All season long, the Steelers' offense had struggled to put up points, even against the softest NFL defenses. Forget a stated goal of scoring 30 points per game. Heck, 20 was a struggle most of the time.
Until Thursday night.
Playing in front of a national audience against their former defensive coordinator, the Steelers put on a show at Heinz Field equal to the fireworks that capped a pregame Salute to Service ceremony: Ben Roethlisberger threw for 299 yards and four touchdowns -- three to Antonio Brown, who had 10 catches for 144 yards -- and the defense recorded four interceptions and five sacks in a 40-17 rout of the Titans.
"Coming in, we knew what the game plan was going to be," Roethlisberger said. "It wasn’t going to feature a lot of running the ball because, partially, how good they were on defense stopping the run, partially because of what we thought we could do passing the ball."
What they thought they could do and what they could do turned out to be a match.
As a result, the Steelers now head into the weekend at 8-2, atop the AFC standings for another week, and owning their best 10-game start since 2004:
What's more, they held serve in one of their more difficult-looking games down the stretch. Tennessee fell to 6-4, now second in the AFC South.
The Steelers knew it wouldn't be easy, especially against a defense coached by Dick LeBeau. And after a quick start that saw them build a 10-0 lead on Roethlisberger's first TD pass to Brown -- a 41-yard bomb after the Titans had jumped offside -- and a Chris Boswell field goal following a Coty Sensabaugh interception, the game settled into a slugfest.
After the first drive where he completed 4 of 5 for 71 yards and a touchdown, Roethlisberger was 10 of 22 for 114 yards at the half.
He wasn't happy, and he let his offensive teammates know it at halftime.
"He demanded a lot out of us. He told us to pick it up," Marcus Gilbert told me. "We couldn’t get our rhythm going after that first drive. We came back out and put up three points, but then we started to lag again because we didn’t keep our feet on the pedal. We got back into no-huddle mode. We just rose together and made some plays happen."
I asked Maurkice Pouncey about the display.
"He came and gave a great speech," Pouncey replied. "He jumped our ass about it. He told the offense we needed to get our stuff together and make some plays. He even said himself. Ben’s a great leader. He knows how to give motivational speeches and get guys going."
It was a good thing. Trailing 16-7, the Titans came out with a big play of their own to start the second half.
Mariota, who had run for a touchdown in the first half, used play-action to get Rishard Matthews open on a post pattern deep downfield against Sensabaugh. Matthews caught the ball in Pittsburgh territory, made Robert Golden miss at the 15 and sauntered into the end zone to make it 16-14.
"Geez, that was crazy. But people didn’t blink," David DeCastro said. "Guys are experienced. Guys have been in the league. Give guys a lot of credit for that. That’s a tough way to start a second half."
Indeed. And not just any guys. Sensabaugh and Golden were both injury replacements. Sensabaugh was making his first start with the Steelers in place of injured corner Joe Haden, while Golden was subbing for Mike Mitchell at free safety.
They were part of a defensive effort that once again did not allow an opponent to surpass 18 points in regulation, while the five-sack, four-interception game was the first by the Steelers since 1984, against the Bengals.
"The guys made the necessary plays and as the game wore on, you just felt the momentum," said Tomlin. "Oftentimes, those splash plays are created by game circumstances or an accumulation of blows."
Those were coming. And the offense provided them.
Heeding Roethlisberger's words, the offense grabbed control of the game. He directed a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by a 5-yard pass to Brown to answer the Tennessee score:
"It was huge. We had to respond," Gilbert said. "Coach always tells us to respond. We did so. As long as we have the defense’s back, the defense has had our back all year. That’s what championship teams are made of."
When the Titans answered with a field goal drive of their own, the Steelers bounced back again, this time with a Roethlisberger touchdown pass, this one to a wide-open Jesse James on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Just before that, on the final play of the third quarter, Le'Veon Bell had run 7 yards to the 1 following a review that overturned a touchdown call. It was a quiet night on the ground for Bell, the NFL's leading rusher, as he finished with 46 yards on 12 carries, but he was a big factor in the passing game, catching nine passes for 57 yards.
"He knew what his role was going to be. He stepped up and accepted that challenge and did some big things for us in the pass game," Roethlisberger said. "It wasn’t even screens. The screen game wasn’t good. It was stuff out of the backfield. It was running routes. I told him after the game that it probably wasn’t the way he thought it was going to play out, but I was really proud of him."
Now leading 30-17, the Steelers didn't back off. After forcing a Tennessee punt, Roethlisberger kept throwing, hitting Brown in the back corner of the end zone for a 10-yard pass on an over-the-shoulder fade -- a one-handed gem by AB, who caught it against his helmet before securing it as he fell in the back corner of the end-zone -- for a 37-17 lead.
Golden picked off Mariota off a deflection on Tennessee's next possession to set up a 26-yard Boswell field goal:
Sean Davis finished things off with Pittsburgh's fourth interception with 2:34 remaining in a half totally dominated by the home team.
After the lull in the first half, Roethlisberger was 20 of 23 in the second half for 185 yards and three touchdowns as the Steelers took advantage of a lot of the man-to-man defense the Titans played.
More important, the offense got some of its swagger back after failing to score more than two offensive touchdowns in a game this season.
"You start feeling like you can make a lot of throws, the ball’s coming off your hand," Roethlisberger said. "You’re confident in what’s being called. I think guys feed off of that. When you’re calling successful plays, they think every time you call a play it’s going to be successful. I think we all feed off of that."
That was certainly the case in this game. The Titans noticed.
"They just made more plays in the second half," Tennessee coach Mike Mularkey said. "I mean really made some plays. Ben threw some great balls."
It's something his teammates hope continues into the rest of the season.
"We needed a game like this," DeCastro said. "It wasn’t pretty in the first half, and then you come out in the second half and the defense gives up a big play like that. That’s the great thing: We’ve still got a lot of stuff to clean up."
But they are much easier to clean up following a 23-point victory for a team that had struggled for much of the season to even score 23 points.
It could be the breakout game everyone was waiting for from this team, even many in the locker room.
I asked Roethlisberger exactly that:
Perhaps just as important, the Steelers showed everyone -- including themselves -- that they still can go out and light up the scoreboard if they need to.
"I think we all kind of felt like we were doing some good things, we were close," Roethlisberger said. "Winning the football games was most important. But it feels good to get those points. I know a lot has been made of me not caring or whatever — not from you guys, but national media stuff. Nothing could be further from the truth. I go out there and give everything I have and play as hard as I can."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs Titans, Heinz Field, Nov. 16, 2017. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS