Ben Roethlisberger has to love playing the Indianapolis Colts, as do the Steelers, and they could still get another chance at them in the playoffs.
Sunday night, Roethlisberger passed for 364 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Steelers to a 45-10 victory at Heinz Field.
It came one year after Roethlisberger singed the Colts for six touchdown passes and 522 yards at Heinz Field in a 51-38 victory.
Roethlisberger completed 24 of 39 and did not throw an interception and was not sacked.
“We’re capable of doing that,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said after the Steelers scored the final 39 points of the game. “If we don’t turn the ball over, that’s us and that’s been us. Ben was Ben and those guys did a nice job of getting open and making plays for him.”
Two touchdowns were caught by Antonio Brown, who added a third score when he returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown with 4:01 to go. Brown celebrated this time with a flying leap and straddle into the goalpost. He was penalized for using it as a prop, but no one on the Steelers sideline seemed concerned and Brown did not seem any worse for the wear.
“I’ve been looking at AB doing that since 2010,” Tomlin said of his overall performance. “I’m not surprised by his ability to flip the field and make splash plays for us.”
Brown replaced Jacoby Jones in the second half after Jones muffed one punt return and lost a fumble on a kickoff return in the first half. Tomlin said the move was an obvious one.
Brown had eight receptions overall for 118 yards. Martavis Bryant caught a 68-yard touchdown and had four receptions for 114 yards. In addition, DeAngelo Williams ran for 134 yards on 26 carries.
The victory raised the Steelers record to 7-5 and keeps them in the thick of the race for a wild-card playoff berth. Although the Colts fell to 6-6, they remain tied with Houston atop the AFC South Division.
“We’re playing this game to get to the top,” said Markus Wheaton, who caught Roethlisberger’s other touchdown, from 5 yards. He added that when they played as they did Sunday night, “It’s fun. Everybody was having a good time, laughing on the sideline.”
Not on the Colts sideline they weren’t. It was the first loss this season as a starter for 40-year-old backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who had been 4-0 since replacing injured Andrew Luck. He left the game in the fourth quarter with neck and shoulder injuries after he was sacked by James Harrison — one of the linebacker’s three in the game — and fumbled. Hasselbeck completed 16 of 26 for 169 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Chris Boswell kicked three field goals and missed another from 47 yards for the Steelers.
Roethlisberger’s second touchdown pass to Brown, of 5 yards, put the Steelers on top, 35-10, early in the fourth quarter. It was Brown who put them in position when he caught a 48-yard pass from Roethlisberger between two Colts at the 8 on the final play of the third quarter.
“Ben is one of the best quarterbacks in the league,” guard Ramon Foster said. “And today we got our running game going.”
Boswell’s 42-yard field goal with 6:29 left made it 38-10.
The Steelers extended their lead to 28-10 after three quarters.
Roethlisberger made it three drives, three touchdown passes when he connected with Bryant for a 68-yard touchdown on the Steelers’ first series of the third quarter.
On third-and-3 and operating as he did much of the first half in the no-huddle offense, Roethlisberger threw deep down the right sideline. Bryant caught it at the Colts 41 and outran safety Mike Adams to the end zone.
It came after Roethlisberger threw touchdown passes on consecutive series to end the first half with the Steelers in front, 21-10. He threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Brown with 4:04 to go and came back to cap a 60-yard drive in the two-minute drill by hitting Wheaton with a 5-yard scoring pass with 10 seconds left.
Both touchdowns came on third down.
Roethlisberger completed 18 of 27 passes for 219 yards in the first half.
There were four turnovers in the first half, two by each team and the Steelers defense that gave up 39 points a week ago in Seattle, showed it meant business early on this time.
The Colts took an early 3-0 lead in a game that produced three turnovers in the first three minutes.
The Steelers started it when Jacoby Jones fumbled away the opening kickoff at the 11. But then, Jarvis Jones intercepted a Hasselbeck pass at the 1 three plays later and the Steelers started at the 10.
But after running for 21 yards on second down, Williams fumbled the ball away two plays later and the Colts recovered at the 25. The Steelers defense held again and Adam Vinatieri kicked a 35-yard field goal for Indianapolis.
Roethlisberger came out throwing in the no-huddle offense on the next series, and the Steelers reached a first down at the Colts 13. But they gained only 2 more yards and Boswell kicked a 29-yard field goal to knot the score at 3-3.
Cornerback Brandon Boykin, playing on defense for the first time in five games, intercepted a pass that William Gay tipped to give the Steelers the ball at the Colts 37.
They settled for Boswell’s second field goal, from 51 yards, for a 6-3 lead.
Indianapolis bounced back into a 10-6 lead when Hasselbeck, operating with plenty of time against a three-man rush, hit Frank Gore over the middle for a 9-yard touchdown pass with 8:26 left in the second quarter.
Roethlisberger responded via the no-huddle and mostly through the air on an 80-yard drive that ended when he hit Brown for a 7-yard touchdown. Roethlisberger’s pass to Will Johnson was good for the 2-point conversion.
The Steelers were back on top, 14-10, with 4:04 left in the first half, then extended that lead to 21-10 on the touchdown pass to Wheaton.
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter @EdBouchette.
First Published: December 7, 2015, 2:29 a.m.
Updated: December 7, 2015, 4:53 a.m.
