NFL Highlights: The Steelers Back To Steel Curtain Days, Defeating The Raiders 35-3
After losing to the New England Patriots last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers retaliated this week by crushing the 5-5 Oakland Raiders, 35-3.
Back in the 1970’s, the Steelers lost their starting quarterback, Terry Bradshaw, at which point the defense took over. In their next eight games, the defense didn’t allow a single TD. The 1976 defense was known as the “Steel Curtain.”
The Raiders also had a famous streak for the last seven years, except that the fame was for being one of the worst teams in the NFL!
Looks like both are back.
The game was rather exciting, filled with penalties and the occasional punch in the face. The Raiders’ offense couldn’t get a start and the Steelers’ defense would just keep stopping.
One year after an embarrassing loss to the Raiders and one week after another one to the Patriots, the Steelers played around with Oakland like a dog with a new chew toy.
At one point in the game, the Raiders’ defense just couldn’t take it anymore, with defensive end Richard Seymour punching Ben Roethlisberger in the jaw. Roethlisberger stated in a press conference that he did nothing to provoke him, having said only “Let’s
get ready for the extra point.” Several Raiders were sure that Roethlisberger had said something to Seymour, but Seymour said that “I’m not sure why he ran up on me. I just turned around and it was a natural reaction.” He also apologized to his team-mates
for his ejection.
Mike Tomlin, the first African-American Steelers’ head coach and youngest head coach in history to lead his team to a Super Bowl, said, "I've never seen a quarterback get punched since I've been in this league," and both Roethlisberger and Tomlin said that
they still “have great respect for Seymour.”
Even after literally being punched in the face, the Steelers showed that nothing would unnerve them.
They attained a club record off 163 yards worth of penalties but didn’t really mind, with James Harrison saying, "We didn't worry about the calls. When you're getting a lot of penalties against you, it brings you together."
Harrison led Pittsburgh’s defense with the former AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year making two sacks, five tackles, a forced fumble, and an interception.
"It definitely was an old school, physical type game from back in the day," linebacker James Farrior said. "That's the type of game we wanted to make it, a physical game, and improve from our performance of last week."
The Raiders had an average of 38.6 points and 458 yards per game during their three-game winning streak, but managed only 182 yards in the entire game against the Steelers, 61 of which were rushing. The Steelers on the other hand racked up 431 yards, 162
of which were rushing.
The Raiders’ QB Jason Campbell never stood a chance against the Steelers’ defense, which forced six turnovers, two of which became TDs. Darren McFadden, who usually rushes for 100-plus yards, managed only 14 yards on 10 carries, averaging 1.4 yards per carry.
The Steelers’ allowed only one runningback to rush for over 100 rushing yards in their last 44 games, and McFadden wasn’t the one.
The Raiders played so badly that the Steelers, until the third quarter, had more penalty yards than offensive yards. Roethlisberger threw 3 TD passes, once to Mike Wallace for 52 yards, then to Emmanuel Sanders for 22 yards and lastly to Isaac Redman for
16 yards. He also ran 16 yards for a TD. Rashard Mendenhall also ran for 5 yards, totaling 5 TDs for 35 points, and, of course, Shaun Suisham, who kicked 5 successful PAT’s.
Things look good for the 7-3 Steelers, who will play against the 2-8 Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but nothing can be said about the Raiders, who will play against the equally matched 5-5 Miami Dolphins on the same day.
Stay tuned!
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