At Last, a 4th Quarter Putdown to Quash All Doubt

Kyle Orton came in with one interception all season. He threw three tonight. Ryan Clark's replacement had two of them.

Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger tossed three touchdowns. Rashard Mendenhall ran for more than 150 yards, and for a change didn't cough the ball up. The special teams denied Denver its needed long return, while neglecting to surrender a cheap turnover.

That's all you need to know this was the second big Steelers win in as many games.

Of course, all could have been different if not for another consistently huge effort by the defense. While the unit was burned by the pass during the Broncos first three or four drives, they held firm and allowed a mere three points while putting up seven of their own in the first half. Thanks to a couple confounding turnovers by the offense in Broncos territory at the beginning of the offensive onslaught in the second half, the unit was called on to shut the door again. Look no further than Troy Polamalu. With Denver getting the ball inside their own 20 down 14-10 with nine minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, Troy made a run blitz off the corner for a loss, then on the following play made an interception to set up a backbreaking TD pass from Roethlisberger to Mike Wallace.

The contrast in running couldn't have been more encouraging. 173 yards to 27 on the road. Though we know the early season pattern that saw the Steelers come out of the gate in the 1st quarter resulted in repeated failure, it would be nice to see the offense put up an effective job in the first half. The defense, too, seemed in the first half like they hadn't learned much for the Ravens win over the Broncos last week, playing too far off receivers and leaving the middle of the field wide open for slants and crossing routes. But William Gay getting burned early on quickly morphed to a stifling effort by all involved. A singular effort by Brett Keisel must be acknowledged. While the rest of the pass rush was unable to bring down Orton, it was Keisel who was able to sling two sack arrows out of his quiver (still think Keisel has one of the best celebrations in the league).

The best oversized towel of the night for a two-TD receiving effort.

This week, The Steelers lived up to their side of the deal, as the Bengals did theirs. Next week instantly becomes the biggest game of the year for either team. There wasn't much tonight that didn't declaim that Pittsburgh isn't up to the challenge.