It’s good to have a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback as your backup isn’t it. Ben Roethlisberger went 22 for 33 for 379 yards and three touchdowns as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns 30-9 on Sunday afternoon. Roethlisberger subbed in for Landry Jones who suffered an ankle injury on the Steelers second drive of the game and threw two first half touchdown passes: a four yard pass to Antonio Brown and a 32 yard pass to Martavis Bryant right before the half to make the score 21-3 at the break. Ben Roethlisberger threw another touchdown pass to Brown in the fourth quarter that time from 56 yards to seal the victory. The Steelers (6-4) have beaten the Browns (2-8) 12 consecutive times at Heinz field dating back to Ben’s rookie year in 2004.

Brown had 10 catches for 139 yards on and the aforementioned two scores and Bryant had six catches for 178 yards and a touchdown for the Steelers. Also for Pittsburgh DeAngelo Williams fought through a foot sprain to gain 54 yards on 17 carries. For the Browns, Johnny Manziel went 33 for 45 for a career high 372 yards and a touchdown and an interception. I thought Manziel played a pretty good game all things considered that running backs Duke Johnson and Isiah Crowell had a total of five yards combined on ten carries. Travis Benjamin had 117 yards on 7 catches for Cleveland.
The Steelers lost time of possession 32:43-27:17, but won the turnover battle 3-2, outgained the Browns 459-342 and had more first downs (22-20) in the game. I thought the Steelers played their best overall game since their Week 2 game against the San Francisco 49ers, they were dominant against the run and sacked Manziel six times on the afternoon. The only hang-up that I would have is that they could have buried the Browns even sooner than they did. They could have scored a touchdown on the second drive after the Manziel sack fumble but they settled for three, and the Bryant fumble after the long reception cost them at least three and if Cleveland got points on the ensuing drive then it may have been a different game.

The Steelers have a much needed bye week before they travel to Century Link field for a game against the Legion of Boom of the Seattle Seahawks. It seems like Ben is fine when it comes with his foot and he will have a week to rest his foot and get his knee back to as close to full strength as possible. The Steelers are a half a game up on the Bills and Jets for the first wild card spot in the AFC heading to the teeth of their schedule. The good thing for the Steelers and their fans is that they have their franchise quarterback in the fold for the stretch run.
Next:
PIT: 11/29 @SEA 4:25 CBS
CLE: 11/30 vs. BAL 8:30 ESPN
Twitter: @bwalkerdadon