Steelers/NFL
Pittsburgh 28 – Detroit 20
Ben Roethlisberger threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns as the Pittsburgh Steelers held on to beat the Detroit Lions 28-20, Sunday afternoon at Ford Field in Detroit.
The Steelers jumped out to a 21-13 half time lead on a touchdown run from Rashard Mendenhall and touchdown receptions from Hines Ward and Heath Miller.
The Steelers took control of the game in the 3rd quarter as Roethlisberger connected with rookie wide receiver Mike Wallace for a 47 yard touchdown reception as the Steelers jumped out to a 15 point 3rd quarter lead.
A common theme for the Steelers has been letting teams hang around and that is exactly what happened again this afternoon.
In the 4th quarter, Lions quarterback Daunte Culpepper threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dennis Northcutt to pull within eight points with 4:57 to go.
The Steelers next drive was a three-and-out drive which gave Detroit the ball back at its 29 with 3:07 to go and two timeouts.
Detroit moved down the field with ease setting up a 1st and 10 at Pittsburgh’s 21 with less than two minutes remaining in the game. After being conservative in the 4th quarter against Chicago, Cincinnati and San Diego, Pittsburgh finally got aggressive and it paid off.
The Steelers sacked Daunte Culpepper three straight times for a total loss of -24 yards as the Lions turned the ball over on downs.
The Steelers improved to 3-2 on the season and are one game behind the AFC North leading Cincinnati Bengals.
*Running back Rashard Mendenhall made his second start of the season rushing for 77 yards and 1 touchdown on 15 carries. Medenhall averaged 5.1 yards per rush with his longest carry of the afternoon going for 27 yards.
Offensive Game Ball
*QB Ben Roethlisberger – (23/30 – 277 yds – 3TD – 1INT – 123.9 QB rating) Roethlisberger threw a season high three touchdowns and did what great quarterbacks do. After throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown, Roethlisberger came back on the next drive and threw a 17 yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward.
Defensive Game Ball
*LB James Harrison (8 tackles – 3 sacks) – The 2008 defensive player of the year had his first dominating performance of the season. He has five sacks in his past two games.
