The Pittsburgh Steelers won their fourth straight game on Sunday, avenging an earlier loss to the Baltimore Ravens, 23-16.
Pittsburgh moved the ball well against the top-rated defense in the NFL, rolling up nearly 400 yards of offense with good balance. Running back James Conner topped 100 rushing yards for the fifth time this season, and Ben Roethlisberger completed passes to seven receivers.
Except for one scary moment in the fourth quarter, it was an uneventful win for the Steelers.
Roethlisberger leave the game – briefly
With 13 minutes to play and the Steelers facing a second-and-15 deep in their own territory, Roethlisberger was running to his right with Ravens outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith in pursuit. Smith caught up to Roethlisberger, who didn’t slide, and Smith landed with his weight on the Steelers quarterback.
It wasn’t an illegal hit, but it was a bad one for Roethlisberger. All of Smith’s 272 pounds were on him as part of the tackle as his right throwing shoulder drove into the turf. The CBS commentators kept mentioning Roethlisberger’s shoulder, but the play had shades of the one that led to Aaron Rodgers’ broken collarbone last year.
Roethlisberger was down for a while, eventually moving to his back while Steelers trainers looked at him. Adding insult to what looked like injury, the run was taken off the board because of a holding call against left tackle Alejandro Villanueva.
Joshua Dobbs steps in
As all of Pittsburgh held its breath, Steelers backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs came onto the field in a tough situation: second-and-20 at his own 5.
But Dobbs, the 135th pick last year out of Tennessee, stepped up and completed a downfield pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster to pick up the first down. It was a little low, but right on the money with two defenders close by.
“Awesome,” Roethlisberger told reporters. “He checked to a pass play from a run play. Just awesome … That was a huge play he made.”
Roethlisberger came back for the next snap – sideline reporter Evan Washburn said the veteran had just had the wind knocked out of him – and completed a 51-yard pass to tight end Jesse James two plays later.
Pittsburgh got a field goal on the drive.
Steelers have short turnaround
The Steelers have a short turnaround after Sunday’s win, hosting the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night.
Now 5-3-1, Pittsburgh has already played five of its six division games and is 3-1-1 in those games. The Bengals are 5-3 (1-1 in AFC North) and are on their bye this week.
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