While it might be the Pittsburgh Penguins who play in PPG Paints Arena, it was the Pittsburgh Steelers who painted the field Sunday afternoon — specifically with the colors green and brown. That is, tight end Ladarius Green and wide receiver Antonio Brown. Green had the first 100-yard-plus game of his career (110 yards) and had a touchdown (his first in the black and gold), and Brown added a touchdown and had six receptions for 54 yards.
The two receivers helped propel Pittsburgh to a dominant 24-14 victory over the New York Giants (8-4), who had won six-straight. It’s the Steelers’ third-straight win, and was much-needed to keep Pittsburgh (7-5) in the playoff picture.
Overall, the Steelers looked just about picture-perfect against a Giants defense that has been pretty stingy with points this year, allowing an average of 19.4 per game (which is tied for sixth in the league.)
Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger finished with 24 of 36 for 289 yards and two touchdowns; he also had passes for 37, 22 and 21 yards. Roethlisberger did throw an interception, but it wasn’t really his fault as New York cornerback Eli Apple wrestled the ball out of Eli Rogers’ hands.
The offensive line continues to shine, giving Roethlisberger all the time in the world to look downfield. And there’s no quarterback better than Roethlisberger when he’s got time.
As usual, Brown reminded teams why he is clearly one of the best wideouts in the league. And, as usual, the connection between Brown and his quarterback continues to be special; the duo tied the combo of Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann for the most quarterback-wideout touchdowns in Steelers history (with 49). There also doesn’t seem to be a wideout who is better at making sure his feet come down inbounds.
But the story of the game really was Green. In only his fourth game this season — he spent a significant amount of time out with an injury — Green looked phenomenal. The tight end, who came into Sunday with rather slow games against the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts, torched the Giants’ defense with his six receptions for an average of 18.3 yards per catch and scored a touchdown. He gives Pittsburgh a dangerous threat both down the field and down the middle.
Prior to the game against New York, the Steelers’ offense had been struggling because Brown was being double — and even sometimes triple — covered, and Pittsburgh didn’t have someone to step up and give Roethlisberger a viable second option. Martavis Bryant is out for the season due to a suspension, Markus Wheaton hasn’t done all that much and has been dealing with an injury and both Eli Rogers and Sammie Coates were injured for a bit.
So, if Green is back and can continue to have big games like this, man, oh, man, opposing teams should start quaking in their boots.
Roethlisberger also found tight end Jesse James for three receptions for 32 yards and hit wideout Eli Rogers for 18 yards and Cobi Hamilton for 11 yards. If you’re counting, that’s nine receptions for the wide receivers and nine for the tight ends, the kind of spread this team hasn’t seen all that much of this season.
Running back Le’Veon Bell was close-to-perfect, but he did have a dumb fumble that led to a New York touchdown. As a back, he finished with 29 rushes for 119 yards. As a wideout, he had six catches for 64 yards. As a quarterback, well, he was 0-for-1 — a weird second and long play that Bell threw out of bounds — but it raises the question of whether there’s anything this guy can’t do. (He’s probably the backup kicker’s backup or something.)
And that backup kicker, Randy Bullock, who was signed earlier in the week after Chris Boswell was injured, made all three of his field goals (from 44, 34 and 38 yards).
While the defense got a lot of flak earlier in the season — in particular, the secondary — it continues to get better week by week, which should start to worry other teams heading down the stretch.
2016 first-rounds picks safety Sean Davis and cornerback Artie Burns should give fans hope for the aging secondary. Davis picked off Eli Manning for the safety’s first pick of his young career. Burns finished with six solo tackles, while Davis finished with four.
Linebacker Lawrence Timmons added another pick to Pittsburgh’s total. And fellow linebacker Ryan Shazier continues to be a complete beast on the field.
Neither New York touchdown should take away from the defense’s commanding performance. The first touchdown came after Bell fumbled the ball at the Pittsburgh 18-yard line, and the Giants took two plays to get into the endzone. New York’s second touchdown came in garbage time (with 26 seconds left).
This game was a statement win by a Pittsburgh team that desperately needed one — especially after the Baltimore Ravens won earlier in the day. Sure, the Steelers won their last two games, but they beat the winless Browns and the (Andrew) Luck-less Colts. Not exactly resume wins.
But the Giants are a good team.
And Pittsburgh won easily.
Image credit: Jamie Sabau/Getty Images
