5 things we learned: Kenny Pickett continues to limit mistakes for Steelers in 2nd half of rookie season

Five things we learned from Steelers 24, Colts 17:

1. Protecting the ball

Entering the bye week, rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett was among the league leaders with eight interceptions.

As the calendar flips to December and the Steelers prepare to play their final six games, Pickett remains on eight interceptions.

A commonality in all four Steelers victories is that their quarterback — be it Pickett or veteran Mitch Trubisky — hasn’t thrown an interception. The Steelers are 4-2 when the quarterback doesn’t turn the ball over, 0-5 when he does.

Pickett’s best work came in the first half when he completed 14 of 18 passes for 133 yards. One drawback, though, came on the second drive after the Steelers had a first down at the Colts 24. Pickett was sacked twice in a three-play sequence and the Steelers had to punt.

In the second half, Pickett was 6 of 10 for 41 yards, but he provided a steadying hand when the Steelers needed to put together a sustainable drive. He had 35 yards passing and was 5 of 7 on that drive, nearly half of the yards coming on a 17-yard pass to tight end Pat Freiermuth that provided a first-and-goal from the 3.

The Steelers took the lead for good three plays later.

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2. Moving around

After slot corner Arthur Maulet was targeted a game-high nine times and allowed six catches for 81 yards in the 37-30 loss to Cincinnati, his time on the field was limited against the Colts.

Maulet mostly played in run-down situations, although he did register one of the team’s three sacks in the win. Maulet went from playing 83% of the defensive snaps to 28. Still, he had six tackles, two shy of the team lead.

By picking spots for Maulet, the Steelers moved Cam Sutton from the outside into the slot on many passing downs. This allowed James Pierre to play 47% of the defensive snaps on the outside.

Pierre made an impact with an interception on the Colts’ second play from scrimmage.

The Steelers also deployed three safeties in certain subpackages. Minkah Fitzpatrick never left the field, Terrell Edmunds played 88% of the defensive snaps, and Damontae Kazee was on the field 50% of the time the Colts had the ball.

Edmunds also had a sack, and Sutton came close on a blitz as defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was aggressive in having his defensive backs go after 37-year-old quarterback Matt Ryan.

3. Time’s a wasting

When the Colts took over for one final drive trailing by seven points, they had the ball on their 7 with 3 minutes, 52 seconds remaining. They also had all three timeouts in hand.

The Colts still had three timeouts at the two-minute warning after they had methodically moved to the Steelers 40.

Even after the Colts converted a fourth-and-3 coming out of the break, time continued to tick off the clock. The ball was snapped next with 1:35 remaining, and Alex Highsmith sacked Ryan for a 7-yard loss.

Still, the clock continued to run. Ryan got back 14 yards on a scramble up the middle. And the clock continued to run.

Only after Jonathan Taylor was stopped for no gain on third down with 30 seconds to play did a timeout get spent. It exposed interim coach Jeff Saturday for his lack of experience on the sideline.

4. Unhappy returns

Coach Mike Tomlin spent a portion of his postgame press conference harping on his team’s deficiencies in special teams, particularly the kickoff coverage unit.

Even if Dallis Flowers hadn’t returned the second-half kickoff 89 yards, Tomlin had a reason to be upset. In the first half, Isaiah Rodgers had returns of 33, 29 and 45 yards, the latter allowing the Colts to get in position to attempt a 59-yard field goal on the final play of the half.

Flowers was the deep return man to open the second half, and he turned the momentum in the Colts’ favor when he fielded the ball 8 yards deep in the end zone and didn’t stop running until he was brought down at the Steelers 19. This led to Jonathan Taylor’s touchdown run that pulled the Colts within 16-10.

On his final return, Flowers was held to 29 yards.

Another breakdown on special teams came when Sutton jumped offsides with Chase McLaughlin attempting a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter. Armed with a fresh set of downs, the Colts eventually had a first-and-goal from the 1 before Chris Wormley’s fumble recovery gave the ball back to the Steelers.

5. Give him the ball

The Steelers made good on emphasizing wide receiver Dionte Johnson, who pleaded for more targets in the wake of the loss to the Bengals. That was evident on the first series when Pickett’s first pass was an 11-yard completion to Johnson. His second one also was thrown in Johnson’s direction and also went for an 11-yard gain.

Johnson ended up being targeted a team-high eight times and led the Steelers with five receptions. However, he missed a chance at getting his first touchdown catch of the season when he couldn’t hold onto a fade pass in the left corner in the fourth quarter. The Steelers then went ahead for good on Benny Snell’s touchdown run.