RAISE SOME MendenHELL: Steelers Win

28

38

At the end of the day, this game was about the dominance of the Pittsburgh Steelers through 3 quarters of football. Yes, there was a time when the defense would bail out our offense. Yes, there were some special teams breakdowns. But in the end? We got the victory and can catapult ourselves back into the playoff picture by the time the bye week comes around. With Detroit and Cleveland next on the schedule, the Steelers need to use this game as a jumping point for the rest of the year.

But forget about the humdrum, this game was about one man (Rashard Mendenhall) and what he did (raised some hell).

I did some tailgating up on the Norside with some family that came in from out of town. Italian Hot Sausage and Sam Adams Oktoberfest before a game might be the best combination ever.

Steel Magnolias played a short set before the game. Some people made calls for Styx.

The Steelers won the toss and elected to receive.

The Steelers come out throwing on first down. If you blinked, you probably missed Ben ripping ones to Holmes, Ward, and then the 60-minute man Mike Wallace down the sideline to move the Steelers 65 yards in 3 plays before Mendenhall even touched the ball. With San Diego's nose tackle out, the Steelers attacked their weakened interior defense. Mendenhall raised some hell up the middle on two carries to get down to the 1. Backup center/guard Doug Legursky came in and lined up as a fullback and plowed the way for Raise Some to go untouched into the end zone.

7-0

The Steelers defense, in typical first quarter form, forces a 3-and-out.

The offense comes back out and Raise Some starts to take over. He gets 4 carries and moves the Steelers out to the 45. The 60-minute man gets interfered with on 3rd down, keeping the drive alive. Ben gets sacked by first round pick Larry English on the next play, but comes back to find Hines across the middle to get back to a 3rd and 1. Rather than doing the smart thing and running the ball, the Steelers spread it out and throw to Holmes on a curl.

Tell 'em what down it is Tone.

Two plays later, the Steelers have another 3rd down, and Ben finds Moore out of the backfield who scampers down the sideline and busts through 2 defenders into the end zone.

Hines comes in and leap-frogs Moore in the end zone.

Early candidate for picture of the year?

14-0

San Diego actually manages to pick up a first down on their next drive when Gates reels one in, but the defense slams the door on third down as Ike is like a blanket on Vincent Jackson.

The Steelers work the down-and-distance well, picking up 4 on a pass to Ward and 3 with Raise Some as the quarter expires.

Second Quarter

Heath snags one for 9 yards and another first down to get the Steelers out of the shadow of their own end zone. Raise Some rips off a 14-yarder and a 10-yarder to move the Steelers across midfield before two consecutive sacks put us back in 3rd and 23. Ben hits Heath out in the flat for 18, which gives Superman enough room to pin San Diego back at the 10.

San Diego builds on their prior success and gets 2 first downs this time before Ike Taylor takes over. He runs some great coverage on Jackson preventing a deep catch, then swats a ball away on a 3rd down blitz.

The Steelers take over at their 20, and Raise Some rips off a 9-yarder to get things going. The Steelers fall on their face two consecutive plays, and Tomlin elects to go for it on 4th and inches with the ball at their own 30. A ballsy call, and it pays off, as Clock lunges forward for the first down. The offense looks flat and gets into a 3rd and long where Ben throws one right into the arms of Antonio Cromartie. Luckily, Cromartie gets flagged for pass interference on Holmes, keeping the Steelers drive alive. Ben works it across midfield with a pass to Miller. Raise Some gets a check down pass that Parker probably would have dropped and turns it upfield for a 20-yard gain. The 60-Minute Man reels one in to move the Steelers into the red zone as the clock winds down to 2 minutes.

Out of the break, Ben finds Heath near the goal line and he puts it on the turf, but Carey Davis is on the spot to fall on the ball. Initially, the fans think it's a touchdown because Davis recovered in the end zone, but the rule book says you can't advance a fumble in the last 2 minutes, so it comes back out to the 2. Of course, there's only one thing to do then.

RAISE SOME MENDEN-HELL.

21-0

San Diego craps all over themselves and have to punt.

Ben kneels to end the half.

Halftime

Bethel Park marching band

Steelers leading in time of possession 23-7

Third Quarter

LeBeau shows he's not about to let up, and sends some heat on San Diego's next drive, resulting in another quick series for the defense.

Did the offense ever look more dominant than in this drive? Ben hooks up with Hines twice for 36 yards to move across midfield. Mendenhall comes back with 15 yards on 2 carries, then Hines reels one in for 19 to get inside the 10. After Mendenhall gets a few, my dad turns to me and says, "Number 83 is a great option here."

Ben lobs a fade for Miller in the corner and Heath is all over it.

Tight end fade? Why not.

28-0

Someone on San Diego's bench apparently reminded their team that there was a football game happening and they were actually playing, because their offense came out and, for once, didn't look like the a Jack Black movie. Mainly utilizing Gates, who had an advantage on whoever was covering him, Rivers drove the Chargers down the field, finally finding Gates for the touchdown.

28-7

The Steelers offense came out and was moving the ball well once again, working it out to the 40 before the quarter ended.

Fourth Quarter

The only reason there are still questions around this team is because of what happened in these 15 minutes.

The Steelers wound up in a 3rd and 25 thanks to a holding on Starks and requisite false start penalty on Colon. Thankfully, we have Superman. He booms a 55-yarder to flip the field on San Diego.

RENEGADE.

Renegade is played and the Steelers come up with their second sack of the game on the next play. The pocket collapses and everyone is there, but Aaron Smith gets credit for the sack. Two incompletions later, it's punt city.

Logan fields the punt and innocently takes it up the left hash. He appears to be stopped, and the play is seemingly dead. The next thing you know, San Diego is running the ball towards the end zone. The refs call touchdown. Coach challenges.

Logan's forward progress was definitely stopped, but his knee was never down, because some Charger was underneath him. Weak call, but it gave San Diego life.

28-14

Clock comes back mixing runs and passes, leading the troops down the field. On the Steelers bread-and-butter play (guard pull), they Raise Some Menden-HELL and pick up 32 yards, the longest run of the night (and double San Diego's rushing total for the game). Hines atones for an earlier drop by converting a 3rd and 7, getting the ball down to the 6. Moore takes an innocent looking hand-off from the 6, then pulls up and throws for the back of the end zone to a chorus of "oh no" from our section.

Luckily for everyone, Heath is one of the best tight ends in the league.

35-14

It seemed innocent enough, but that was a huge touchdown (on a very, very risky play call).

After a good return by Sproles, San Diego was in desperation-mode. Three quick passes brought them to the Steelers 30. Woodley and Harrison both break free and sandwich Rivers as he lets one go for Gates on the sideline. Timmons makes a weak effort, and Gates strolls down the sideline and into the end zone.

35-21

You start to get that sinking feeling in your stomach when you realize there are still 6 minutes left in the game. My dad says "watch out for the onsides kick" as the Chargers line up. Sure enough, Kaeding lays it down, and Ryan Mundy can't hang on. Chargers ball. Gag.

Rivers hits Chambers and Gates and your heart starts beating a little faster. Harrison gets flagged for a terrible, terrible pass interference call to set up the Chargers inside the 15. Rivers finds Chambers in the flat and the secondary makes a weak effort to prevent him from finding paydirt.

35-28

All of a sudden, that "oh shit" factor sets in.

The Chargers elect to kick off this time and play defense. Ben starts things off ripping a pass to Holmes on a flag pattern for a first down. After that, it was all Mendenhall. Talk about raising hell. He was 23 carries and 130 yards into the game. All he did was bust off carries of 5, 22, and 9 to single-handedly move the Steelers into field goal range.

Two-minute Warning

Ben lunges for a first down after the TMW to keep the Steelers drive alive. Mendenhall and Moore get carries to wipe out San Diego's last two time outs. On 3rd and 9, when a running play would essentially seal the game, taking 40 seconds off the clock and keeping us in field goal range, Arians calls for a pass. It's incomplete but Kemoeatu gets flagged for holding, sending the Steelers back to the 35 and out of field goal range. Ben dumps one down to Moore who takes it for 7 yards to get us back into range and keep the clock rolling.

REDEMPTION

38-28

With 48 ticks left, the game was essentially over, but a good return by Sproles out across the 50 left you a little unsure.

Harrison shows why he's a monster and comes up with his second sack of the game, knocking the ball out.

Farrior recovers.

Victory Formation.

Game.

We got our swagger back.

It's still alive.

Players of the Game:

Offensive Game Ball: Rashard Mendenhall

Defensive Player of the Game: James Harrison

Honorable Mentions:

Heath Miller

Ben Roethlisberger

Hines Ward

Aaron Smith

Ike Taylor

James Farrior

Mr. Yuck Sticker of the Game:

The "fumbled" punt return

From what we could see, it definitely seemed like his forward progress was stopped. Can't really blame Logan on this one, he thought he was down too. The Steelers dominated the game up until that point.

Final Thoughts

• What a game by Mendenhall.
• San Diego had 16 yards rushing.
• Two sacks and a forced fumble by Harrison.
• Detroit next week.
• "As far as I'm concerned, the world ends Sunday night." - Tomlin earlier this week. They certainly played like it.
• There were some questionable offensive play calls, but they worked, still an "eh" feeling about them.
• Our 3rd touchdown was the sloppiest touchdown drive all season.
• Mike Wallace is a beast.
• Great game for Ben as well.
• Antonio who? Heath Miller baby.
• Miller is one of the top 3 tight ends in the league.
• Gates was Rivers only target out there. What a job by Ike Taylor on Vincent Jackson.
• RAISE SOME.