If the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to beat the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at Heinz Field, they’re going to have to limit the amount possessions that the opposing offense has during the game.
Heading into Sunday’s game, the Colts have possessed the ball an average of 36:56 minutes a game. How amazing is that stat? The Dallas Cowboys are second in the league when it comes to time of possession yet they’re still 2:56 minutes behind the Colts.
When the Colts offense has been able to run seven or more plays during a drive, they have come away with points on 71% of those drives. So far this season the Colts are averaging 2.48 per drive. In case you’re curious, the Steelers defense is allowing 2.16 points per drive. If you were to take the average of those two stats, it works out to 2.32 per drive for the Colts.
It goes without saying that the Steelers must do a good job Sunday when it comes to making Colts quarterback Andrew Luck drive the length of the field. So far this season the Colts offense has started 38 drives inside their own 20-yard-line and on 25 (65.8%) of those drives they have failed to come away with any points whatsoever.
The single best way to keep Luck and the rest of the Colts offense off of the field is by possessing the football on offense for long periods of time and ending those drives with seven points instead of three. The Steelers offense has possessed the ball on offense so far this season an average of 32:23 minutes a game, but their 22 points per game average hasn’t reflected that. That needs to definitely change Sunday.
