Nose tackle Shelby Harris
picked off Ben Roethlisberger’s 2-yard pass to Antonio Brown in the end zone
with 1:03 remaining to seal Denver’s 24-17 win over Pittsburgh that snapped the
Steelers’ six-game winning streak Sunday.
The Broncos (5-6) used four
takeaways to counter a 97-yard touchdown toss from Roethlisberger to JuJu
Smith-Schuster.
Roethlisberger was 41 of 56
for 462 yards, but he was intercepted twice and the Steelers (7-3-1) lost two fumbles
in losing for the first time since September.
Phillip Lindsay rushed for 110
yards and the game-deciding touchdown on just 14 carries for Denver, which also
ended the Chargers’ six-game winning streak last week and would have snapped
Houston’s five-game roll were it not for a missed field goal as time expired.
Cornerback Bradley Roby and
safety Darian Stewart were burned on Smith-Schuster’s long touchdown grab, but
they made up for it when they teamed up on the final play of the third quarter
for Denver’s third takeaway.
Roby forced James Connor to
cough up the football after a 23-yard gain and Stewart recovered it at the
Denver 21.
The Broncos then went 79 yards
in 11 plays with Lindsay taking it in from 2 yards to break a 17-17 tie.
Earlier in the third quarter,
Roethlisberger was backed up into his own end zone after the Broncos downed a
punt at the 3, and he was knocked down by Harris as he uncorked the pass.
Smith-Schuster, who raced past
Roby, hauled it in at the Pittsburgh 35, then evaded Roby and Stewart the rest
of the way, finally shoving Stewart to the ground in front of the Broncos’
bench before running into the end zone to break a 10-10 halftime tie.
The Broncos tied it at 17 on
Case Keenum’s 5-yard strike to Emmanuel Sanders two plays after Chris Harris
Jr. intercepted a pass intended for Brown at the Steelers 43.
Brown, who burned Denver for
189 yards the previous time he played them, finished with just 67 yards on nine
catches this time. Smith-Schuster got 189 yards this time, on 13 catches.
Roethlisberger had 25
completions by halftime, the most in the first half in the regular season by a
Steelers QB since 1960, but it took a fake field goal for Pittsburgh to reach
the end zone.
Kicker Chris Boswell threw a
2-yard touchdown pass to left tackle Alejandro Villanueva to tie it at 10.
Boswell took the direct snap
and threw a perfect pass to a wide-open Villanueva — who was a receiver and
tight end at Army and became the first Steelers O-lineman to catch a touchdown
pass since Ray Pinney did it against the Browns in 1983.
The Steelers frittered away a
shot at 10 more points in the first half.
Justin Simmons blocked
Boswell’s 48-yard field goal attempt and safety Will Parks punched away the
football just as tight end Xavier Grimble was about to score on a 24-yard
catch-and-run. The ball went out of bounds in the end zone for a touchback.
INJURIES
STEELERS: T.J. Watt left in the first quarter with a wrist injury,
but returned after halftime. … TE Vance McDonald left in the third quarter with
a hip injury, but returned in the fourth.
BRONCOS: CB Tramaine Brock hurt his ribs tackling Smith-Schuster in
the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, TE Jeff Heuerman (back) and OLB Shaq
Barrett (hip) left the game.
UP NEXT
STEELERS: The Steelers return home to host Chargers in another
prime-time matchup Sunday December 2nd
BRONCOS: The Broncos hit the road and travel to
Cincinnati to face Bengals who has the league’s worst defense
No comments:
Post a Comment