Steelers play their best on Thursday night
From the notebook of a sportswriter who can鈥檛 wait to get to this clubhouse everyone was talking about after beating the Titans:
n Sounds like a great place to watch a state soccer championship, doesn鈥檛 it?
n That鈥檚 just my not-so-humble brag about my daughter鈥檚 big game played 12 hours from the completion of this 4 a.m. column.
n Night games do stink for those of us on the periphery, but not for the Steelers. They鈥檙e now 23-7 in prime-time games at Heinz Field, 7-1 on Thursday nights. Mike Tomlin was asked for the reason behind it, and he said a bunch of words around the phrase 鈥渢he stars come out at night.鈥�
n In looking over the post-game media notes, I stumbled upon something better. The Steelers are 10-0 at Heinz Field when they score at least 40 points, so, uh, yeah, there it is. Just score 40 points.
n For 16 years in Pittsburgh, Dick LeBeau talked about the importance of stopping the run first in order to make offenses one-dimensional. Turns out Ben Roethlisberger was listening. He pretty much knew LeBeau鈥檚 plan coming in.
n Le鈥橵eon Bell said that on a short week the Steelers鈥� game plan was tilted toward the pass because 鈥渢hey didn鈥檛 want to run me into the ground on a short week.鈥� Makes sense to me. Tomlin also wanted to give James Conner more carries, but the rookie only ended up with five carries (12 yards). He needs that number every week, but they should occur before mop-up time.
n I鈥檓 thinking part of it had to do with LeBeau鈥檚 trademark game plan, part Bell鈥檚 short rest and part Roethlisberger鈥檚 hot hand.
n As much of a stink that was made about the QB鈥檚 performance against the Colts the previous week, Roethlisberger did rally the Steelers with 12 completions in 16 second-half attempts. Throw in Thursday night鈥檚 30 of 45 and he鈥檚 now completed 69 percent of his passes for 463 yards, 6 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in his last six quarters. That鈥檚 a passer rating of 123.9 and the Ben we know.
n Antonio Brown personifies what鈥檚 meant by 鈥渢he stars come out at night.鈥� The touchdown in which he caught the ball with one hand and pressed it against his helmet to gain control while getting his feet down, can we call that his signature play? I know of two similar catches by Brown some seven years apart. Does that qualify as signature?
n Let鈥檚 also look at the term 鈥渂reakout game.鈥� Members of the offense were repeatedly asked by reporters whether this was a 鈥渂reakout game.鈥� Roethlisberger answered the way I would have: 鈥淵ou can call it a breakout game in terms of points, but I still think that we will look at this and say 鈥楳an we still left things out.'鈥�
n It really didn鈥檛 feel like a breakout game for the offense. Maybe it was for the defensive backs.
n They, of course, gave credit to the pass rush for their four interceptions. Cam Heyward had two sacks just four days after his utterly dominating performance in Indianapolis didn鈥檛 pay off with any sacks. But his performance Thursday pushed him into the team sacks lead with seven and set him on pace for 12.5 this season.
n I asked Cam if he knew the last defensive lineman to hit double digits in sacks and his eyes lit up. 鈥淵es I do,鈥� he said. And then he closed his eyes to think of the name that was on the tip of his tongue. 鈥淥h,鈥� he said excitedly, 鈥淩ay Seals!鈥�
n Good guess. No, great guess. But wrong guess.
鈥淲hat?!鈥� he asked with incredulity.
I explained that Seals had 8.5 sacks back in 1995, but the correct answer is Keith Willis, who had 12 sacks back in 1986. Willis also had 14 in 1983 for the team鈥檚 unofficial DL record.
n Give Heyward major props for coming up with Seals, though. Cam was only six years old that season. It means he鈥檚 one of the rare athletes these days who studies the past.
n Heyward also made a great point when asked about making the Pro Bowl. 鈥淏ecause we play so much sub-package I鈥檓 almost a D-tackle,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ometimes you want to be looked at as a D-tackle, especially when I鈥檓 going up against outside linebackers at D-end spots.鈥�
n Of the top 25 top sackers in the league, 14 (including Heyward) are listed as defensive ends, eight are outside linebackers and only three are defensive tackles. Those three are tied at six sacks, with Geno Atkins the only AFC player among them.
n Give Heyward his due.
n You could give Mike Tomlin his due, too. This 8-2 record is the best start of his career. I asked him if his feelings about the team鈥檚 development match those numbers.
鈥淚鈥檓 not focusing on big-picture things or analysis,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ext challenge.鈥�
n The potential for a game like this was the exact reason I laid low on social media after the sluggish performance in Indianapolis. First of all, the bye week doesn鈥檛 ensure crispness upon the return. As the Steelers will tell you, they just beat two teams coming off byes. Pro athletes are creatures of their routines, especially those who play for the Steelers and learned to embrace routine through a nine-game winning streak. So I expected some sluggishness upon their return in Indy, not to mention the fact they were playing with a multiple-game lead with a tiebreaker over the Ravens. Say what you want about wanting home-field advantage, that adrenaline doesn鈥檛 flow as easily without the urgency of a hot 鈥減ennant鈥� race.
n That said, I was disappointed with their performance, and was out of answers for the offense. I kept my mouth shut, though, because 40-17 is possible with these players in a prime-time game at home.
n So the needle on my gauge is somewhere in the middle of an ugly win and this recent bloated one.
n Let鈥檚 say it鈥檚 a bit right of the middle, or pointing up, as they say back in the clubhouse.