Week 16 of the 2020 NFL season is officially underway as of Tuesday and this week’s slate of games includes the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Heinz Field. The Steelers, who have lost their last three games after starting the season 11-0, are now 1.5-point consensus home underdogs to the Colts at the time of this post, according to vegasinsider.com.
The Colts, who enter Weekm16 with a 10-4 record, will enter Sunday’s game against the Steelers in second place in the AFC South division behind the Tennessee Titans.
The Colts offense is led by veteran quarterback Philip Rivers. For the season, Rivers has completed 331 of his 482 total pass attempts for 3,735 yards with 22 touchdowns and just 9 interceptions. Rivers has been sacked 14 times so far this season.
The Colts leading pass catcher entering Week 16 is running back Nyheim Hines, who has 53 receptions for 412 yards and four touchdowns. Hines is also second on the Colts team in rushing with 319 yards and three touchdowns on 79 total carries. Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton leads the Colts in receiving yardage with 675 yards on 50 receptions. He also has four touchdown receptions on the season.
Colts rookie running back Jonathan Taylor leads the team in rushing entering Week 16 with 842 yards and seven touchdowns on 184 total carries. Taylor also has 35 receptions on the season for 298 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively for the Colts entering week 16, linebacker Darius Leonard leads the team in total tackles with 109. Leonard also has two sacks, two forced fumbles, six tackles for loss and five quarterback hits on the season.
The Colts have three players tied for the team lead in sacks with 7.5 and they are defensive linemen Justin Houston, Denico Autry, and DeForest Buckner, who has a team-high 24 quarterback hits on the season as well to go along with 52 total tackles. As a team, the Colts defense has registered 33 sacks on the season.
In the Colts secondary, cornerback Kenny Moore leads the team in interceptions with four and he’s tied for the lead with fellow cornerback Xavier Rhodes in passes defensed with 11. The Colts defense has registered 15 interceptions on the season.
The Steelers and Colts have met each other 31 times (including five postseason games), with Pittsburgh winning 25 games and Indianapolis winning 6 games. The two teams met just last season in Week 9 in Pittsburgh with the Steelers winning that game 26-24. The Steelers are 6-0 in their last six games against the Colts and their last loss to them was in 2008 at Heinz Field. Under head coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers are 6-1 against the Colts all-time.
For his career and including playoffs, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is 6-2 against the Colts all-time and 2-1 at home against them.
A win Sunday by the Steelers clinch the AFC North in Week 16.
