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On Sunday, October 12th 2009, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. Nobody act too surprised, please.
The final score was 28-20, which isn’t too comfortable considering last year, the Steelers were the Super Bowl champions and the Lions were the polar opposite of that, finishing the season with an 0-16 record.

Although it was not a good game to gauge the competitive aspect of the team, it was a good chance to evaluate some talent.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger showed exactly why he is one of the best in the league, even though he threw an interception to Will James for a touchdown. After that he led the offense down the field and threw a 17 yard touchdown to former Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward.

Running back Rashard Mendenhall, at least in my eyes, has earned to be the full time starter over veteran Willie Parker who was once again sidelined with turf toe. He finished with 15 carries for 77 yard (5.1/carry) and one touchdown. He got into the end zone twice however one was called back due to a holding call on second string tight end, Matt Spaeth.

Rookie Wide Receiver Mike Wallace caught his first NFL touchdown shortly after dropping one that would’ve led to a 71 yard touchdown reception. The one he caught was good for 47 yards.

Heath Miller is continuing his success, and proving more and more over that he is one of the NFL’s best tight ends, as he is one of the few that excels in both blocking and receiving. All of this is evidenced by Mendenhall’s two big games and Miller’s five catches for 54 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, both bookend outside linebackers LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison stepped up big for the first time this season, Harrison having three sacks and a forced fumble and Woodley being credited with one and a half. In fact the Steelers defense got to injury replacement quarterback Daunte Culpepper seven times total in the game. Three of those came on three straight plays in the fourth quarter, in fact they came on the Lions final drive.

The Steelers got a stroke of luck when Lions star receiver Calvin Johnson left in the first quarter with the same thigh injury he’s been nursing and did not return.

Kevin Smith had absolutely no success on the ground against Pittsburgh’s hellacious defense and this marks the 23rd game in a row that the opposition has failed to rush for 100 yards on the six time Super Bowl champions.

Roethlisberger consistently led the Steelers down the field, sans one interception returned for a touchdown, throwing three touchdown passes (10th career game with 3+ touchdowns) but he doesn’t feel like he’s doing well at all and is disappointed in his play. What more can you ask from a quarterback? Even when he’s doing very well he knows and wants to do better. That, my friends, is a leader.

The Steelers won their first road game this season, and have Cleveland coming to Heinz Field in a week. This too is a must win game for Pittsburgh, as they need to gain some ground in the AFC North.

The best thing that came out of this game was the fact that the running game is getting consistently better, allowing more space for the passing game to work it’s magic, a good thing since Roethlisberger is being asked to throw the ball more and more. He’s starting to get Peyton Manning and Tom Brady like treatment, in fact after the interception was thrown, he went to Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians and asked him to allow Ben to call the plays on the next series. He wanted to be in control, he wanted to do what he does best and lead his team down the field.
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By Phenomenal TJ
SJ Super Mod, blogger

Mack Rosenburg
blogger