Pittsburgh offense rolls to win
STEELERS 40, TITANS 17
Ben Roethlisberger PITTSBURGH threw for 299 yards and four touchdowns, three to Antonio Brown, and the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled away from the Tennessee Titans in a 40- 17 victory on Thursday night.
Running the no- huddle offense extensively for the first time all season, Roethlisberger completed 30 of 45 passes to help the Steelers ( 8- 2) win their fifth straight.
Brown caught 10 passes for 144 yards and the three scores, including an acrobatic grab in the back of the end zone in which he pinned the ball to his helmet before pulling it in to put Pittsburgh up 20 in the fourth quarter.
Marcus Mariota ran for a touchdownand threwfor another but also was picked off four times as the Titans ( 6- 4) saw their four- game winning streak come to a crashing halt. Mariota finished 22 of 33 for 306 yards butwas under pressure much of the night, absorbing five sacks and rarely finding room tomove outside the pocket.
Still, Tennessee appeared to be in it when Mariota hit Rishard Matthews with a 75yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second half to get to 16- 14, but Pittsburgh’s long- sputtering offense finally came to life.
Roethlisberger dropped some not- subtle hints that he wanted the freedom provided by the nohuddle after the Steelers used it to pick the Colts apart during the winning drive last Sunday in Indianapolis.
Offensive coordinator Todd Haley appeared to be listening.
Pittsburgh opened in the nohuddle and needed just six plays to take the lead as Roethlisberger took advantage of a free play and hit Brown with a 41- yard rainbow. Mike Hilton then returned Mariota’s interception to set up the first of Chris Boswell’s four field goals.
The offense ground to a halt for the rest of the half, held in check by former defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. The Hall of Famer spent 12 years building a defense that helped Pittsburgh to a pair of Super Bowl victories before being ushered out in favor of protege Keith Butler in January 2015. The 80- year- old is now with the Titans.
The Steelers, with Roethlisberger deftly at the controls, finally showcased the firepower they’ve only flirted with this season. The 35- year- old, who has struggled with accuracy at times, was near perfect over the final 30 minutes. He finished 20 of 23 for 185 yards in the second half as Pittsburgh’s $ 92 million offense sprang to life by scoring on four straight possessions.
Roethlisberger found a leaping Brown for a 5- yard score to put Pittsburgh up 23- 14, executed a perfect play- action fake at the goal line before flipping it to a wide- open Jesse James for a 1yard touchdown, and put the Titans away with a lob to the back corner of the end zone that Brownsomehowhauled in from 10 yards out that made it 37- 17.