Big Ben to the rescue for Steelers
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger passes as Browns outside linebacker Paul Kruger pressures in the fourth quarter Sunday. Roethlisberger relieved starter Landry Jones and passed for 379 yards and three touchdowns.
Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown is tackled by Cleveland cornerback Tramon Williams after making a catch during the second quarter. Brown finished with 10 catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns.
Cleveland quarterback Johnny Manziel was sacked six times by the Pittsburgh defense, but linebacker Arthur Moats was penalized on this play.
PITTSBURGH – It wasn’t exactly Willis Reed limping onto the court in the 1970 NBA Finals to will the New York Knicks past the Los Angeles Lakers.
Heck, it wasn’t even Curt Schilling pitching in the World Series with a sock bloodied from a surgical procedure.
But it was exactly what the Steelers needed.
Ben Roethlisberger, coming off the bench for just the second time in his NFL career, threw for 379 yards and three touchdowns as the Steelers whipped the Cleveland Browns, 30-9, Sunday at Heinz Field for their first AFC North victory this season.
Roethlisberger barely practiced Thursday and Friday after suffering a mid-foot sprain in the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s win over Oakland. Surprisingly, he was listed as the backup to Landry Jones, who made his second career start, as Mike Vick was not active.
“He perked up at the latter part of the week,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “He spent the vast majority of the week rehabilitating. He had little to no in-helmet preparation in terms of what the game plan was. We gave the start to Landry because he did.”
Jones’ start lasted just two possessions.
Jones, who twice helped the Steelers to wins coming off the bench when Roethlisberger was injured earlier this season – including last week against Oakland, was stepped on by right tackle Marcus Gilbert.
With the game tied, 3-3, Roethlisberger came in and polished off the victory to move the Steelers to a 6-4 record heading into their bye week. Cleveland fell to 2-8.
The Browns didn’t adjust to a change from a quarterback making his second career start to one who led the NFL in passing yardage in 2014. And it showed, as Roethlisberger, working mostly out of a no-huddle offense that allowed him to take shotgun snaps, consistently picked apart a Cleveland secondary missing Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden and strong safety Donte Whitner, arguably its two best players.
“I don’t know if their plan would have been that much different if it had been Landry Jones the whole game,” said Cleveland head coach Mike Pettine. “I don’t think it affected us from a schematic standpoint.”
Perhaps that was the problem.
Roethlisberger connected with Martavis Bryant for a 44-yard completion on his first series to set up a 34-yard Chris Boswell field goal, then hit Bryant again on his second series for a 64-yard completion, though Bryant fumbled while being tackled and Cleveland recovered.
That might have been the high point of the game for the Browns, who also had issues covering Antonio Brown. Coming off a game in which he had a team-record 17 receptions for 284 yards, Brown had 10 receptions for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Bryant had six catches for 178 yards.
Brown’s second touchdown came after Cleveland trimmed Pittsburgh’s lead to 24-9 in the fourth quarter, taking a slant 56 yards for a score, then doing a front flip into the end zone and landing on his feet.
“It was a little excitement. I was having fun with it,” said Brown, who said he was chided by Roethlisberger for the flip. “But I have to be smart. … I definitely stuck the landing.”
Cleveland was intent on stopping Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams, limiting him to 54 yards on 17 carries, but allowed Pittsburgh to throw for 402 yards, including 23 from Jones before his injury.
And the Browns didn’t help themselves with 12 penalties for 188 yards and three turnovers.
Second-year quarterback Johnny Manziel got the start in place of injured Josh McCown and completed 33 of 45 passes for 372 yards. But he also had just one touchdown and threw an interception while being sacked six times. Cleveland also lost two fumbles, one by Manziel.
The Browns had just 15 rushing yards on 14 attempts, with Manziel gaining 17 on three scrambles.
It was a step in the right direction for the Steelers defense, which allowed 35 points in the win over Oakland, an effort defensive end Cam Heyward said was (garbage).
The Steelers kept the Browns out of the end zone on three goal-to-go situations.
“It’s one game. It’s OK. We’ve got to be consistent. That’s the goal,” said Heyward. “We can’t ride the roller coaster. If we can be consistent and let this be a building block, then we can say down the road that this was a good game. I’m not ready to yell from the hilltop.”
They were all too busy praising the play of Roethlisberger, whose yardage total is an NFL record for a quarterback entering the game off the bench.
“I knew when he came in the huddle that he was going to do great for us,” said tight end Heath Miller. “That’s the amount of confidence that I have in him. And I think that’s the amount of confidence everyone else has.”
Roethlisberger moved past Kerry Collins (40,922) into 13th place on the NFL’s passing yardage list with 40,944. … Brown’s 27 receptions the past two games is the most by a Steelers player in back-to-back games, breaking his own record of 23. His yardage total of 423 in the past two games also breaks his team record set earlier this season. … Brown moved past Miller into third place on the team’s all-time receiving yards list with 6,400. Miller has 6,379. … Safety Mike Mitchell had an interception in the fourth quarter, his team-leading third. … The Steelers are 27-6 against the Browns since 1999.