Roethlisberger keeping milestones coming fast

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger reached two more career milestones Thursday night when he completed the 4,000th pass of his career. Roethlisberger became just the ninth player in NFL history to reach 4,000 completions.

Roethlisberger moved into eighth place on the alltime list for completions, leaping over Phillip Rivers of the Los Angeles Chargers, who also is a member of the 2004 quarterback class. Rivers is in the concussion protocol and might miss the Chargers’ game Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.

It is possible Roethlisberger could move into seventh place on the all-time list by season’s end. John Elway currently holds that spot with 4,123 career completions.

In the third quarter, Roethlisberger passed Warren Moon (49,325) for the eighth-most passing yards in NFL history.

With his fourth touchdown pass of the game to Antonio Brown in the fourth quarter, Roethlisberger increased his touchdown pass total this season to 16 — extending his streak of consecutive seasons to begin his NFL career with at least 15 touchdown passes to 14 —– breaking a tie with Peyton Manning for the longest streak.

Brown sets NFL record

Antonio Brown set an NFL record for needing the fewest games in league history to reach 700 receptions. It took him 111 games. Brown did it in three fewer games than former Colt Marvin Harrison.

Brown also became the fifth player in franchise history to score 60 touchdowns, joining Franco Harris, Hines Ward, John Stallworth and Jerome Bettis. Brown had three touchdowns for his 13th multitouchdown game of his career. Ward has the most multi-touchdown games in franchise history with 15.

Brown also eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards for the sixth time in his NFL career and fifth consecutive year, becoming the first player in franchise history to record 1,000 receiving yards in five consecutive seasons.

Setting the pace

Brown and Le’Veon Bell are on pace to lead the league in receiving and rushing yards. Brown has a healthy lead of more than 150 yards over DeAndre Hopkins of Houston and Bell held a 40- yard lead over Kareem Hunt of Kansas City entering Thursday night’ game.

Bell also leads the league in first downs, rushes for first downs and rushing attempts per game.

Brown also is first in the league in 100-yard receiving games. He recorded his fifth of the season Thursday night.

One more league-leading statistic: receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster leads all rookies in receiving yards.

Showing cracks?

The Steelers took pride in not giving up many big plays in the passing game through the first eight games of the season, but they have given up three touchdown passes of 60 yards or more in the past two games.

Rishard Matthews’ 75yard touchdown catch on the first play of the second half was the longest passing play against the Steelers this season. They gave up touchdown passes of 60 and 61 yards against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday.

Heyward moves up charts

Defensive end Cameron Heyward recorded two more sacks to give him a teamhigh seven this season. His 32 career sacks are the thirdmost sacks by a Steelers defensive lineman since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. It was Heyward’s fourth multi-sack game of his career and his second this season. He also had two sacks against Baltimore.

Wacky schedule

First, the Steelers had an off week. Then, they had a short week. Now, they have a long weekend. Welcome to the wonderful world of NFL scheduling.

The Steelers won’t play again until they play host to the Green Bay Packers Sunday Nov. 26 at Heinz Field. That’s the second of four consecutive scheduled primetime games for the Steelers, who also play the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens on Monday and Sunday nights to open December.

The NFL can flex the Baltimore game to the afternoon if there is a more desirable matchup.

This ‘n’ that

The Steelers extended their NFL-best streak of not allowing the opponent to score a touchdown on its opening possession to 27 games. … Defensive end Stephon Tuitt recorded sacks in consecutive games when he brought down Marcus Mariota in the second quarter. … Outside linebacker T.J. Watt recorded his first blocked field goal in the second quarter. It was the first field-goal block for the Steelers since Daniel McCullers blocked one last season in Miami. … Cornerback Mike Hilton recorded his second interception of the season in the first quarter. … Cornerback Coty Sensabaugh recorded his first interception of the season and his first since 2015 when he was with Tennessee.

Inactives

The Steelers deactivated safety Mike Mitchell, tight end Vance McDonald, quarterback Josh Dobbs, offensive linemen Jerald Hawkins and Matt Feiler, linebacker James Harrison and cornerback Joe Haden.

The Titans deactivated quarterback Brandon Weeden, receiver Darius Jennings, defensive backs Kalan Reed and Curtis Riley, offensive lineman Corey Levin, linebacker Kevin Dodd and defensive lineman David King.