The Associated Press
Will Graves
PITTSBURGH–Another uninspiring half in the books in a season littered with them for a team that expects to play deep into January and beyond, Ben Roethlisberger decided he had seen enough.
So the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback decided it was time to speak up.
The defence had kept the Tennessee Titans and star Marcus Mariota in check, yet a game that had the makings of a blowout didn’t feel like one mostly because the offence kept squandering chance after chance.
No more.
“He didn’t call anyone out, he called all of us out,” said guard David DeCastro. “Linemen. Receivers. Himself. Running backs. Purely positive.
“It was a challenge. He challenged us,” DeCastro added. “The guys responded.”
None better than the 35-year-old Roethlisberger. Running the no-huddle offence to near perfection, he threw for 299 yards and four touchdowns, three to Antonio Brown, as the Steelers pulled away for a 40-17 victory.
“I don’t care if you’re old or young, just someone has to step up and make a play for this team or else we are going to keep relying on our defence,” said Roethlisberger, who went 20-of-23 for 185 yards and three touchdowns in the second half.
“It is time that we step up and do something.”
Brown caught 10 passes for 144 yards and the three scores, including an acrobatic grab in the back of the end zone in which he pinned the ball to his helmet before bringing it in to put Pittsburgh up 20 in the fourth quarter as the Steelers set a season-high for points and margin of victory.
“We’ve talked so much about having the potential in this room, but we can still strive for more,” said defensive end Cam Heyward, who had two of Pittsburgh’s five sacks.
“We’re a hungry group that still has a lot to prove.
“We’re trying to be the best defence,” he added. “That’s what we strive for.”
For long stretches, the Steelers (8-2) looked the part while extending their winning streak to five.
Though Mariota ran for a touchdown and threw for another, he also was picked off a career-high four times as the Titans (6-4) saw their four-game winning streak come to a crashing halt.
Mariota finished 22-of-33 for 306 yards but was under pressure much of the night.
“When you play teams that are this calibre that are contenders, that win week in and week out, that’s the blueprint,” Mariota said.
“We’re going to learn from it,” he stressed. “We’re going to get better from it and hopefully we’ll see them again.”
