transition, but the offensive line issues will be a big challenge for him this season. The running game with RB Jonathan Taylor will be crucial in this match so that the Colts have a better chance of winning.
The defense has good names, but the pass rush outside the offensive line worries me. Still, the LB line is interesting and the secondary could be a good surprise with some unknown names, but who have played well recently.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh’s offense is guided by QB Mitch Trubisky, who has an interesting pair of WRs in Diontae Johnson and George Pickens. Still, they will need their ground game with RB Najee Harris to improve, in addition to the offensive line doing an interesting job to open up spaces in this match.
The defense has been a pretty average unit, but very poor against the run game. This will be important throughout the season due to the opponent’s possession time, which may be above their average in games against Pittsburgh.
Conclusion:
This is an absolutely must-win game for these two teams, with both tied in the standings with four other teams for the final two wild card spots for the AFC playoffs. The odds analysis is interesting as oddsmakers expect the Steelers to play a very even game away from home. There’s just one problem with that: the Colts are the better team and that’s also taking into account the absolute mess in Pittsburgh’s offense.
I believe that both teams will have offensive problems in this match with the Colts playing a more rhythmic game and the Steelers having difficulties in the aerial game and without a really efficient ground game. With that, I end up liking the under in this game and I will go here as the best bet in the match.