Pittsburgh Steelers tame Detroit Lions 20-15
The Pittsburgh Steelers made their way into Ford Field this week to battle the Detroit Lions. Pittsburgh entered play with the chance to extend their division lead in the AFC North.
The Pittsburgh Steelers came out firing on all cylinders. After a big play to JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Steelers were marching right along.
However, the Steelers stalled out after Eli Rogers dropped a wide open corner route for the touchdown. Pittsburgh settled for the field goal on the opening drive.
The Lions came out and answered back with a field goal of their own on their first drive and tied the game. The Steelers defense held tough to stall that drive to just three points.
Pittsburgh came out again and moved the ball well only to turn it over. An errant Ben Roethlisberger pass, intended for Antonio Brown, was overthrown and intercepted by Glover Quin.
Pittsburgh’s defense held tough and forced a three and out after the turnover. The drive ended in a sack by Cameron Heyward.
Pittsburgh finally got a drive to end in a touchdown after a Detroit field goal making it 6-3. Le’Veon Bell punched it in for a touchdown to make it 10-6.
The Steelers then got the ball back after yet another Detroit field goal. They seemed to be marching toward extending the halftime lead to either four or eight but a Le’Veon Bell fumble changed the course quickly.
Instead of leading at half, they found themselves down 12-10. Detroit drove down after the fumble deep in Detroit territory and kicked another field goal to take a lead into the second half.
Detroit got the ball to start the second half but the Steeler defense held strong and forced a three and out. After a terrible punt off the side of the punter’s foot, Pittsburgh took over inside Detroit territory.
The Steelers marched downfield only to yet again stall. An overthrown pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey and a touchdown called back for offensive pass interference on Brown forced another field goal attempt that nearly missed after hitting the uprights.
The Steelers then saw Detroit march right down the field on a drive aided by a helmet to helmet penalty on Sean Davis. The Lions were stuffed at the goal line on a run by Javon Hargrave and Vince Williams.
The Lions went for it on fourth down and the Steelers sacked Matthew Stafford. Ben Roethlisberger then proceeded to throw a 97-yard strike to Smith-Schuster to make it 20-12.
Detroit did not take long to answer as they marched down the field on the next drive. The Steeler defense held tough again stuffing the run on third and goal to force another field goal to make it 20-15.
The Steelers punted back to Detroit after a dropped first down by Smith-Schuster. The Lions then had a drive going before a Golden Tate fumble gave Pittsburgh the ball back.
Pittsburgh chewed a few minutes of clock but stalled out and punted the ball. The Lions took over with just under five minutes left in the game.
The Lions drove all the way down the field and got deep into the red-zone. The Steelers defense showed up and stopped them yet again on fourth down.
Pittsburgh took over with 1:54 left on the clock and the Steelers got help on a pass interference that gave them a first down. The Steelers got one more first and sealed the deal.
Smith-Schuster ended the game with 7 catches for 193 yards including his 97-yard touchdown. Ben ended with 317 yards on 17 completions in 31 attempts with one touchdown and one interception.
The Steelers defense gave up a lot of yardage but stepped up where it mattered. They did not allow a touchdown and forced two turnover on downs at the goal line in the game, including the game winning stop.
Pittsburgh is heading into the bye week a strong 6-2. This coming even after a slow start to the 2017 season.
The Steelers are the number 1 team in the AFC for the time being. They will have a week to rest up and get back Stephon Tuitt and Marcus Gilbert, two very key pieces to this team.
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Pittsburgh will face the Indianapolis Colts without Andrew Luck coming out of the bye week. The game will be in Indianapolis where Big Ben and Antonio Brown had a field day in 2016 connecting for three touchdowns in a 28-7 win.