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For the previous three and a half weeks, the Steelers seemed like a staff that had forgotten easy methods to play soccer, however plainly one thing will need to have modified at halftime on Sunday, as a result of the staff that got here out for the second half in opposition to the Colts seemed just like the Steelers staff that began the season 11-0.
Based mostly on how the Steelers offense had been taking part in over the previous few weeks, the concept of Pittsburgh overcoming a 24-7 deficit within the third quarter appeared unbelievable, however that is precisely what occurred in a wild sport that ended with the Steelers clinching the AFC North title in a 28-24 win.
No matter Ben Roethlisberger stated at halftime will need to have labored, as a result of after an almost month of struggling, the offense lastly performed competent soccer within the second half.
One knock on Massive Ben over the previous few weeks is that he hasn’t been in a position to throw an correct deep ball. That was one of many many issues that appeared to repair itself within the second half in opposition to the Colts and there is not any higher proof than this 39-yard landing move to Diontae Johnson the place Roethlisberger threw an ideal ball that traveled 47 yards within the air.
Roethlisberger then one-upped himself with one other spectacular deep landing within the second half. This time, the 25-yard scoring move went to JuJu Smith-Schuster and the ball traveled roughly 35 yards within the air.
The throw to Smith-Schuster got here with just below eight minutes left to play and ended up offering the profitable factors for Pittsburgh. It was additionally Roethlisberger’s third landing move in a efficiency the place he accomplished 34 of 49 passes for 342 yards.
When the deep ball is working for Roethlisberger, the offense is sort of unimaginable to cease. For the previous few weeks, all of the opposing protection needed to do was concentrate on the quick crossing routes. In case you may cease these, you might shut down the Steelers offense. Nonetheless, that is not the case when the deep ball is working. If the Steelers can experience this momentum into the playoffs, they may turn out to be the Super Bowl contender that all of us thought they had been 5 weeks in the past.
Talking of the playoffs, the Steelers are going to have some fascinating choices to make heading into Week 17, particularly with the division already clinched. On one hand, if Mike Tomlin decides to relaxation his starters, you’ll be able to’t actually blame him and that is as a result of this staff has a whole lot of gamers who may use every week off after a season the place the Steelers’ bye bought interrupted attributable to COVID. Then again, with the offense lastly in-sync, it won’t be definitely worth the threat to provide them the week off and have them come out within the wild-card spherical wanting rusty.
Alright, let’s get to the grades for each sport from Week 16. In case you’re on the lookout for a deeper dive on New Orleans’ enormous win over the Vikings that was performed Christmas Day, be sure to click here.
Tampa Bay 47-7 over Detroit (Saturday)
San Francisco 20-12 over Arizona (Saturday)
Miami 26-25 over Las Vegas (Saturday)
Kansas Metropolis 17-14 over Atlanta
Chicago 41-17 over Jacksonville
Cincinnati 37-31 Houston
Pittsburgh 28-24 over Indianapolis
Colts-Steelers grades by Bryan DeArdo (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)
Baltimore 27-13 over N.Y. Giants
Giants-Ravens grades by Tyler Sullivan (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)
N.Y. Jets 23-16 over Cleveland
Browns-Jets grades by Josh Edwards (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)
L.A. Chargers 19-16 over Denver
Dallas 37-17 over Philadelphia
Eagles-Cowboys grades by Patrik Walker (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)
Seattle 20-9 over L.A. Rams
Rams-Seahawks grades by Jeff Kerr (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)
Carolina 20-13 over Washington
Panthers-Washington grades by Jordan Dajani (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)
Inexperienced Bay 40-14 over Tennessee
Titans-Packers grades by Cody Benjamin (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)
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