Post by rainman on Nov 7, 2007 7:13:11 GMT -5
Steelers surging at midseason
BY ALAN ROBINSON AP SPORTS WRITER
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t good right now in the way the New England Patriots are. Maybe not good like the Indianapolis Colts, either.
They’re also not a team opponents are eager to play. Not with Ben Roethlisberger throwing the ball better than ever and a defense making game-altering plays like so many Steelers teams before them.
No matter the era, be it the Super Bowl-filled ’70s or the long run of successful seasons they enjoyed in the 1990s and into this century, the Steelers have rarely performed better than they did in roughing up Baltimore 38-7 on Monday night.
Fittingly, many of their one dozen Hall of Famers were on hand as part of the team’s 75th season celebration, with Roethlisberger putting on a Terry Bradshaw-like show with five TD passes before halftime.
Linebacker James Harrison had a night Jack Ham and Jack Lambert would have envied, with three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, an interception and 3 1/2 sacks. He might have won the NFL’s defensive player of the month award in one night.
“We made splash plays,” coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday, “and by splash plays I mean significant plays: sacks, fumbles, turnovers, big plays in the passing game.”
The victory sets up the Steelers (6-2) to take a firm grip on the AFC North lead if they beat second-place Cleveland (5-3) on Sunday at Heinz Field. After that, the Jets (1-8), Dolphins (0-8) and Bengals (2-6) follow in successive weeks. The Steelers have had a couple of glitches, road defeats against the Cardinals (3-5) and Broncos (3-5) they find difficult to explain. In their other six games, they have a scoring advantage of 180-46.
They’ve been even better at home, winning all four games by a combined score of 122-26 and an average score of 30-6. None of their five Super Bowl-winning teams was nearly as dominating at home during the front half of a season.
BY ALAN ROBINSON AP SPORTS WRITER
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t good right now in the way the New England Patriots are. Maybe not good like the Indianapolis Colts, either.
They’re also not a team opponents are eager to play. Not with Ben Roethlisberger throwing the ball better than ever and a defense making game-altering plays like so many Steelers teams before them.
No matter the era, be it the Super Bowl-filled ’70s or the long run of successful seasons they enjoyed in the 1990s and into this century, the Steelers have rarely performed better than they did in roughing up Baltimore 38-7 on Monday night.
Fittingly, many of their one dozen Hall of Famers were on hand as part of the team’s 75th season celebration, with Roethlisberger putting on a Terry Bradshaw-like show with five TD passes before halftime.
Linebacker James Harrison had a night Jack Ham and Jack Lambert would have envied, with three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, an interception and 3 1/2 sacks. He might have won the NFL’s defensive player of the month award in one night.
“We made splash plays,” coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday, “and by splash plays I mean significant plays: sacks, fumbles, turnovers, big plays in the passing game.”
The victory sets up the Steelers (6-2) to take a firm grip on the AFC North lead if they beat second-place Cleveland (5-3) on Sunday at Heinz Field. After that, the Jets (1-8), Dolphins (0-8) and Bengals (2-6) follow in successive weeks. The Steelers have had a couple of glitches, road defeats against the Cardinals (3-5) and Broncos (3-5) they find difficult to explain. In their other six games, they have a scoring advantage of 180-46.
They’ve been even better at home, winning all four games by a combined score of 122-26 and an average score of 30-6. None of their five Super Bowl-winning teams was nearly as dominating at home during the front half of a season.
