The Pittsburgh Steelers entered the Georgia Dome with one thing on their minds – winning. The Atlanta Falcons were hoping that home-field advantage would be just that, an advantage. The Steelers were first to put points on the scoreboard and held the lead throughout the game, getting some key defensive stops. While it wasn’t Pittsburgh’s best game of the 2014 season, they did just enough to get the ‘W’.
Placekicker Shaun Suisham was solid all game, kicking two field goals to score the only points in the entire first quarter. The Steelers defense kept flipping the field, but the Falcons defense kept the Steelers from getting a touchdown.
” I don’t know if it’s key people,” head coach Mike Tomlin said about the resiliency of his team before the game, “or central people who specifically lead the charge in terms of responding to adversity. I just think it’s largely who the group is, individually and collectively. The makeup of them. It’s helpful when the group is resilient, obviously.”
William Gay got his third interception of the season by jumping a Matt Ryan route and took it to the house, scoring a touchdown. Gay’s play has been improved in 2014 as he has been asked to take a bigger role, especially now that Ike Taylor is most likely done for the season.
Le’Veon Bell was once again a key player for Pittsburgh even though his rushing numbers were lower in week 15. Bell had 20 carries for 47 yards and scored two touchdowns.
Although Ryan kept his team in the game, pulling within a touchdown on a 4-yard pass to a wide-open Roddy White, the Steelers defense held. Once the Steelers got the ball back, they converted three times on third down in their final offensive possession. A long pass to tight end Heath Miller made it possible for Pittsburgh to kneel for the win.
The Steelers move to 9-5 on the season, a half game behind the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC North. The Falcons fell to 5-9 and slipped out of first place in the horrible NFC South.
Steelers offensive team leaders
Passing:
Ben Roethlisberger – 27/35 for 360 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
Rushing:
Le’Veon Bell – 20 carries for 47 yards and 2 TDs
Receiving:
Antonio Brown – 10/10 catches for 124 yards
Le’Veon Bell – 5/7 catches for 72 yards
Heath Miller – 4/5 catches for 68 yards
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DaveB.
December 14, 2014 at 5:58 pm
A great team win . Secondly , the personal foul call on Jason Worilds in the second quarter on Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was hands down one of the worst calls Ive seen in years . Its rediculous when a defensive player gets a good clean hard hit on an opposing quarterback and the refs throw a flag on him for an illegal hit . I understand they are trying to protect the player but if the hit is clean , its clean and this was . God forbid if Jack Lambert was still playing in todays NFL . He would be flagged and ejected every other game . Its a disgrace .
DrGeorge
December 15, 2014 at 10:48 am
A welcome victory that must be tempered by reality: the Atlanta Falcons have had a plethora of injuries, on both sides of the ball, and the big one yesterday was the absence of Julio Jones. Even with depleted talent, Atlanta played well. Without Wm Gay’s interception and return for a TD, we would have had an even game, and that is not a good omen for the playoffs. By stuffing the box, the Atlanta D effectively negated our running game, and our passing game barely managed to compensate. That won’t suffice in the playoffs.
The big difference for the Steelers yesterday was the defense. It stepped up when it had to, without Taylor and (at the end) without Polamalu. LeBeau has done a great job of what Gene Collier (Post-Gazette) has called covering up the holes (meaning, the obvious lack of talent). V. Williams and S. Spence both had excellent games. And our D held the Falcons under 21 points, which ought to be enough to win any game — and it was yesterday.
DaveB is right about that flag on Worilds tackle of Ryan. A similar tackle drew a flag in the Dallas-Philadelphia game last night, and the announcers complained about it for several minutes. The refs are having trouble distinguishing between hitting with the crown of the helment (illegal) and the front of the helmet (face forward and legal). They also seem to flag any hard hit on the QB, legal or not, which is a travesty. The NFL needs to address the issue in the off season.