Nov 18, 2017 5 min read

The Pittsburgh offense was supposed to average 30 points per game, but the 40 it dropped on the Tennessee Titans Thursday night was the first time it had reached the 30 mark.

Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown have never looked better than they looked in the second half of that game. After going 10-22 in the first half, Roetlisberger come out after halftime and completed 19 of 22.

The 40-17 final probably didn’t help NBC’s ratings but it showed what the Steelers’ offense can do. It was also able to do it with no running game.

Le’Veon Bell only had 46 yards on 12 carries.

So, it’s understandable that most of the talk since Thursday night’s win has been about the offense, but the defense had every bit as much to do with the win, maybe more.

How often in the pass-at-will NFL does a defense come up with four interceptions? I know the Jaguars intercepted Roethlisberger five times a few weeks ago, but work with me on this.

When you look at what the defense did for Roethlisberger and the offense, the game shouldn’t have been so close.

Mike Hilton intercepted Marcus Mariota at the 50 on the Titans’ first possession and returned it to the their 24-yard line. The offense settled for a field goal and a 10-0 lead.

When it was 10-7 later in the first quarter, Coty Sensabaugh picked off Mariota and returned it to the Tennessee 20-yard line.

Another field goal and the Titans were still very much in the game at 13-7.

The defense gave up a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the third quarter, so, despite the earlier gifts from the Steelers’ secondary it was 16-14 and looking like anything but a blowout.

That’s when the Steelers’ offense woke up and looked like it was ready to be included in discussions about playing in the Super Bowl.

That’s what should scare the rest of the AFC.

The Steelers already had a Super Bowl offense on paper, but nobody expected this kind of defense. Yeah, you can say it has benefitted from playing against some mediocre to bad quarterbacks, but one of the guys they shut down was Alex Smith in Kansas City. That apparently was no fluke.

Tom Brady awaits.

• If you were an NFL owner, what reasons would you give for extending Commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract until 2020?

His handling of the Ray Rice fiasco?

His brilliant leadership during the national anthem fiasco?

His handling of the CTE/concussion fiasco?

How about the increase in empty seats and the tanking TV rankings?

And if you were going to extend him, would you give him an $18 million raise to $49 million a year?

Let’s give him three weeks paid vacation and call that a million dollars a week. That’s what Jerry Jones, the owner of the most valuable franchise in the league -the Dallas Cowboys – seems to be trying to prevent.

Maybe Jones has the crazy idea that there might be a few thousand experienced CEOs out there who would be willing to work for 1/10th of that and do a better job.

• Meanwhile, how does an NFL owner go to his local government looking for a handout when he knows the government knows he pays his barely competent CEO a million dollars a week? And how does any politician get away with giving an NFL owner a dollar to build a stadium?

Back in February, Steelers President Art Rooney II ripped the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports and Exhibition Authority for not coughing up $30 million for Heinz Field improvements quickly enough.

Maybe someone should suggest to save $30 million by cutting his CEO’s salary $20 million a year. Think Roger could live on $400,000 a week?

How does it make you feel as a taxpayer to know that, by funding Heinz Field, you helped make it possible for NFL owners to waste $49 million a year on their commissioner?

Did I mention he also gets free use of a jet?

• I’m trying to imagine Mel Blount organizing a pretend team picture in the end zone after an interception. Also trying to imagine Joe Greene playing along. It’s hard to imagine because, back then, NFL players were, you know, men.
• Dick LeBeau, the youngest looking 80-year old on the planet, was on the sideline at Heinz Field with the Tennessee Titans Thursday night calling defensive signals. He played against the Steelers as a rookie in 1959 at Forbes Field. You can be sure that everybody in the NFL hopes he coaches until he’s 100.
• NBC’s skycam got mixed reviewed Thursday night. I liked the view from behind and above the quarterback. It allows the viewer to see what the quarterback sees.