Offense has not been the problem for the Steelers as of late, as once again Sunday night the black and gold put together a big first half, but this time they had enough in the second half as well to close out the Chargers with a big 35-28 win at Heinz Field.
Playing without Willie Parker, the Steelers were paced in the run game by second-year back Rashard Mendenhall, who ran for a career-high 165 yards on 29 carries, including a score to start the game on the Steelers first possession and another later on. Ben Roethlisberger also had a huge night, going for 333 yards on 26-for-33 passing with two scores, one to Mewelde Moore and another to Heath Miller.
Moore also threw a TD, as he hit Miller with a 6-yard score with 7:18 to go to give what seemed like a comfortable 35-14 lead. Then the Chargers came back though, as Philip Rivers hit Antonio Gates with a score, then after a successful onside kick, the Chargers scored again to make it 35-28 with 4:31 left.
The offense though did what it is supposed to do, putting together a nice drive that showcased more of Mendenhall, who had a big 22-yard gain in the drive as the team was able to put the finishing touches on a win that puts them to 2-2 on the season.
The team dominated the game in the first half, as Roethlisberger hit passes early and often, taking the team on a 6-play, 79-yard drive to take 7-0 lead. Then later in the quarter they went 11 plays, 75 yards and Moore caught a TD pass to make it 14-0.
With the Chargers doing nothing, the Steelers scored again in the second quarter, this time a 13-play, 79-yard drive that ended with a Mendenhall score to make it 21-0. The lead went to 28-0 in the third quarter when Miller caught the first of his two scores from six yards out to make it 28-0. That’s when the Chargers frantic comeback began.
All in all, the Steelers had their way with San Diego, beating them on the line of scrimmage with ease for the third time in 11 months. They beat them helmet to helmet, and established themselves with a run game that hasn’t been seen since the playoff win over San Diego a season ago.
The team will look to go over .500 next week as they travel to the place where they won their fifth Super Bowl – Detroit, as they take on the 1-3 Detroit Lions.
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DrGeorge
October 5, 2009 at 9:44 am
Matt Loede’s article above is journalistically sound, but very misleading. What I saw was a spectacular effort by Ben and the O-line nearly wiped out by shoddy play on special teams, including a coaching blunder in failing to anticipate the on-sides kick, and another collapse by the defensive secondary in the 4th quarter (again). The special teams gaffes are obvious and easily correctable; the inability of the secondary to cover short passing routes is more problematic. When the Steelers are ahead 28-0 and the opposition has abandoned the running game, it would seem safe to substitute faster players for the two interior linebackers. And assigning our best pass rusher (Harrison) man-to-man coverage twenty yards downfield is aburd. Our pass rush rarely had time to get to Rivers, because he found open receivers quickly and consistently under our coverage.
On offense, the O-line made enormous holes for the RBs and protected Ben beautifully. Give Arians credit for adapting his beloved spread offense to accommodate the run. Last night, the Steeler O-line was one of the best run blocking teams in football.
Behind the O-line, Mendenhall racked up big yards for the first time in his career, and is now being prematurely heralded as The Anwer. But he is still most effective off tackle, and runs adequately inside only if the hole is mammoth. He is not able to take on a LB by himself; he diminishes his own power in traffic by running too high. He also missed several wide holes by popping outside (lack of vision?), instead of cutting back behind his blockers.
The use of Legursky as a FB on the goal line was conceptually brilliant and effective. His consistent use in that role on short yardage and goal line situations would help to compensate for our lack of a power back. Any back could gain 2 yards behind the block Legursky made.
The unsung hero of the night was M. Moore, whose 19 yard RAC for a TD, through three defenders, was exceptional. His bullet pass to Miller on a HB option for another TD was nothing short of superb. Why Moore doesn’t get more playing time is beyond me. Ben was brilliant; if two easy passed had not been dropped, his passer rating would have been out of sight. Cary Davis blocked very well on limited practice; he is clearly better than the injured F. Summers he replaced. The receiving corps was solid, with Wallace playing far above his rookie status and Ward repeatedly making tough, courageous receptions in heavy traffic.
Against Detroit and Cleve. the Steelers have an opportunity to: a) fix the special teams tendency to overrun the return man and get out of their lanes on coverage; b) find faster ILBs to cover short on obvious passing situations (nearly the entire second half against S. Diego); and c)perfect the pulling guard and double team blocking schemes on offense that proved so effective against S. Diego, and hopefully give Redman a few carries between the tackles. If the team can get these things done before the Minnesota game and get our safeties healthy, the Steelers still have a legitimate shot of going deep into the playoffs.
mark
October 5, 2009 at 11:47 am
I have the same breakdown for that game. Many positives and a scary negative that continues to haunt this team on defense. Special teams wise, the onside kick should have been grabbed but my problem is with Reeds kickoff at the end of the game. Why would he kick deep to Sproles? The only thing the team didnt need at that point was a big return. Luckily, Sproles was tackled at mid field. The short passing attack by our foes are just torturing this team. When a team has become so 1 dimensional as the Chargers were at halftime, there is no excuse to why the Steeler defense wasn’t sharper in stopping this. No one jumps any routes, Rivers-Gates was so dominant that they were making it look too easy. Gates is great and Rivers is a top QB, but why werent Townsend,Ratliff or Carter anticipating making a play on the ball? I almost wanted to see Taylor covering Gates.As for Moore, Mike Tomlin can take credit for Woodley and Timmons but he deserves just as much credit for bringing Moore to Pittsburgh. I said it last year, Moore was an MVP candidate for that team’s championship run. He has turned out to be as dependable a Steeler that is on that roster. The defensive and certainly the offensive lines were dominant last night. Arguably, the best performance for this o-line in years.I would like to see Mendenhall get the bulk of carries next week too. Its like basketball, feed the hot hand!Timmons still looks a bit lost on some pass assignments and Woodley is struggling with the double teams. Carter, for as much as I like him and have said so, just seems to be a bit too slow in underneath coverages. Is there a more underrated player in football than Aaron Smith? The Steelers have a critical win under their belts this morning. Lets see if this equates to a nice run of wins than can position them for the winter. 6-2 at the halfway point is where they need to be.I dont think Tomlin takes any team lightly, so I expect a focused team next Sunday in Detroit and I expect to see even more production from the defense. At least I hope so.