Jaylen Warren rushed for two touchdowns and T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith made huge defensive plays to help the Pittsburgh Steelers notch a 27-20 victory over the visiting Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon.
Aaron Rodgers completed 25 of 35 passes for 203 yards and tossed a touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth for the Steelers (5-3). Watt and Highsmith both delivered strip sacks while Payton Wilson (13 tackles), Jack Sawyer and Joey Porter Jr. grabbed interceptions as Pittsburgh ended a two-game slide.
Daniel Jones completed 31 of 50 passes for 342 yards and one touchdown, but he threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles as the Colts (7-2) saw a four-game winning streak end. Michael Pittman (nine receptions) and Alec Pierce (six catches) each had 115 receiving yards for Indianapolis, which committed six turnovers and allowed five sacks.
Most Valuable Player candidate Jonathan Taylor never got untracked and was held to 45 yards on 14 rushes for Indianapolis. He caught two passes for 12 yards.
Pittsburgh scored 24 consecutive points until Michael Badgley booted a 52-yard field goal to bring the Colts within 24-10 with 10:45 remaining.
Indianapolis got the ball back two-plus minutes later but on the second play, Highsmith registered a strip sack of Jones and Derrick Harmon recovered at the Colts’ 34-yard line with 7:58 to go. It was Highsmith’s second sack of the game.
The takeaway set up Chris Boswell’s 46-yard field goal to make it 27-10 with 6:51 remaining.
A short time later, Jones tossed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Josh Downs to cut the Indianapolis deficit to 27-17 with 4:30 left.
The Colts got the ball back after Pittsburgh’s Roman Wilson lost a fumble. But three plays later, Jones was picked off by Porter with 2:44 left. Jones had thrown just three interceptions entering the contest.
Badgley kicked a 53-yard field goal with nine seconds left before the Steelers recovered the ensuing onside kick.
The Colts scored first when Jones snuck in from the 1 on fourth down with 8:05 left in the opening quarter.
The momentum changed in the second quarter when Watt strip-sacked Jones and recovered the ball at the Pittsburgh 44 with 11:21 left in the half.
The Steelers drove 56 yards on 12 plays with Warren scoring from the 1 to knot the score with 6:09 left.
On Indianapolis’ next possession, Jones was intercepted by Wilson, who returned it 17 yards to the Colts’ 14. Two plays later, Rodgers tossed a 12-yard scoring pass to Freiermuth to give Pittsburgh a 14-7 lead with 4:22 remaining.
Chris Boswell added a 25-yard field goal as time expired to give the Steelers a 10-point halftime lead.
Warren scored from the 2-yard line to make it 24-7 with 14:16 to play.
