Defense Rocks, Offense Rolls as Steelers Shutout Seahawks 24-0

Just what the doctor ordered.

After a 35-7 pounding at the hands of the Ravens a week ago, the Steelers offense, defense, and special teams all answered the bell as they came out and slammed the overmatched Seattle Seahawks, earning a hard fought 24-0 shutout.

The win came on the heels of hearing all week that the Steelers defense was too old, the offense wasn’t as good as advertised, and the special team was void of big plays.

They proved all the naysayers wrong, outgaining the Seahawks 417-164, and they stopped Seattle from getting into Steelers territory until the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach.

The defense put up five sacks, held Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch to 11 yards rushing, and Tarvaris Jackson had just 159 yards through the air.

The Steelers ground game put on a show, grinding out 120 yards on 31 carries, with Rashard Mendenhall going for 67 yards on 20 carries.

Pittsburgh was stopped at the Seattle one on fourth and goal to start the game, but never looked back from there after stopping the Seahawks on 3-and-out.

They marched down the field with the use of a trick play with Emmanuel Sanders throwing a 15-yard pass to Hines Ward to get the ball to the Seattle 15. Mendenhall wrapped up the drive with a one-yard run three plays later to make it 7-0.

The Steelers made it 14-0 early in the second quarter when Issac Redmen went in from 20 yards out after the Steelers defense again gave the team a short field as they started the drive from their own 47.

A 16-yard pass from Roethlisberger to Mike Wallace set the Steelers up from the 23, and two plays later Redmen had a nifty run to put the Steelers up double-digits.

A Shaun Suisham 20-yard field goal with 1:52 left in the first half wrapped up a solid first half of football for the black and gold and made it 17-0.

Roethlisberger threw a two-yard TD to Wallace with 3:30 to play in the third quarter for the only points of the second half to make it 24-0.

Pittsburgh’s D laid the boom on Seattle in the second half, putting up five sacks and never allowing the Seahawks a legit threat to break the end zone.

Roethlisberger was 22-for-30 for 298 yards with a touchdown and a QB rating of 115.7. Wallace pulled in 8 catches for 126 yards and the short two-yard score.

The Seahawks were led by QB Jackson, who was 20-for-29 for 159 yards and no picks. There were no turnovers by either team in the game.

Next week the 1-1 Steelers travel to Indy for a Sunday night showdown with the Colts, who are 0-2 after losing to the Browns at home Sunday.