Steelers club Carolina, 52-21
“Hope not yet,’’ Roethlisberger said. “You want to keep trying to move up to the end, trending up. We’re playing some pretty good football right now but there’s still some stuff out there, some more plays we can make.”
This could be a scary good team if they keep improving.
Seven Steelers scored touchdowns and Chris Boswell hit on his only field-goal try, from 50 yards. Roethlisberger threw five touchdown passes to JuJu Smith-Schuster, Antonio Brown, Vance McDonald, Jesse James and rookie Jaylen Samuels.
Linebacker Vince Williams returned an interception for a touchdown and James Conner ran for his 10th touchdown, 11th overall this season. Conner left the game in the second half to be evaluated for a concussion. He had his four-game streak of 100 yards rushing snapped, mainly because Mike Tomlin subbed in his backups at halfback on a short week. Conner ran 13 times for 65 yards.
Roethlisberger’s hair also looked on fire. He completed 22 of 25 passes for 328 yards and left the game in favor of backup Josh Dobbs with 11 minutes to go. He had his fourth perfect passer rating of 158.3 and also set up a late third-quarter touchdown by scrambling 18 yards up the middle on third down to the Carolina seven.
He slid to end that play but Carolina safety Eric Reid came flying in to hit him on the turf, was penalized for it and ejected.
“He’s pretty amazing,’’ said guard David DeCastro, one of several Steelers who went after Reid after that penalty. “It’s been a lot of fun to play for him. I’ll remember these games for a long time. A special player, a special teammate.”
Roethlisberger, who got off to a relatively slow start through those first four games, has hit his stride.
“We were one-for-one for a TD to begin with,’’ DeCastro said of the Steelers’ first play on offense, a 75-yard touchdown pass to Smith-Schuster, “and he never got stopped, kept rolling down the field. That’s kind of how you draw it up.”
Itwas not all offense, either. The Steelers defense sacked Newton five times, two by Cam Heyward. T.J. Watt forced the pick-six by Williams when he pressured Newton into a poor throw fromhis end zone.
Special teams also contributed in the lopsided victory. Rosie Nix slammed into Carolina kick returner Curtis Samuel, who fumbled. Anthony Chickillo recovered at the 9. Two plays later Samuels caught Roethlisberger’s 6yard touchdown pass for his first NFL touchdown.
That Steelers defense came into the game with designs on pressuring Newton, something other teams have shied away from because of his ability to take off and run when
they did so. But Newton ran just twice for 10 yards and was under all kinds of pressure all night.
“That was our job, stop No. 1,’’ cornerback Mike Hilton said of Newton. “Everything runs through Cam and if we had a chance, let him know we’re there. Especially throughout the whole game it takes a toll on him and it showed.”
Newton completed 23 of his 29 passes but many short ones, for just 193 yards. Christian McCaffrey caught both of his touchdown passes and ran for the third Carolina score, but it was not nearly enough as the Panthers’ three-game win streak ended and they dipped to 6-3.
The game got out of hand between the time Brown caught a 53-yard touchdown pass with three minutes left in the first half and Roethlisberger hit two of his tight ends, Vance McDonald and Jesse James, with touchdown passes in the third quarter to make it 45-14.
The Steelers had scored three consecutive touchdowns to wipe out an early Carolina lead and held a 21-7 advantage after one quarter.
The Steelers wasted all of 11 seconds tying it after McCaffrey’s 20-yard touchdown catch put Carolina in front, 70.On the next play from the 25, Smith-Schuster flew down the left side. Cornerback James Bradberry bit on another route by James Washington, and that left Smith-Schuster wide open. He caught Roethlisberger’s pass at the Carolina 47 and outran everyone to the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown.
Just 13 seconds later, it was 14-7 Steelers. After a penalty on the kickoff forced Carolina to start from its 12, Watt grasped Newton in the end zone. Instead of taking the sack/safety, Newton flipped the ball wildly up for grabs. Williams snatched it at the 17 and ran into the end zone.
“I couldn’t get him down before he threw the ball out,’’ Watt said, “but I’m glad we got the pick-6.”
Conner followed by dominating the next drive and ending it with a 2-yard run up the middle for his 11th touchdown of the season and a 21-7 Steelers lead from which they never looked back.