Steelers vs Colts: 5 Things We Learned About Pittsburgh in 23-20 Win

Going into their Sunday night contest against the Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers were heavily favored and seemed poised to feast on the Peyton Manning-less squad. Leaving, they had barely escaped with a 23-20 win that was shocking for many reasons.

Here's a look at five things we learned about the Steelers from this Week 3 game.

The Offensive Line Is, Well, Offensive

Lesson

The Pittsburgh offensive line cannot block effective defensive linemen and will likely be responsible for the unfortunate injury of one of the team's skill position players unless Mike Tomlin and his staff can somehow shore up this unit.

Analysis

Wow.

The Steelers offensive line raised their inept play this season to new heights on Sunday night. They were almost entirely responsible for the Colts' point production during the game, allowing two strip sacks of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The unit can now add "banged up" to the list of unflattering adjectives to describe their work. Jonathan Scott is hurt (which, while unfortunate, could help the team as his play was beyond awful). Marcus Gilbert has played well, but is banged up too. The unit is in trouble and probably will be making calls this week for some help. Flozell Adams, where are you?

Shaun Suisham Has Issues

Lesson

Shaun Suisham might have made the game-winning kick, but he showcased some of his major issues in the team's win over Indianapolis. Those issues could haunt the Steelers down the road.

Analysis

I wasn't a fan before and I won't be a fan now. The guy has no leg strength. In a new era where kickoffs are going through the uprights of the far end zone and becoming souveiniers for the crowd, Suisham can barely hit the goal line.

On field goals, he's streaky. He hit on three of four attempts against the Colts, which is good. He missed badly, however, from inside 40 yards inside a dome. That's not permissible. In fact, that's awful. Suisham's issues are well-documented. He needs to get on track or he'll be the latest in a long line of kickers who just couldn't cut it in Pittsburgh.

The Defense Needs to Learn to Shed and Shred

Lesson

The Steelers defense is still struggling to shed blocks and shred offensive lines this season, something that's never been a problem for them before.

Analysis

The Steelers garnered their first takeaway of the year against the Colts, a play which went a long way toward winning the game. That doesn't excuse them from some of the errors that are plaguing them continuously this year.

The front seven are struggling to get consistent pressure and twice now have struggled with the rushing attack of an opponent. That doesn't happen usually. It's a bad sign and it's contributing to the Steelers' woes. They still don't get off the field consistently enough either. They need to solve this issue or those turnovers and sacks are just not going to materialize.

Mike Wallace Might Challenge Jerry Rice's Record

Lesson

Mike Wallace's goal of 2,000 receiving yards (which hasn't been done before) isn't as crazy as it initially seemed.

Analysis

Wallace has three 100 yard games to open the season. He's on pace to break Jerry Rice's single season record. He isn't quite on pace yet for 2,000 yards (he's around 100 short at the moment), but he could make a serious run at it if this keeps up.

Teams are having trouble taking away Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown at the same time as they are trying to deal with Ben Roethlisberger's work in and out of the pocket and Hines Ward and Heath Miller's ability to get open underneath.

Until teams figure out how to stop Wallace, he's going to continue making everyone pay and making people start to wonder if Rice's record (and the 2,000 yard plateau) is really going to be safe.

Ben Roethlisberger Needs Better Ball Control

Lesson

Ben Roethlisberger is a great quarterback, but he hasn't been the best at preventing turnovers this season. That needs to change immediately.

Analysis

Fumbles, fumbles, fumbles. Roethlisberger has been very good except for the turnovers. I'm not as concerned about the interceptions as I am about the drops. He's been putting the ball on the turf a lot and isn't protecting it well.

The Steelers have enough problems giving him a clean pocket. They don't need him dropping the ball every time he gets hit. He hasn't gotten that bad yet, but he needs some serious work with feeling the pressure behind him and keeping track of blitzing rushers. He's usually good at that, but he's been bad this year and wasn't great against the Colts.