Colts vs. Steelers: Offensive grades

The Colts were put into a hole early when their quarterback was knocked out after only throwing five passes. In the end, it was too much to overcome.

The Colts were facing a tall task going into this game against the Steelers. They were without their top two receivers, they were down a starting DB, and hadn’t beaten this team in 10 years. They didn’t today either, losing 26-24. The offense had a rough go of it today.

Jacoby Brissett was knocked out early with a knee injury, He went 4-5 for 59 yards before he was hurt. Brian Hoyer came in and had to play most of the game. He went 17-26 for 168 yards. He also threw 3 touchdowns and had an interception.

The interception was an absolute killer. He threw a pick-six that was taken 96 yards the other way. He also fumbled on a fourth down attempt. He did a decent job for just being thrust into the game, but didn’t do well enough to keep the Colts from losing.

Marlon Mack had 21 carries for 89 yards but no touchdowns. Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins combined for 13 more yards on one carry each. They did a solid job gaining yards early in this game. They helped Hoyer settle into the game.

This was a bad performance for the offensive line. They allowed 5 sacks between the two quarterbacks. Braden Smith got beaten a couple of times around the edge. Mark Glowinski got called for a hands to the face penalty and then relinquished a sack the very next play.

The line has been incredibly inconsistent this season. Their run blocking has generally been good, but their pass blocking has been suspect sometimes. They need to play better if this team is going to win more games. It didn’t help that Ryan Kelly got hurt in this game either.

The tight ends did about as well as was expected in this one. They were going to be blanketed the whole game because of the limited amount of receivers who had experience. Jack Doyle had a touchdown and had 3 catches for 22 yards. Eric Ebron had 2 catches for 16 yards. Mo Alie-Cox had a catch for 11 as well. Could have been worse for this unit.

Zach Pascal continues his strong play. He had 5 catches for 76 yards for a touchdown. He will be the number one receiver for at least the next game and possibly longer. Parris Campbell got the ball a lot. He had 3 carries for 22 yards and 5 catches for 53. He should have scored on a play but tripped and fell before he could get to the goal line.

Chester Rogers has hands of stone. He dropped two straight passes late in the game when the Colts were trying to drive down the field. He did have 3 catches, including a touchdown. Deon Cain dropped the only ball thrown his way. There were 7 or 8 drops in this game. Not great.

We don’t know the extent of Brissett’s knee injury yet. That will determine how the team plays down the stretch. But the offense has to take care of the ball better.