Knowing their role
PITTSBURGH — The numbers have become so sublimely routine, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is getting tired of talking about them.
Every week it seems Le’Veon Bell, Ben Roethlisberger or Antonio Brown are setting a new club record in something. The cruelly efficient engines of the best offense in the franchise’s 82-year history are the driving force behind Pittsburgh’s march to the cusp of the playoffs.
Yet they’re hardly doing it alone. The Steelers’ 6-2 surge following a 3-3 start is as much about the rapid maturation of youngsters like Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton and the steadying presence of William Gay as it is the weekly brilliance of its Big Three.
Tomlin wasn’t just being politically correct when he praised Sunday’s 27-20 win over Atlanta as the gelling of all three phases.
Sure, Bell ran for two scores, Roethlisberger passed for 360 yards without an interception and Brown pulled down 10 receptions to boost his season total to an NFL-high 115. Just as important, however, was Gay’s third interception return for a touchdown this season. Wheaton’s handful of third-down grabs to extend drives. Second-year linebacker Vince Williams’ third-down stop of Atlanta’s Harry Douglas that forced a Falcons’ punt with just over 4 minutes left. Rookie Brad Wing’s booming kicks that kept Atlanta returner Devin Hester in check.
For a season in which the Steelers have desperately been searching for balance, they appear to have found it. While the defense continues to give up chunks of yards, it also has scored four times. Three of them have come from Gay.
The eight-year veteran downplays his midcareer renaissance even as his twitchy end zone dance has become a once-a-month event.
“We’re trying to stack wins,” Gay said. “Playing against good opponents and just putting everything on the line.”
Something the Steelers are finding a way to do with regularity. They have tracked down first-place Cincinnati over the last two months thanks in large part to the Bryant’s emergence as a legitimate deep threat and Wheaton’s viability as a sure-handed alternative on the rare play when Brown isn’t open.
