Men of ‘Steel’
Backup QB, returning WR power Pittsburgh over Cards
PITTSBURGH — The wide receiver with the seemingly unlimited potential but serious baggage celebrated with a flip. The thirdstring quarterback who spent twoplus years having to defend his roster spot jumped into the arms of one of his offensive linemen.
For Martavis Bryant, it was relief. For Landry Jones, it was validation. For the Steelers, it was a win as unlikely as it was emphatic.
Dominated for a half, the Steelers rallied for a 2513 over the Cardinals on Sunday led by two players who have spent portions of their young careers either buried in the doghouse or depth chart or both.
Jones threw a pair of touchdown passes to Bryant after relieving Michael Vick, the second a spectacular 88yard catchandrun that sealed it with 1:58 to play. Bryant, active for the first time this season after being suspended four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy and missing another with a knee injury, joyfully somersaulted across the goal line while Jones was thrust into the air by guard David DeCastro.
“I just can’t believe I got in the game,” Jones said. “I’m still kind of reeling from it.”
So are the Cardinals (42), who overwhelmed the Steelers (42) in the first half, but only had a sevenpoint lead to show for it. Once Jones replaced Vick, who completed just 3 of 8 passes for 6 yards before exiting in the third quarter with a right hamstring injury, Pittsburgh’s of fense looked like the one Ben Roethlisberger guided before spraining his left knee in Week 3.
Jones found Bryant for an 8yard touchdown that put the Steelers in front, the second of five straight secondhalf possessions in which Pittsburgh scored.
“Landry was like Ben’s little brother out there,” Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell said.
Jones finished 8 of 12 for 168 yards and the two scores. Bryant caught six passes for 137 yards, Bell ran for 88 yards and rookie Chris Boswell kicked four field goals as Pittsburgh steadied itself the moment Jones entered the huddle.
Arizona coach Bruce Arians, the longtime Pittsburgh offensive coordinator, was pushed out after the 2011 season, something he jokingly called a “refirement.” Nearly four years — and two NFL Coach of the Year Awards — later, Arians returned to Heinz Field with one of the best teams in football.
But, while Carson Palmer threw for 421 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions and John Brown caught 10 balls for 196 yards, the Cardinals collapsed in the second half to ruin Arians’ homecoming.