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| Brown stepped up for the Steelers. Photo Credit:Charles LeClaire/ USA Today |
Antonio Brown came up with two tremendous touchdown grabs as he sparked the Steelers to a 37-19 blowout win over the Panthers in Charlotte on Sunday night to improve the Steelers to 2-1 on the young season while the Panthers fell to 2-1.
By: Michael Hanley
The Steelers offense got rolling in the second half after a slow, lackluster start in the first half. The offensive line provided better protection for Ben Roethlisberger to work with, which enabled him to have more time to scan the field and find the open man.
Another benefit of the improved offensive line play was the run game, which went to work against this tough, physical defensive line of the Panthers. Both Levon Bell and LeGarrette Blount had big nights as they were able to push through the Carolina defense and gash them for some huge gains, not to mention the 81 yard run by Bell to help the Steelers get out of a 1st and 20 and down to the goal line to set up another scoring opportunity. Levon Bell finished with 147 yards rushing on 21 carries while Blount rolled up 118 yards on 10 carries, including a rushing touchdown
Carolina had a promising start in that they drew first blood at 3-0 and had the Steelers completely out of rhythm on offense. The Panthers defense was looking just as good as they had been all of last season, flying to the ball, tackling in open space, generating a solid pass rush. Roethlisberger was certainly taking his lumps as he had to flush out of the pocket a couple of times to avoid pressure and keep plays alive.
The Panthers defense limited Pittsburgh to three Shaun Suisham field goals in the first half but that was enough to have Carolina trailing 9-3 at the half. Cam Newton and company had all sorts of trouble of getting on track in the first half as they could only muster that lone field goal by Graham Gano which occurred on their opening drive of the game.
Otherwise the rest of the first half and for the game overall, it was one stalled drive after another as the offensive line could not protect Newton for any length of time and the run game also suffered as they could not find any openings to generate significant yards to loosen up the Steelers defense.
The second half featured the tide turn for good in the Steelers as their defense created a turnover in the opening drive that Carolina was on. Jarvus Jones knocked the ball loose from Newton and gave the Steelers offense a short field and opportunity to really put the Panthers on the ropes.
They would take a mere five plays to get into the end zone as Big Ben found a wide open Antonio Brown for an easy touchdown and 16-3 lead. Roethlisberger had a solid night finishing 22/20 for 196 yards and two touchdown passes.
An assist must go to the Panthers special teams on that score though as they jumped off sides on 4th & 4 when the Steelers were going to attempt a field goal kick which gave Pittsburgh afresh set of downs and led to the Brown touchdown. Brown would be the star for the Steelers as he had 10 receptions for 90 yards and two touchdown grabs.
From their on out, Pittsburgh controlled the game on both sides of the ball and put Carolina to bed for the night. Cam Newton was not 100% clearly as he walked gingerly at time after taking some tough hits from the Steelers pass rush.
He was inconsistent with his throws as most of them when he missed sailed too high for his receivers to get up and catch. The injuries he is dealing with also limited his mobility and made him more of a stand and throw type of quarterback instead of one who could roll out and make a pass or tuck the ball and run. Newton finished the night 24/35 for 250 yards and one touchdown pass.
The Steelers had been looking for an offensive breakout game after being shutout of the end zone for the last eight quarters of play. They got that and more in this game as they rolled up 454 total yards on a Carolina defense that normally is so stingy and difficult to get any yardage on let alone 400+ yards.
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