Steelers control airspace, down Jets 27-10 - Examiner.com

After week one's chatter about the New York Jets' powerful offense, the Pittsburgh Steelers turned Twitter and fantasy football owners on their ears in a grinding 27-10 win in which the Steelers shut down Mark Sanchez's passing offense. Ben Roethlisberger found ten different receivers and refused to go down in many pressure situations to lead the Steelers to the win.

Roethlisberger completed 24 of 31 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns. Spreading the offensive plays to as many open players as possible, Roethlisberger was able to shoot down a Jets secondary that was minus All-Pro cornerback Darelle Revis. In an amazing usage of game clock, the Steelers' offense controlled the ball for over 36 minutes of the game. Roethlisberger was able to use running backs Issac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer in critical plays to eat up time and yardage as well.

View slideshow: Pittsburgh Steelers vs New York Jets Highlights -- Photos

Sanchez was 10 of 27 passing for 138 yards and a single touchdown. Throwing caution to the wind, or trying desperately to generate some offense, Tim Tebow was sent into the game on a single drive early in the second half to run for 22 yards. The Jets were only able to convert four of 12 third downs and in their final eight drives of the game took zero snaps inside the Steelers' 30-yard line. Sanchez was only able to complete six of 17 passes in the second half when it was too little, too late.

The Steelers were down 7-6 going into the second quarter. At 9:35 of the second quarter, Jets kicker Nick Folk put through another three points to push New York ahead 10-6. Although LaRon Landry hit Antonio Brown late on a pass play, there was no call by the replacement officials. Roethlisberger showed tenacity by getting out of a possible sack situation and found Emmanuel Sanders open on a 3rd-and-nine for a first down. On the following play, Sanders made a nice 19-yard catch and was hit late by Landry. This time the penalty flags flew and the Steelers were moved near the goal line. With 1:03 left in the first half, Roethlisberger ran a play-action pass to Heath Miller for the score to put the Steelers up 13-10 before halftime.

Although the Steelers defense was without veterans Troy Polamalu and James Harrison, they showed marked improvement against the Jets. Against the Broncos, tackling had been an issue that was apparently worked out before the game against New York. Ryan Clark had a stellar game with 7 tackles (one assisted). LaMarr Woodley had one sack on Sanchez and two tackles. DeMarcusVan Dyke was able to get the ball away from Jeremy Kerley on a bobbled punt return and Ryan Mundy was able to recover it. Lawrence Timmons was in the face of Sanchez for most of the game and Cameron Heyward also recorded one sack.

When Roethlisberger was able to avoid the blitz on third-and-16 in the third quarter, he found Mike Wallace open in the end zone. With circus-like acrobatics, Wallace kept both feet in bounds while fighting with Antonio Cromartie for the score. After the game,Wallace said, “Ben is one of the top in the game. I'll ride with him against anybody.”

The Steelers finalized the win with a late 2-yard touchdown run by Issac Redman over the right tackle.

Box Score

Related Notes:

• Pittsburgh has won ten-straight home openers and hold the longest active streak in the NFL.
• Ben Roethlisberger moved within 900 yards of the team career passing yards record currently held by Terry Bradshaw (27,898) with 27,099 yards.
• The highest passer rating given up by the New York Jets under head coach Rex Ryan is 125.1 which was achieved by Roethlisberger Sunday night.
• Ryan Clark was named the 'Steelers Digest Player of the Week'
• Ben Roethlisberger was named the 'Beam Machine of the Week' by 'The Beam' in Pittsburgh website.

Related Video:

• Steelers vs. Jets Highlights (NFL.com video)
• Mike Tomlin post-game interview (Steelers.com video)
• Ben Roethlisberger post-game interview (Steelers.com video)
• Heath Miller post-game interview (Steelers.com video)

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