“Ben was Ben tonight and those guys did a nice job of getting open and making”.
Advertisement
Antonio Brown returned a punt for a touchdown against the Colts on Sunday, but the celebration was even better.
“We just made some plays when we had to”, Roethlisberger said. “I think everybody did, that’s why we had a lot of fun”. The Colts depend on the blitz to get to opposing quarterbacks, but the Steelers’ skill positions are so loaded that they are perfectly built to beat the blitz. As per usual, Pittsburgh went for two points and got it, going up 14-10 on Indianapolis.
The victory raised the Steelers record to 7-5 and keeps them in the thick of the race for a wildcard playoff berth. Down 38-10, the Colts formally surrendered with just under seven minutes left in the game, sending in Charlie Whitehurst for mop-up duty as Hasselbeck suffered what the Colts termed neck and shoulder injuries. “Today we showed that”. Williams, meanwhile, complemented the receiving trio with 134 yards on the ground. The teams combined for four first-half turnovers, three in the first three minutes and two in the first 51 seconds.
“I did get X-rays and I’m in a little bit of pain, but I don’t know anything else other than that, yet”, he said in his post-game press conference. If the Steelers make the playoffs, they will be a team nobody wants to play. Pittsburgh scored 39 unanswered points from there. Against a pass defense that had yielded almost 1,000 yards in its last three games and was shredded by Johnny Manziel, the Colts wide receivers were invisible. “I’m disappointed in how I played”. Hasselbeck avoids throwing any passes, thus the Colts settle for a 35-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri.
In the football business, what had happened to the Steelers when Jacoby Jones lost a fumble on the opening kickoff, just four seconds into the whole evening, is known as sudden-change. Matt Hasselbeck tried to get the ball to Andre Johnson on second down, but he found himself having to work too hard at staying out of Cam Heyward’s clutches to do a very good job of it. Then on third down, Hasselbeck had time to survey the field, but his pass for tight end Coby Fleener near the goal line was intercepted by Jarvis Jones, a takeaway that came 44 seconds into the game, or 40 seconds after disaster seemingly struck.
Well, Williams has been far more than the Steelers could have hoped for, including a 165-total yard performance in a 45-10 rout of the Colts Sunday night.
After both teams traded field goals, the Steelers took advantage of Hasselbeck’s second interception of the night to take a 6-3 lead.
Roethlisberger responded via the no-huddle and mostly the air on an 80-yard drive that ended when the quarterback hit Brown for a 7-yard touchdown.
After the defense forced a three-and-out, Roethlisberger again quickly led the Steelers in for a score, this one a 5-yard TD pass to Markus Wheaton with 10 seconds left in the first half to make it 21-10. Bryant chased it down and simply ran away from a pair of Indianapolis defensive backs on his way to a 68-yard play that put the Steelers up 18.
Advertisement
Indianapolis (6-5) has thrived in Andrew Luck’s absence as Matt Hasselbeck, the cagey veteran, had led the team to three straight wins. They were torched continuously by receivers Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant, who combined for 12 catches, 232 yards and three touchdowns. Neither, apparently, were his 364 yards passing. Brown finished off the night with 118 yards and eight receptions.
