Roethlisberger’s no-huddle offense tops Tennessee
PITTSBURGH — With another uninspiring half in the books in a season littered with them for a team that expects to play deep into January and beyond, Ben Roethlisberger decided he had seen enough.
So the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback decided it was time to speak up. The defense had kept the Tennessee Titans in check, yet a game that had the makings of a blowout didn’t feel like one mostly because the offense kept squandering chance after chance. No more. “He didn’t call anyone out, he called all of us out,” guard David DeCastro said. “Linemen. Receivers. Himself. Running backs. Purely positive. It was a challenge. He challenged us. The guys responded.”
None better than the 35year-old Roethlisberger. Running the no-huddle offense to near perfection, Roethlisberger threw for 299 yards and four touchdowns, three to Antonio Brown, as the Steelers (8-2) pulled away for a 40-17 victory.
“I don’t care if you’re old or young, just someone has to step up and make a play for this team or else we are going to keep relying on our defense,” said Roethlisberger, who went 20-of-23 for 185 yards and three touchdowns in the second half. “It is time that we step up and do something.”
Though Marcus Mariota ran for a touchdown and threw for another for the Tennessee, he also threw a career-high four interceptions as the Titans (6-4) saw their four-game winning streak come to a crashing halt. Mariota finished 22-of-33 for 306 yards but was under pressure much of the night.
“When you play teams that are this caliber that are contenders, that win week in and week out, that’s the blueprint,” Mariota said. “We’re going to learn from it. We’re going to get better from it and hopefully we’ll see them again.”