Ben Roethlisberger never had any rhythm in the first half, completing just 6 of 9 passes for 49 yards. But he was 8 of 8 for 115 yards to start the second half and finished with three touchdowns. He followed a sack fumble with a quick four-play, 80-yard scoring drive and made up for a bad interception by avoiding pressure and throwing a 25-yard TD to Mike Wallace.

Rashard Mendenhall had only six carries for 25 yards in the first half, but he had runs of 24, 28 and 36 yards in the second half and finished with 155 yards on 22 carries. His 24-yard run on first down was one of the key plays on the four-play, 80-yard scoring drive that made it 14-10 in the third quarter. And he had a 36-yarder on second-and-18 late in the fourth quarter.

Part of the dysfunction in the first half is that Wallace ran a couple of wrong routes. Santonio Holmes had only two catches for 25 yards in the first half, but each were third-down conversions. That all changed in the second half. Holmes finished with six catches for 93 yards, including a 35-yarder over Champ Bailey to set up Hines Ward's 3-yard TD. And Wallace beat S Brian Dawkins for another TD.

They did a good job creating gaps for Mendenhall, especially in the second half when he gained 130 of his yards against Denver's No. 1 ranked defense. Roethlisberger was sacked twice in the first half, though one was a coverage sack by LB Elvis Dumervil. But the most costly came when G Chris Kemoeatu got beat by DE Kenny Peterson, who forced a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

With Aaron Smith on injured reserve and his replacement, Travis Kirschke, out with a calf injury, Nick Eason started only his fifth NFL game and did a good job in run support as the Broncos had just 27 yards on 14 carries. But DE Brett Keisel made the big plays, getting two sacks in the first half. Rookie DE Ziggy Hood had the pressure on Kyle Orton's first interception that was returned for touchdown.

Keyaron Fox made his third start this season, filling in for injured Lawrence Timmmons, and was solid. The Broncos were without right tackle Ryan Harris, but OLB LaMarr Woodley did not have a sack and missed several opportunities to make tackles for losses. James Harrison did not have a sack, but defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau moved him around and he was able pressure Orton.

Orton had thrown just one interception in his first seven games, but he had three against the Steelers -- two by Tyrone Carter, who was replacing Ryan Clark. The biggest was returned 48 yards for a touchdown by Carter -- his second career TD interception return. The other came when he overthrew Brandon Marshall and Troy Polamalu intercepted at the Broncos 25 in the fourth quarter.

After allowing a kick return for touchdown in each of the past two games, the Steelers tightened coverage and did not allow any long returns. Stefan Logan failed to take advantage of a similar situation with the Broncos, who had allowed kick returns for touchdown in each of their past two games. His longest kick return was 22 yards. In the past three games, Logan's longest kick return has been 31 yards.

Mike Tomlin made his best move last week when he told Ryan Clark he wouldn't let him play, taking the onus off Clark and relieving him of second-thoughts he might have had. Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians thought he could run against the Broncos' No. 3 rush defense, and the Steelers did. And the defense adjusted to Orton's quick throws, holding him to 41 yards passing in the second half.

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