COMEBACK WIN BOOST FOR BIG BEN
Sorely needed rally should boost Big Ben
Do not minimize the importance of the Steelers’ victory against a good Indianapolis Colts team and the manner in which it was accomplished.
Above all else, it clinched the AFC North title and saved the Steelers from the potential embarrassment of becoming the first team in NFL history to start 11-0 and not win the division.
It also was a boost to the team’s sagging collective psyche to rally from a 17-point deficit in the second half and register the fifth-largest comeback in franchise history.
But, maybe most important, the Steelers’ 28- 24 victory against the Colts was good for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
One week after playing the worst half of football in his 17year career in Cincinnati, he bounced back with one of the best 30 minutes of his career against the Colts. Roethlisberger completed 22 of 28 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns in the second half after the Colts had taken a 24-7 lead, singlehandedly lifting them from an
offensive funk that had stretched into 18 quarters.
The last thing the Steelers needed heading to the postseason was to have their quarterback struggling, whether it was with on-thefield execution, a battered confidence level or hearing people question his ability to perform at age 38. And there were ample reasons for each.
He was coming off a threegame stretch that was arguably the worst of his career, completing 74 of 128 attempts for 662 yards with five touchdowns, four interceptions and a 71.81 passer rating.
But that all changed after halftime on Sunday.
“If people have been talking bad, I don’t read or hear or see any of it,” Roethlisberger said. “Honestly, I’ve never really cared so much about my stats. The only thing that matters is winning and losing. We’ve won 12 football games this year so far and we’ve got a few more to go.”
The only way the Steelers are going to survive in the postseason is if Roethlisberger is at his very best. Otherwise, without a running game, their shelf life is limited at best.
What he did against the Colts was good for the Steelers. But, maybe more significant, it was even better for him.
Watt states his case
Even if Mike Tomlin elects not to play him in Cleveland, outside linebacker T.J. Watt appears destined to become the third Steelers player in the past 13 years to be named the NFL’s defensive player of the year. And if he isn’t, he should be.
Watt had two more sacks against the Colts to raise his league-leading total to 15, which is 1½ more than Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Watt also leads the NFL in tackles for loss (26), seven more than the next closest player.
It helps, too, that he is playing on a team that is tied for the second-best record in the league and is a member of a defense that ranks first in sacks (52), scoring (19.2) takeaways (27) and is second in total defense.
Watt has faced more attention from opposing offenses since the season-ending injury to linebacker Bud Dupree. But, in the four games without Dupree, he has had four sacks, six tackles for loss, eight quarterback hits and two forced fumbles.
Watt’s strip-sack on Philip Rivers set up the Steelers’ only touchdown in the first half against the Colts. The Steelers sacked Rivers five times, their most since the fourth game of the season. Rivers had been sacked only 14 times in the first 14 games, second fewest among quarterbacks who had played every game, behind only Roethlisberger.
“We want to throw as many fastballs at those guys as we could and when we were able to get into those pass rush situations and they were forced to throw the ball we got after them a little bit,” Watt said. “They did a good job with some of those with chips and help, but at the end of the day, I feel like we got after them pretty good.”
Eerily similar
Sunday’s game in Cleveland appears to be similar to what happened 16 years ago on the other side of Lake Erie.
That’s when the Steelers rested a number of their starters and still beat the Buffalo Bills, 29-24, to keep the Bills from making the playoffs. It was the game that featured the breakout performance of Willie Parker, who rushed for 102 yards, and the emergence of a young James Harrison, who returned a fumble for a touchdown to ice the victory.
Everything had lined up perfectly for the Bills in 2004. They were riding a six-game winning streak in which they had outscored their opponents 228-89. And one of the scenarios they needed to make the postseason — the New York Jets losing on the road to the St. Louis Rams — had already occurred. All they had to do was beat the Steelers and they were in.
The Steelers had already locked up the No. 1 seed in the AFC, so Roethlisberger, running back Jerome Bettis and receiver Plaxico Burress did not play. A number of other starters on both sides of the ball made brief appearances.
The Bills appeared on their way when cornerback Nate Clements intercepted a Tommy Maddox pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown to take a 17-16 lead early in the third quarter. The Bills were ready to pad the lead when they drove to the Steelers 11, but a penalty on receiver Josh Reed wiped out a first down and forced the Bills to settle for a field goal. Rian Lindell missed a 28-yard attempt.
Parker broke off a 58-yard run on the next play to set up a Jeff Reed field goal, and Harrison returned a Drew Bledsoe fumble 18 yards for a touchdown for what proved to be the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter, stunning a sellout crowd at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Bills had to wait 13 more years before they would make the postseason again.
The Browns haven’t been in the playoffs since 2002, and they can end the drought simply by beating the Steelers. Unlike the Bills in 2004, they don’t need any outside help.
It is not known how many regulars Tomlin will choose to rest in Cleveland, if any. But with nothing more at stake other than the No. 2 or No. 3 seed, it would not be surprising if he elected to sit Roethlisberger, Watt, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, Cam Heyward, Joe Haden and Minkah Fitzpatrick, especially because the Steelers did not have an open week this season.
If the Steelers manage to do in Cleveland what they did in Buffalo 16 years earlier, the Browns can still get in as a wild card team if the Colts lose to the 1-14 Jacksonville Jaguars. The other scenario they would need is a little more involved — the Tennessee Titans lose to the Houston Texans, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins beat the Bills.
None of those are very likely. The Browns better hope there is not a young Willie Parker or James Harrison waiting to bust loose.