The Pittsburgh Steelers may have beat the St. Louis Rams 12-6 today, but it came at a cost.
With 5:30 left in the third quarter, Steelers Nation let out a collective gasp as their star quarterback laid on the turf writhing in pain. On a pass play, Ben Roethlisberger moved up in the pocket to avoid the rush from the Rams and found the helmet of Rams strong safety Mark Barron with his left leg. Roethlisberger would not return to the field the rest of the game with a left knee injury.
The St. Louis front seven proved to be a tough obstacle to overcome for the Pittsburgh offense throughout all four quarters Sunday with 5 sacks and 8 tackles for a loss.
University of Pittsburgh alum Aaron Donald had four tackles, three of those for a loss, and a sack to help the defensive front seven of the Rams.
Pittsburgh started off the scoring with a 21-yard Josh Scobee field goal to cap their first drive of the game. After the field goal, neither team would do much with the ball the rest of the quarter
In the second quarter, Le’Veon Bell, in his first action of the season, was able to find the end-zone from one-yard out to put the Steelers up 9-0. The Rams got on the board with a 49-yard field goal of the foot of Greg Zuerlein cutting the Pittsburgh lead to six before the half. The field goal was set up by a Roethlisberger interception by Janoris Jenkins, Roethlisberger’s first interception of the year.
Roethlisberger finished the first half with 160 yards passing on 16 completions on 19 attempts. Bell led the Steelers in rushing in the first half with 10 rushes, 42 yards and a touchdown. Antonio Brown had 86 yards on 9 receptions to lead receivers.
On a second-and-18 with 5:30 left in the third quarter, Roethlisberger stepped up in the pocket to avoid a swarm of St. Louis defenders when Barron, who was off-balance and stumbling into the Pittsburgh backfield, tackled the quarterback and in turn caused Roethlisberger’s knee to buckle and Steeler fans to groan.
After Roethlisberger was taken to the sideline, back-up quarterback Michael Vick stepped in to lead the Steelers offense. Roethlisberger finished 20-24 with 192 yards and an interception. Vick entered the game and finished 5-6 and throwing for 38 yards.
Zuerlein would hit a 27-yard field goal with 5:38 left in the fourth quarter to get the Rams within three points of the Steelers.
Pittsburgh would follow that up with a 41 yard Scobee field goal with 1:56 left in the game to increase the Steelers lead back to six.
Down six with under two minutes left the Rams would get a first down on a 10-yard pass from Foles to Jared Cook. St. Louis would then turn the ball over on downs as the Pittsburgh defense held its own and forced an incompletion on fourth down.
Leading the way on the defensive side of the ball for the Steelers was Will Allen who intercepted Foles and finished with seven tackles on the afternoon.
Nick Foles threw for 197 yards and one interception in a losing effort the Rams while Kenny Britt paced them with 102 yards receiving on seven receptions.
Pittsburgh returns home to Heinz Field on Thursday to face AFC North division rival Baltimore at 8:25 p.m. St. Louis hits the road to face the Arizona Cardinals.
Score by Quarter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Steelers 3 6 0 3
Rams 0 3 0 3
First Quarter
Steelers: Josh Scobee 21 yard field goal
Second Quarter
Steelers: Le’Veon Bell 1 yard rush (Two-point conversion no good)
Rams: Greg Zuerlein 49 yard field goal
Fourth Quarter
Rams: Greg Zuerlein 27 yard field goal
Steelers: Josh Scobee 41 yard field goal
