No flash for Steelers
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers have ditched the flash of September for a decidedly more pragmatic approach in December.
Heavy doses of Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown, and a defense that looks competent and maybe even a bit dangerous.
The Steelers will gladly sacrifice the style points for the substance they showed in a 24-14 victory over the New York Giants.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers have ditched the flash of September for a decidedly more pragmatic approach in December.
Heavy doses of Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.
A dash of tight end Ladarius Green.
A defense that looks competent and maybe even a bit dangerous.
The Steelers will gladly sacrifice the style points for the substance they showed in a 24-14 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.
The result emphatically ended New York’s six-game winning streak and sent a message that Pittsburgh’s midseason funk appears to be firmly in the rearview mirror.
“I just think we’re finding our rhythm,” Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin said after his team allowed just 234 yards and picked off Eli Manning twice.
“I think we’re gaining continuity with the mix of guys who are playing. The young guys are growing up.”
A pivotal development for the Steelers (7-5), who have won three consecutive, each one a step up in class.
Two weeks ago it was a simple slump-buster in Cleveland.
On Thanksgiving, it was a decisive victory on the road in Indianapolis, albeit against a backup quarterback.
This time it was one of the league’s hottest teams, though New York (8-4) hardly looked like it at times while spoiling first-year coach Ben McAdoo’s homecoming.
McAdoo grew up an hour east of Heinz Field in Homer City, Penn.
The team he faced on Sunday looked a bit like the one he idolized as a kid.
The Steelers dominated the line of scrimmage at times behind Bell’s 182 yards of total offense and prevented Manning and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. from ever really getting comfortable.
“We are who we are right now,” McAdoo said. “We need to go back to work. You can’t just flip a switch and have things change.”
The Steelers have reinvented themselves on the fly following a four-game slide that took all the shine off their high-flying 4-1 start.
Rather than try to overwhelm opponents with firepower they have put the ball in Bell’s hands and let him lead the way.
Bell touched the ball 35 times — 29 rushes and 6 receptions — and went over 100 yards rushing for the third consecutive game by churning for 118.
He did so against a defense that hadn’t allowed an opponent to reach the century mark since Adrian Peterson in Week 16 of last season.
“I just wanted to make sure that I kept running hard,” Bell said. “Then, in the fourth quarter, holes got a little bigger.”
Ben Roethlisberger passed for 289 yards and two touchdowns for Pittsburgh and Brown caught six passes for 54 yards, including an acrobatic scoring grab in the back of the end zone that put the Steelers up 11-0.
“It’s that time of year that we have to be our best self, offense, defense, special teams,” Roethlisberger said. “Everybody needs to just do their job, and I thought they did that tonight.”