The Pittsburgh Steelers opened up the scoring in the second quarter as Ben Roethlisberger tossed three of his four touchdown passes and William Gay added a pick six, giving the home team a 35-20 lead heading into halftime. Antonio Brown finished the first half with five receptions for 93 yards, including two more touchdowns to give him seven touchdowns in eight games. He had a career-high eight touchdowns in 16 games in 2013.
Le’Veon Bell had a brief scare with a right foot/ankle injury, and the Steelers will likely limit his touches in the second half, but he finished the first half already with 85 yards. Rookie Martavis Bryant caught a 52-yard pass and a five-yard touchdown on a four-reception, 81-yard first half, while Markus Wheaton also caught the first touchdown reception of his career. The hot offense begins the second half with the ball.
After a touchback,Bell took the first snap of the half four yards up the right sideline. Roethlisberger just barely missed Brown deep on what likely would have gone for six on second down. On third and long, however, the two did hook up for nine yards to move the chains.
Bell was stopped for no gain on first down. Wheaton showed well to stay solid through contact for a completion for another first down. Heath Miller was good for five yards to midfield. On second and five, the Colts picked up the screen to Brown and tackled him for a loss of three. Now third and eight, Miller was left open in the middle of the field for 49 yards to set up first and goal. Bell picked up a couple on first down. On second and goal, Roethlisberger hit Bryant on the fade for the score as he went up to grab the ball, giving the Steelers a 42-20 lead.
On first down, Ahmad Bradshaw forced two defenders to hit into each other as he escaped for a first down. On the second play of the opening drive, Troy Polamalu was flagged for illegal contact. Ryan Shazier got a hand on a rushed Luck pass after the penalty. On second and 10, Jason Worilds got the initial hit, and James Harrison finished off the sack. The pair got back into the pocket again on third down to force an incompletion.
Roethlisberger hit Bryant in stride on first down on the run, but he dropped the ball. He might have been gone if he held on to that. Instead, he found himself on the sideline. LeGarrette Blount picked up three yards to set up a third and seven. Wheaton picked up five yards to force the Steelers to punt for only the second time of the game. Brad Wing‘s punt traveled 54 yards, but the Colts returned it 19 yards for a 35-yard net.
Taking over at the 31, Luck found his target for 11 yards on the first play. Polamalu disrupted the next pass. On second and 10, T.Y. Hilton found space underneath for the first down. Across midfield, Luck got hit as he threw, but found Hilton once again for 16 yards. Hit as he threw again on the next play, it forced another incompletion. Brice McCain rode the receiver down after a seven-yard pickup on second down. On third and three, Polamalu torpedoed the receiver, but did not bring him down, and it allowed a conversion.
From the 12, Bradshaw bounced off of contact at the line and found the end zone to make it 42-27.
Darrius Heyward-Bey caught a pass down the field, went down, got up, and then had the ball stripped out, recovered by the Colts. After a sack negated by penalty, Luck’s first pass sailed incomplete. After five yards on second down, Luck found the rookie Donte Moncrief in front of Cortez Allen for 31 yards, cutting the lead to 34-42 and making it, bafflingly, a one-possession game.
Roethlisberger threw short to Bell on first down, who wiggled his way through defenders for 17 yards. On the second play, however, he was bottled up for a two-yard loss. Miller had a deep ball knocked away on second and 12. On third down, he went back to Miller short of the first down, who ran for it to move the chains. From midfield, Brown took the ball on an end around, narrowly avoiding a disastrous loss, to cut up the field for five yards and salvage the play. On second down, Bell somehow found room for three yards after being contacted in the backfield. On third and two, Roethlisberger tried to throw to Brown deep. The ball was incomplete, but the Colts were flagged for pass interference.
The Steelers went back to the ground as they look to drain the clock, where Bell was stopped for no gain on first down. From the 24, Roethlisberger threw the ball out of bounds under pressure in Brown’s direction. On third and 10, Wheaton came up to make the catch for the first down to set up first and goal.
Blount got the ball on first down, and fumbled, recovered by the Colts, as the Steelers desperately look to blow their marquee game of the season.
Taking over from the five, Luck’s first pass sailed over his target’s head. On second down, Luck fell down, and threw the ball from his butt, resulting in grounding and a safety. That makes it a two-possession game and gives the Steelers the ball.
The Steelers took over after the kick at the 33. Bell was stopped for no gain on first down. On second down, Brown cut over the middle just short of the first down, though his momentum carried him out of bounds. Bell picked up the first down on the next play. Blount, back in after his fumble, gained one yard. Roethlisberger was flagged for a delay of game. Brown secured the first down on an 18-yard reception inside the 35.
Blount brought the ball down to the 30-yard line as the Steelers went back to the ground. Roethlisberger tied his career-high 503 yards on a 10-yard pass to Miller. Roethlisberger found Blount for eight yards on third and nine to set a new career-high in passind yards. The Steelers went for it on fourth down, and threw into the end zone for Miller, his sixth touchdown pass of the game–also a career- and franchise-best.
After a pair of five-yard defensive penalties, Luck found his receiver for 18 yards to close near midfield. Vince Williams made a nice open-field tackle on first down after seven yards. Arthur Moats was held on the play to make it second and 13, negating a first-down pass. Bradshaw got 11 yards back up the middle on a draw. On third and two, the Colts converted short while getting out of bounds.
Cameron Heyward got pressure on Luck on first down to force an incompletion, but he found Hilton for the first down on the following play. Antwon Blake intercepted Luck in the end zone for the touchback.
Bell got a first down to bring the game to overtime. Another 17 yards on the ground for Bell gave the Steelers another first down. Another eight yards on two carries gave him 92 yards on the ground. Roethlisberger tried to fun for it on third down, but he got hammered. A final punt and a conciliatory kneel down capped off Ben Roethlisberger’s 100th victory in his 150th start in one of the greatest games a quarterback has ever played.
