Steelers Hold On Against Lions

NFL News - October 11th, 2009 - Written by John

Earlier this week, news outlets broke the good news that the Detroit Lions sold out Ford Field for the first time this year to avoid a blackout without an extension request. A showing that the fans were rejuvenated by Detroit's first win in almost three years?

Nah. Simply put, the Pittsburgh Steelers were in town. Flooding the stadium with black and gold, Pittsburgh got plenty of support and rebounded from a heart-breaking loss last week to Cincinnati. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 277 yards and Rashard Mendenhall looked good in his second start in a 28-20 win on Sunday.

The Lions had an opportunity to tie the game on their final drive of the game when Pittsburgh had to punt with three minutes left. They drove the ball to the Steelers' 20-yard line, but couldn't get it any farther when the offensive line finally broke down. Daunte Culpepper, who was called on to start for the injured Matthew Stafford, was sacked three consecutive times to force a fourth-and-34 from Pittsburgh's 45 yard line and a hail mary pass was turned away by Ike Taylor.

James Harrison had three sacks on the day and forced a fumble in the game.

Mendenhall, who was benched two weeks ago for not knowing the playbook, got the start again to replace Willie Parker and ran for 77 yards on 15 carries. His only touchdown of the game gave Pittsburgh an early advantage in the first quarter, when he bounced to the right side from -- yards out and broke the plane to make it 7-3.

The Steelers then took a huge lead, then surrendered it in the second quarter when Roethlisberger made on of his best passes on the day, then one of his worst. He hit Heath Miller in the back of the end zone to make it 14-6 at the start of the second quarter.

On the next drive, he threw another touchdown pass, but to the wrong team. Corner William James stepped in front of his pass and scurried down the left sideline into the end zone to get within one. But Roethlisberger atoned for his mistake, following up with a 17 yard touchdown to Hines Ward and a 47-yard bomb to Mike Wallace to make it 28-13.

Meanwhile, the Lions got more bad injury news when Calvin Johnson, who was already hurting from a sore thigh, limped off the field with a leg injury. Trainers wrapped his leg and he was forced to ride the bench the rest of the game.

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