The Steelers (5-2) used a record breaking performance to win their third straight game. The run game struggled yet again but thankfully Big Ben showed up in a big way as the Steelers put up 445 yards while keeping the Cardinals at 330 and only allowing them to convert 37 percent on third down.
Offense, offense, offense.
Big Ben showed up in a big way and kept his team going as the run game still struggles. Ben threw touchdown passes to Heath Miller and Emmanuel Sanders, but both of those were miniscule compared to the record setting bomb to Mike Wallace. Big Ben and the blazing fast Wallace hooked up for a franchise record 95 yard touchdown with just over eight minutes left in the second quarter. The catch broke the previous record held by Cliff Stoudt/Mark Malone and Kordell Stewart/Bobby Shaw, each duo had a 90 yard touchdown.
The run game is still in shambles and the horizon doesn't look very good. I will not blame these woes on the offensive line though. The line does the same job whether it is Mendenhall or Redman; the only real difference is the runner. In this match-up Mendenhall carried the ball 13 times for 32 yards while Redman carried 6 times for 29 yards and Moore carried 6 times for 26 yards. Mendenhall is not a great runner and it is time the Steelers move on. The inconsistency can't be blamed on anyone but the runner and his style; Mendy is a dancer while Redman and company seem to just hit the hole and run. Mendenhall has carried 94 times for 351 yards averaging 3.7 yards with three touchdowns, while the rest of running backs have carried 70 times for 383 yards averaging 5.4 with a touchdown.
The passing game looked good for yet another week. Big Ben threw three touchdown passes giving him 12 on the season. The big news was that the Steelers, namely Big Ben, did not have a turnover against the Cardinals helping the team to trim their horrific turnover differential.
The defense looked better against the run and that is no small feat because of who they were playing. Going into the game Beanie Wells was fourth in the NFL averaging just over 95 yards per game and was second averaging 4.8 yards per carry. Before being injured the Steelers held him to 42 yards on 12 carries for a mere 3.5 yard average. For the game they held the Cardinals to 73 yards on the ground, but did allow 257 through the air.
LaMarr Woodley continues to rack up sacks as he got to Kevin Kolb twice in the Steelers win. Woodley leads the team with seven sacks on the year and has 5.5 in the last three games. Woodley's 46 career sacks is only 31 behind record holder Jason Gildon and at 27 years old, Gildon's record could be in jeopardy.
The Steelers better hope that they are ready to face some tougher competition as they will host the Patriots (5-1) Ravens (5-2) and and travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengals (4-2) before getting a bye week.
No comments:
Post a Comment