Steelers defeat Eagles, 24-14
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Steelers' Jonathan Dwyer pulls in a pass against Eagles' Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the first quarter at Heinz Field. -
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger celebrates after throwing touchdown pass to Hines Ward against the Eagles.
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The egg the Steelers laid against the Washington Redskins six days earlier hatched into a thing of beauty against the Philadelphia Eagles at Heinz Field last night.
They scored three touchdowns and picked off Michael Vick three times in the first half alone on way to a 24-14 rout.
Ben Roethlisberger looked to be in mid-season, mid-career form, guiding his offense on drives of 96 and 80 yards to open the game. He ended them by throwing touchdown passes of 29 yards to Antonio Brown and 20 yards to Hines Ward. Byron Leftwich made it 21-0 by the half when he rifled a 20-yard touchdown pass to newcomer Jerricho Cochery.
"To come out and get 14 points on a great team like the Eagles shows that we are moving in the right direction toward Baltimore,'' Ward said, referring to the regular-season opener. "I think we started to get into a rhythm, and we overcame some of the penalties that we had. Every guy was capitalizing on the opportunities that they were given.''
However, there was a cloud to go with the silver lining. The Steelers lost two left tackles to knee injuries in the first quarter. Starter Jonathan Scott limped off the field after the first play of the game. Rookie Marcus Gilbert replaced him and he made it through two series before he too left. Scott hurt his right knee and Gilbert his left.
Unlike their first preseason game, a 16-7 loss to the Redskins last Friday, the Steelers first teams on offense and defense were much more effective.
Roethlisberger left the game after his two scoring series with a 140.6 passer rating (8 of 12, 125 yards). Leftwich finished the first half and had a 129.2 passer rating (4 of 7, 67). Vick left the game at halftime with a 13.5 passer rating (5 of 12, 47 yards).
In all the Steelers intercepted four Philadelphia passes -- one more than they had in any one game last season. They also recovered a fumble by rookie Dion Lewis, and their offense had no turnovers. The Eagles did not score until the final 3:47 when rookie Gerald Jones caught two TD passes from Mike Kafka in a third-string vs. third string competition.
Backup kicker Swayze Waters -- who did all the kicking in the game -- connected on a 30-yard field goal try but had a 47-yard attempt blocked and he missed a 27-yard attempt wide.
First Published August 18, 2011 11:14 pm
