Not many gave the Pittsburgh Steelers a real chance to beat Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts Sunday afternoon, but thanks to an offensive explosion, that is exactly what happened in a 51-34 victory, which moves the Steelers to 5-3 and in the thick of things in the AFC North race.
There were both a lot of positives and some negatives coming from the big win.
With that being said, I take a look at both in my weekly Steelers Report Card.
Quarterback: Quite simply a performance for the ages for Ben Roethlisberger, setting franchise records in completions (40), yardage (522) and touchdowns (six). There’s not much more that needs to be said. Grade: A+
Running Backs: Le’Veon Bell continues to show that he is among the NFL’s best, with 148 yards from scrimmage. He did gain 92 yards on 24 carries, which was under four yards per carry. Fortunately for the Steelers, they didn’t need more on the ground in this one. The other backs weren’t so good. LeGarrette Blount lost a fumble that could have proven costly and Dri Archer continues to show that he shouldn’t be on the field in any capacity. Grade: B-
Wide Receivers: Is there a better wide receiver in the NFL than Antonio Brown right now? Brown had another big day with 10 catches, 133 yards and a pair of touchdowns. But it wasn’t just Brown as nine different receivers caught passes. Rookie Martavis Bryant had another big game, as did Heath Miller. Markus Wheaton wasn’t lousy for a change and everyone was making plays. Only a fumble by Darius Heyward-Bey prevented a perfect grade. Grade: A
Offensive Line: Roethlisberger dropped back 49 times and wasn’t sacked once. The Steelers did only average 3.7 yards per carry on the day, which is a minor knock on the unit, but overall it was a great performance. For all of the complaints the offensive line gets from fans, they should be appreciated. All you have to do is look at the Colts’ offensive line yesterday to realize that these five guys aren’t so bad. Even Mike Adams was very good filling in for Marcus Gilbert. Grade: A
Defensive Line: The Colts only ran for 63 yards, but they only ran the ball 10 times. Cam Heyward and Brett Keisel applied pressure all afternoon and Daniel McCullers looked disruptive in the middle at times. They helped make it a long day for Luck. Grade: B+
Linebackers: Luck was only sacked twice, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the story. Jason Worilds, James Harrison and Lawrence Timmons lived in the Indianapolis backfield and hit Luck as much as he has been hit his entire career so far. Timmons was beat for a touchdown, but for a change there was pressure and that is a great sign. Grade: B+
Secondary: For all the positives, there were some negatives also. Luck threw for 400 yards with three touchdowns and the Steelers secondary continued to allow big plays down the field. If there is a worse corner in the NFL right now than Cortez Allen, I haven’t seen him. They did create a pair of turnovers though. William Gay had a pick six and Antwon Blake got a pick that sealed the win. However if there was a reason to think that the Steelers still have plenty of issues, it is their secondary. The Steelers won’t score 51 points every week, but they may have to. Grade: D+
Special Teams: Brad Wing only had to punt twice and Shaun Suisham’s only field goal attempt was negated by a penalty. The return game wasn’t very good again, but it really didn’t matter. Grade: B
Coaching: The game plan was great. The offense wanted to control the clock and outperform the Colts’ offense and they did that right from the start. There were only a couple of plays from the no-huddle, which means Todd Haley deserves a ton of credit for Sunday’s performance, which makes it even more laughable that people are calling for his job. Dick LeBeau knew that if Luck was given time that he would pick the Steelers secondary apart, so he was committed to the blitz for a change and it worked. This all came on a short week. Grade: A
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
