Big Ben Leads Steelers to 28-10 Win

Well, they are now at full strength. There is no longer a reason for the offense to be futile, Big Ben is back. Ben showed what he and this offense are capable of when he lead the team to a 28-10 victory over their AFC North rival, Cleveland.  Obviously with this being Big Ben’s first game back off the suspension it’s the biggest stroy of the day. He completed 16 of 27 passes for 257 yards and 3 TD’s. He did throw one pick as well. There were definitely times where Roethlisberger looked a little rusty with some errant throws that sailed on him and the interception that was thrown behind the receiver but overall he looked pretty good.  The offense finally got some movement down the field with a couple of deep passes to Mike Wallace off the arm of Big Ben.  He had one catch of 50 yards and another of 29 yards which resulted in a TD.  Overall Wallace had 3 catches for 90 yards.  It was by far the best passing game of the season for the Steelers as six different receivers caught at least one pass. Hines Ward lead the team in receptions with 5.  While we are talking up the passing game, Tomlin didn’t allow the team to forget about the running game as he handed the ball to Mendenhall 27 times who then gained a 84 yards on those carries. Overall the team ran the ball 35 times for 121 yards.  Offensively it was a pretty pleasing day. Big Ben knocked off a little rust, the team put up 28 points and they ran and passed on a pretty even ratio.

Defensviley the team only allowed 10 points which is great, but we were not pleased with the success they allowed rookie Colt McCoy to have in his first ever start. McCoy actually looked pretty good against this defense, which was quite surprising. The D allowed McCoy 281 yards in the air on 23 of 33 throwing.  He also threw for a TD.  The team did pick him off twice but they didnt’ really get to him as often as we thought they might.  The Cleveland running game was basically non existent as most running games are when they face the black and gold. The Browns leading rusher, Peyton Hillis, ran for 41 yards on 12 carries. Opponents of Pittsburgh just don’t run the ball successfully too often.  The manimal that is James Harrison was a one man wrecking crew, as usual.  He and Lawrence Timmons tied  for the team lead in tackles with 11. Though it was quietely done, Troy Polamalu added 8 tackles of his own and he’s always disrupting offensive game plans on a week to week basis.

It was a pretty complete game from the Steelers and a good warm up for Ben in his return to live action.

4-1, up next: Miami