PITTSBURGH (AP) â" The adrenaline had prolonged given ragged off by a time Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger solemnly â" unequivocally solemnly â" trudged toward his locker following a Steelers' 14-3 win over Cleveland on Thursday night.
As he talked to reporters, his sprained left ankle heavily taped, all Roethlisberger could consider about was a possibility to lay down.
"I feel like my ankle is about to explode," he said. "I'm prepared to get off it."
The hard-earned rest came after he combined to his flourishing resume as one of a league's many imperishable players.
Roethlisberger upheld for 280 yards and dual scores while personification a second half on fundamentally one leg as the Steelers (10-3) kept a vigour on Baltimore in a conflict for a AFC North title.
"The man is one of a toughest competitors in this game," Pittsburgh defensive finish Brett Keisel said. "He plays hurt. He's got a damaged thumb, who knows what's wrong with his ankle? But we're a unequivocally good group with him behind center."
Just a unequivocally banged adult one.
Roethlisberger will have an MRI examination on Friday to establish a border of a damage, yet he's confident he'll play when Pittsburgh travels to San Francisco on Dec. 19. Center Maurkice Pouncey (ankle) and defensive finish Ziggy Hood (groin) will spend a weekend in diagnosis after a infamous though dear victory, one that done adult for in courage what it lacked in glamour.
"There's no such thing as an nauseous win," Hood said.
Not this time of year.
The Steelers kick the Browns (4-9) for a 15th time in a final 16 meetings notwithstanding a span of red section turnovers and removing pressed on 4 downs during a idea line in a fourth quarter.
Roethlisberger done certain a miscues didn't matter, attack Antonio Brown for a 79-yard touchdown with 2:52 remaining to give Pittsburgh a eighth win in a final 9 games.
"I was blissful (Brown) scored since we wouldn't have been means to make it down there if we had to run another play," Roethlisberger pronounced with a laugh.
Cleveland had a chances.
Colt McCoy upheld for 209 yards, though he also threw a span of interceptions in dropping to 0-8 opposite multiplication rivals as a starter. This detriment competence have been a many painful. He finished 18 of 35 passes though also took a beating, including a shot from Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison in a fourth entertain that left him momentarily dazed.
The Browns were pushing in Pittsburgh domain with reduction than 6 mins left when McCoy tucked a round underneath his arm as if to run. He pulled adult as Harrison approached and flipped a brief pass to Montario Hardesty only before Harrison crushed into him. It was a helmet-to-helmet hit, and Harrison was flagged for roughing a passer.
McCoy laid on a margin for several moments before creation his approach off. He refused to contend either he felt Harrison's strike was a inexpensive shot, though concurred that "it got me for a minute."
Harrison, who has faced unbending fines in a past for hits opposite defenseless players, believes he didn't do anything wrong.
"From what we understand, once a quarterback leaves a pocket, he's deliberate a runner," Harrison said. "All a defenseless(ness) and liberties that a quarterback has in a slot are left and we can tackle him only as he's a using back. The strike wasn't late, so we unequivocally don't know because it was called."
Seneca Wallace filled in, heading a Browns to a Pittsburgh 5 before McCoy returned.
Though he insisted he was "good adequate to go behind in a game," McCoy didn't accurately play like it. He was flagged for conscious education on his initial play behind to pull a round behind to a Pittsburgh 16, afterwards attempted to strike Mohamed Massaquoi in a finish section on a subsequent snap, though Pittsburgh's William Gay simply stepped in front of it for an interception.
"I only didn't get adequate on it, underthrew it and their man done a good play and that was fundamentally a game," McCoy said.
And a deteriorate for a Browns, who are positive of a losing record for a fourth true year.
McCoy's teammates were frequency blameless. Cleveland receivers forsaken several passes and using behind Peyton Hillis managed only 25 yards on 10 carries.
"You can demeanour during a tender yardage and say, 'Well, we don't know what kind of opening it was,'" Cleveland manager Pat Shurmur said. "But we kept them out of a finish section until that final large pass. There's some things we can build on."
The Browns are already meditative about subsequent year. Not a Steelers. Their deteriorate seemed to be in danger after Roethlisberger took a infamous strike in a second quarter.
Yet Roethlisberger's liberation kept Pittsburgh alive for a multiplication pretension and homefield advantage via a playoffs.
"You can't contend adequate about a quarterback," Brown said. "It's extraordinary to play with a man like that who exemplifies that form of toughness day in and day out. His finger, his ankle, all sorts of things though a man never lays it down."
News referensi http://news.yahoo.com/steelers-march-behind-gritty-roethlisberger-092943076.html
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6:38 AM Friday, December 9, 2011