Offense comes full circle on cue
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The Steelers now face a critical appointment against the Baltimore Ravens with all the bulging confidence inherent in their established status as an elite force within the AFC, evidenced principally by an array of offensive weapons at the command of one of the NFL's best quarterbacks.
In other words, we are all just about exactly where we were the week this football season started.
I thought so.
The clinical implosion of the New England Patriots, engineered Sunday by Ben Roethlisberger and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, fully catapulted the Steelers from the ditch the Ravens bullied them into in that bloody opener, but it did more than that.
"It showed we can come out with the best of them and throw," said Steelers wideout Mike Wallace. "We can do whatever we need to do to win a ballgame."
That's something on which the balance of power in the conference will now shift dramatically, because the Steelers staged a dazzling tactical seminar on how to withstand the blinding brilliance of Tom Brady, Wes Welker, et al.
Don't let them play.
Did you even see Tom Brady yesterday?
Only in fleeting glances, like three plays in the first quarter.
"If they have a long drive, our offense can't just go in there and do a three-and-out like we did," Brady said after losing in Pittsburgh for the first time in seven years. "We gotta do a better job than that. We made a lot of errors."
By fateful contrast, the Arians offense did not.
Passing on first down 10 of 11 times in the first quarter, Roethlisberger established that the Steelers had come to beat Brady by, off all things, out-Bradying Brady.
"We came in this week, and Bruce Arians just told us we were going to open up the offense," said Emmanuel Sanders, who caught five of Roethlisberger's season-high 50 passes, "and we did exactly what he said we were going to do.
"I like it. I love it."
Go 'head: He wants some more of it.
The deadly component for New England was that Roethlisberger's gun-slinging sacrificed nothing in the way of ball control. Rather, it enhanced it.
The Steelers scoring drives murdered the clock, lasting 5:54, 7:06, 5:39, 7:47, and 5:52. When Roethlisberger finally took a knee with 8 seconds remaining and a 25-17 final score calcifying on the Heinz Field boards, it meant the Steelers' offense had swallowed a phenomenal 39:22 of the 60 minutes.
First Published October 31, 2011 12:00 am
