Steel breaker
Big Ben's knee injury puts a major damper on Pittsburgh's win STEELERS 12 RAMS 6
ST. LOUIS — Big Ben was the only postgame topic that really mattered to the Steelers. Michael Vick’s reaction when Ben Roethlisberger went down in the third quarter, and he had to grab his helmet and go, said it all.
“I was kind of stunned,” the Steelers backup quarterback said after finishing a 126 victory over the Rams on Sunday. “You never want to see a guy like Ben go down.”
The Steelers scheduled an MRI Monday and Roethlisberger’s left knee injury will be reevaluated after that but coach Mike Tomlin had no other updates beyond saying, “Ben’s got a knee.”
According to an ESPN report, Roethlisberger suffered a sprained MCL and will miss four to six weeks.
Le’Veon Bell scored from a yard out in the first half in his first game back after a suspension, but the Steelers needed their defense to step up without a quarterback who has been hard to knock out.
“You grow infinitely when you pull those out,” Tomlin said. “Obviously not the type of game we’re searching for, but a win nonetheless.”
The Rams were 2for10 on third down, 0for2 on fourth down and limited to 258 yards. Will Allen’s interception with 1:56 left set up a field goal by Josh Scobee to put Pittsburgh ahead by six points.
“Fourthquarter picks are great,” Allen said. “Lawrence Timmons did a great job of causing a hot throw and I was just in position.”
Pittsburgh (21) averaged 32 points in its first two games but was held down well before Roeth lisberger’s leg got caught underneath him on a diving, sliding sack by Mark Barron.
Tomlin had no problem with the play.
“I just caught his leg on the way in,” Barron said. “I didn’t have nothing to do with his knee, I didn’t see how he fell.”
The Rams (12) were limited to two field goals by Greg Zuerlein and have scored just 16 points the past two games. Their last chance ended when the Steelers successfully challenged a potential firstdown catch by Kenny Britt near midfield with 1:19 to play.
“I thought I had the ball coming down, I threw it back to the ref after I Ianded,” Britt said. “I made the catch and they decided if it’s a catch or not.”
Roethlisberger hasn’t missed a game since late in 2012. He won his franchiserecord 108th game, passing Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, while going 20 of 24 for 192 yards and an interception.
“We’ll be saying those prayers for Big Ben,” Rams quarterback Nick Foles said.
Vick was 5 of 6 for 38 yards and had two carries for minus2 yards.
Antonio Brown had 11 catches for 108 yards, his third straight 100yard receiving game.
Bell had 62 yards on 19 carries. Gurley, who did not start and split time with Tre Mason, had just 9 yards on six carries.
Kickoff was delayed about 26 minutes by a small fire near a corner of the south end zone from sparks emitted by a pyrotechnic display during Rams player introductions. The cleanup job was hampered by a malfunctioning wetdry vacuum. Neither team made any plays near a circular mark between the 3 and 4yard line.