Pittsburgh Steelers: Costly Win Over St. Louis Rams
By Harv Aronson
With only 12 points to show for on the scoreboard and the offense not being able to find the end zone more than once, the Pittsburgh Steelers 12-6 victory over St. Louis last Sunday was a win with a big loss.
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The big loss was Ben Roethlisberger suffering a knee injury that forced him from the game in the third quarter.
Inadvertently rolled into by a Rams defender, Big Ben immediately dropped the ball due to he pain in his knee after he had already been down by contact. As soon as he hit the ground, Pittsburgh’s star QB could be seen in extreme pain as he grabbed his left knee.
Early in the game, the Steelers found success moving the ball downfield but simply could not capitalize with touchdowns. The only touchdown of the game came on a one-yard plunge by Le’Veon Bell in the second quarter followed by a failed two-point conversion. From that point on, both Pittsburgh and St. Louis’s offenses continually stalled.
Then came the ill-fated play that forced Roethlisberger out of the game and an MRI following the game revealed an MCL strain and a bruised bone. Big Ben will miss the next four to six weeks.
That means Michael Vick is now the field general and that makes Steelers fans nervous. In relieving Roethlisberger, Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley tightened the ropes on Vick and the offense turning to a much more conservative game plan.
Michael Vick would finish the game with just six pass attempts but missed on just one. All were short passes, some to Bell out of the backfield. For Le’Veon Bell, it was his season debut and he picked up right where he left off in 2014. On the ground, Bell rushed for 62 yards on 19 carries. As a receiver, Le’Veon Bell caught seven passes good for 70 yards.
With the return of Bell, some believed it would be a great combination in the Steelers backfield with DeAngelo Williams but last Sunday Williams was handed the rock just once and he only got two yards on the carry.
The star in the air for Pittsburgh was once again none other than Antonio Brown. Another day at the office saw Brown catch 11 passes for 108 yards.
What remains to be seen is what impact the absence of Ben Roethlisberger will have on Pittsburgh’s downfield passing game. Can Michael Vick make good use of the many weapons on the Steelers offense? Vick certainly has arm strength, but he is lacking big time in the command of the offense that Big Ben brings to the table.
Before he was injured, Roethlisberger had completed 20 of 24 passes for 192 yards. On the other side of the field, Nick Foles and his Rams offense also had some success moving the football around, but like Pittsburgh, had trouble finding the end zone.
As the difference in the game’s final score was less than a touchdown and an extra point, the real difference may have been the Steelers defense.
St. Louis’s defenders led by Aaron Donald did a respectable job, but Pittsburgh’s defense played very aggressive and got the Rams offense off the field when they needed to.
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On third downs, St Louis converted on just two of 10 attempts. With Ryan Shazier nursing a sore shoulder, Sean Spence filled in nicely but had nowhere the caliber of game that Shazier turned in a week ago.
Stephen Tuitt on the other hand, had his best game of three games played thus far. Will Allen had a very strong game, and Mike Mitchell also turned in a solid performance including some big hits.
With 1:56 to play in the game, Josh Scobee lined up for a 41-yard field goal that would force St. Louis to score a touchdown to win. As Steelers fans everywhere held their breath, the former Jaguars star kicker put the ball through the uprights to give himself a little more confidence and give Steelers Nation more faith in his abilities as they had been questionable since joining the Black and Gold. Had he missed that attempt, it would have been interesting to see if Mike Tomlin would have kept him around.
So now it is Michael Vick who will be the focal point of this week’s practices and he best come to grips with the Steelers offense quickly.
With a Thursday night game ahead this week against the 0-3 Baltimore Ravens, there is little time to prepare. Baltimore was the only NFL team to have never started a season 0-3 until the Bengals beat them in their own stadium last Sunday.
Steelers fans are hoping that Vick is up to the task because if he is not, Pittsburgh could find themselves with a few more losses than they expected when Ben Roethlisberger returns.
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