Steelers last minute kick outlasts Oakland

Who said the Steelers and Raiders rivalry was old? It was a hard-fought, physical game at Heinz Field today when two old-school rivals met for an excitingly unpredictable finish.

Looks like all Ben Roethlisberger needed to get back into a rhythm after coming back from his knee injury is to connect with Antonio Brown on some plays. And connect they did. In the first half alone Antonio Brown had 10 receptions for 180 yards. Brown had a career day with a franchise record 284 receiving yards on 17 receptions.

Ben Roethlisberger finished the game being carted off for the second time this year after getting sacked in the fourth quarter by Aldon Smith he fell on his left foot and didn’t put any weight on it from that point on. Roethlisberger finished the day with 334 yards going 24 of 44 with two touchdowns and an interception.

Initial reports were that Roethlisberger left the stadium to get evaluated at a hospital. Not good.

The Steelers special teams was something special for sure with feelings on both ends of the spectrum. On one hand Jacoby Jones’ debut as kick and punt return specialist for the Steelers might have exposed the poor blocking the Steelers have on their returns as he didn’t make any kind of real impact in the game. Antonio Brown attempted to return a punt late in the fourth quarter but fumbled it to give the Raiders the ball. On the other hand the Steelers’ special teams was responsible for a blocked punt as well as a forced fumble by Roosevelt Nix recovered by Anthony Chickillo that led to a touchdown. There were many milestones reached in the game for Steelers players. Ben Roethlisberger passed Johnny Unitas on the all-time passing yards list to move to 15^th. Antonio Brown became the 5^th player in Steelers history to reach 6,000 career receiving yards and DeAngelo Williams scored his 50^th and 51^st career touchdowns. Speaking of DeAngelo Williams, in his first game back in the starting position since Week 2 he had 170 rushing yards on 27 carries as well as 55 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Not to mention one hell of a block.          

The Steelers defense couldn’t completely contain Derek Carr and the Raiders offense as Carr was able to go 24 of 44 for 301 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. It seems as though the Raiders receivers were either left wide open or leveled with bone-crushing hits, there was no in between.

Mike Mitchell forced a fumble and Ross Cockrell had a key interception in the end zone. However penalties on the defense led to the Raiders tying the game at 35 with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter.

Next: Steelers need big second half

The Landry Jones era began again with a game-winning drive that included a 57-yard pass to Antonio Brown and two runs by DeAngelo Williams to put the Steelers at the one-yard line with four seconds left on the clock.

Chris Boswell nailed the 18-yard field goal to give the Steelers the 38-35 win. The Steelers are now 5-4 and it looks like we’ll have Landry Jones vs. Johnny Manziel next week when the Browns come to town.

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!