“Pittsburgh Steelers” Roethlisberger torched the Indianapolis secondary for 364 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 45-10 victory over the Colts in a battle of teams jockeying for playoff position Sunday night. As ESPN’s NFL Twitter account noted, Roethlisberger also threw for 200 yards in the first half of each of those same four games, the first quarterback to do so since Dan Fouts in 1981.
Advertisement
BILLS 30, TEXANS 21: In Orchard Park, New York, Tyrod Taylor threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Charles Clay with 1:53 left to lead Buffalo. Take one key piece out of the mix-Brown, Bryant, Williams or especially Roethlisberger-and the whole system would threaten to fall apart. No run game or pass game. Without an effective running game, they can force the quarterback to switch from game manager mode to shoot out mode, the latter being one the Steelers are better equipped to match. The Colts led, 10-6, midway through the second quarter before Roethlisberger went to work.
Without any offensive threat to keep Pittsburgh at bay, the Colts never had a shot against Pittsburgh, and they won’t have a shot against any Super Bowl contenders until that changes. Sports Radio Indiana, Omaha’s The Zone, Mobile’s WNSP, Baltimore’s 105.7 The Fan, 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, 92.9 The Game in Atlanta, The Score 1260 in Syracuse, Sirius’ Mad Dog Sports Radio, ESPN 1530 in Cincinnati, TSN 1290 in Winnipeg, TSN 690 in Montreal and WNSR in Nashville.
“I didn’t even know that the Chiefs and the Jets won”.
“I thought it was positive”, head coach Mike Tomlin said of the pass defense. A missed field goal by Chris Boswell was about the only blemish in a quarter where the Steelers used Williams to grind down the clock. Pittsburgh scored 39 unanswered points from there.
Having Roethlisberger back in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future directly correlates to the main reason the Steelers feel fortunate at this point: the fact that they essentially control their own destiny in the AFC wild-card picture.
“They just did a really good job of just passing off our stuff”, said defensive tackle Billy Winn. “You’re going to get beat in this league sometimes”. That’s a 142.5 passer rating.
The Steelers started horribly against the Colts and needed Roethlisberger to play well.
“That’s what we expect to do”. “But I’m more upset about what we left on the field”. “Whether I missed throws, whether guys missed catches, whatever it was. If we can do that and get pressure up front like we did, it makes our defense complete”. We had a couple of drops. Antonio Brown had eight receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Notably, Pittsburgh wide receiver Martavis Bryant burned cornerback Greg Toler for a 68-yard touchdown, and he and wide receiver Antonio Brown each topped 100 yards. We want to catch every ball, I want to make every throw and when we don’t do it it’s frustrating.
The Colts defense had an bad game against the Steelers, certainly.
“We have to respond”, Pagano said.
Advertisement
Tyler Lockett #16 of the Seattle Seahawks carries the ball against Xavier Rhodes #29 of the Minnesota Vikings during the first quarter of the game on December 6, 2015 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Roethlisberger doesn’t figure to be rusty Sunday.
