Kenny Pickett guides Steelers past Colts for 1st comeback win

INDIANAPOLIS – For the second week in a row, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost momentum and a lead in the second half.

Kenny Pickett was determined that, unlike a week earlier, the Steelers wouldn’t lose the game, too.

After blowing a 13-point lead in the third quarter Monday night, the Steelers recovered to go ahead in the fourth and then held on for a 24-17 victory against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Pickett helped engineer an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Benny Snell’s 2-yard touchdown run and a 2-point conversion pass to George Pickens that erased a 17-16 deficit.

The win represented Pickett’s first career fourth quarter comeback and improved the Steelers’ record to 4-7. They have won eight consecutive games against the Colts and improved to 19-3 on Monday Night Football under coach Mike Tomlin.

“No one had any doubts,” Pickett said. “No one had any second thoughts going out there in the fourth quarter that we weren’t going to win this game.”

There was reason, of course, to be skeptical that the Steelers could come back against the Colts, who scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to wipe out a 16-3 deficit.

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In a scene that was reminiscent of last week’s 37-30 loss against Cincinnati, the Steelers opened the second half by going three-and-out on their first two drives. A week earlier, the Steelers didn’t get a first down in the second half until their fifth possession.

When the fourth quarter began, the Steelers faced a third-and-9 at their 26. Pickett found George Pickens for a 13-yard completion, and a roughing-the-passer penalty added 15 more yards. It provided a spark on a drive that ended when Snell, subbing for an injured Najee Harris, burst into the end zone on a third-and-2 run with 9 minutes, 55 seconds left.

“Once we get that first first down, we feel like we can get on a roll and put a possession together,” center Mason Cole said. “The fourth quarter we got it rolling and went from there.”

The defense, which limited the Colts to no yards in the first quarter and 71 in the first half, regrouped after Indianapolis had parlayed an 89-yard kickoff return into one touchdown and a 55-yard drive into another.

After Snell’s touchdown, the Steelers forced a three-and-out. The Colts got the ball back with 3:52 remaining and moved from their 7 to the Steelers’ 26. Matt Ryan’s fourth-and-3 pass was broken up by Cam Sutton and Minkah Fitzpatrick to allow the Steelers to return home with a win.

“We want to be the group on the field when the game is on the line,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. “To perform like that on the last drive is huge for our confidence and believing in the unit we have.”

Pickett completed 20 of 28 passes for 174 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. He had 133 of his passing yards in the first half when the Steelers jumped to a 16-3 lead on Harris’ 6-yard touchdown run and three Matthew Wright field goals.

“He’s getting better every week and it’s in a very natural way because of experience,” Tomlin said. “He’s good enough, and we’re good enough to win while that happens.”

The Steelers played the second half without Harris, who had 35 yards rushing in the first half before exiting with an abdominal injury. Even before Harris departed, he yielded snaps to Snell and McFarland, who combined for 92 yards rushing on 18 carries. They also combined for three receptions.

Not bad for a pair of running backs who did not have a single carry this season until Monday. McFarland, in fact, was playing in his first game after spending the first 10 on the practice squad.

Snell led the Steelers with 62 yards rushing on 12 attempts. McFarland added 30 yards on six carries, and the Steelers rushed for 172 yards overall.

“We know what Benny can do, and we know what Anthony can do because they do it in practice,” guard Kevin Dotson said. “We weren’t surprised.”

The Colts stunned the Steelers to open the second half when Dallis Flowers fielded the kickoff 8 yards deep in his end zone and proceeded to break off an 89-yard return. This set up Jonathan Taylor’s 2-yard touchdown run.

After the Steelers went three-and-out for the first time in the game, the Colts marched all the way to the 1 before a bad exchange between Ryan and Taylor led to a fumble that defensive lineman Chris Wormley recovered.

It merely delayed the inevitable. The Steelers punted again after another three-and-out, and Ryan led the Colts on a six-play, 55-yard touchdown drive. Ryan’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Michael Pittman with 16 seconds left in the third put the Colts in front for the first time, 17-16.

On the go-ahead drive, Gunner Olszewski had a 9-yard run on a jet sweep, Snell had a 13-yard run and Pat Freiermuth added a 17-yard catch from Pickett that put the ball on the Colts 3.

“We have him in there because we think he’s capable of that,” Tomlin said of Pickett. “He proved it. I’m sure he’s going to get a lot of other opportunities moving forward to prove that. We need people who run toward action, not away from it. He runs toward it.”

On third-and-2, Pickett called a run for Snell, who took care of the rest and bulled into the end zone for the touchdown.

“It was a simple play, but we feel like other teams weren’t doing it,” Pickett said. “If we gave it a shot, we could be successful. We felt real confident about the play.”

Pickett’s 2-point conversion toss to Pickens pushed the lead to 24-17.

“Then it’s back on us,” linebacker Myles Jack said. “We just all looked and took the onus that we had to stop them, and we got the job done.”

The Steelers have a chance to piece together a winning streak for the first time this season when they face the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday – another road game played indoors.

“It’s crazy to be at the start of December and we don’t have back-to-back wins,” defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said. “If we talk about trying to make a push at this, it’s got to start next week.”