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10/09/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - No Hines Ward or Santonio Homes, the starting wideouts? No Casey Hampton or Troy Polamalu, two Pro Bowl defenders? No problem for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who again stated their case for elite status with a formulaic 21-0 suffocation of the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
With the above players working the sideline in street clothes due to injury, you might have expected head coach Mike Tomlin to resort to gimmicks to get his team its fourth win of the season. But you would have been incorrect in that prediction, because the Steelers looked every bit like the Steelers in the victory.
They ran the football a total of 41 times, with Willie Parker (28 carries, 102 yards) bringing the lightning and Najeh Davenport (7 carries, 58 yards) the thunder. It was Davenport who elicited the day's biggest cheers from the Heinz Field crowd, scoring on second-half runs of one and five yards and capping off two seemingly endless drives.
That march was emblematic of an afternoon when the Seahawks defense simply couldn't get off the field. Four different Pittsburgh drives took up 4:49 or more of clock time, including a 17-play march to begin the third quarter that used up 10:17 and actually included 110 Steeler yards. Thirty yards worth of penalties forced Tomlin's team to have to tread the same territory more that once, but also kept the ball out of the hands of Matt Hasselbeck and the Seattle offense for that much longer.
The Steelers ended the day with a whopping 40:45-to-19:15 edge in time of possession, a figure that the vaunted Pittsburgh defense had a little something to do with as well.
Seattle had 10 drives on the day, and Dick LeBeau's defensive group forced punts on nine of them. The one that didn't result in a Ryan Plackemeier punt was ended by Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor, who denied the Seahawks their best chance at points all day by intercepting Matt Hasselbeck in the end zone as the first half neared its end.
That drive, at seven plays and 54 yards, was Seattle's best of the day. No other Seahawks march yielded more than six snaps or 18 yards. One of the most consistently strong offenses of the past few years was left with eight first downs and 144 total yards as they departed the Steel City. Amazing.
Even the usually even-keel Tomlin sounded impressed.
"They showed their character today," said Tomlin. "It is something that I knew we had. It was a total team effort...They remained unwavered in the face of adversity. They stuck together. They delivered. The things that we talked about since day one, they displayed today. As a coach, you feel good when you see that."
The shutout was the first for the team since they blanked Cleveland on the road, 41-0, in Week 16 of the Super Bowl season of 2005. To find the most recent previous Heinz Field blanking, you have to go all the way back to Week 8 of the 2000 season, also a whitewashing of the Browns.
But neither of those Bill Cowher-era games came against opponents as generally well-respected as the NFC West-leading Seahawks, and neither came when the Steelers were fighting through a rash of significant injuries.
That Pittsburgh could move to 4-1, in decisive fashion, without a quartet of its heaviest hitters, speaks to this team's staying power on the AFC scene. The Patriots and Colts look like the teams to beat in the NFL at this stage, but neither of those clubs, nor any of the other 29 units from coast to coast, would be wise to want a piece of the Steelers right now.
This team is clearly playing as well as anyone in the league right now, and is intent on bringing it every week, no matter the circumstances.
"They don't put asterisks beside wins and losses," said Tomlin. "Regardless of who's playing, we are the Pittsburgh Steelers."
PASSING FANCY
He didn't string together a number of highlight-reel throws, but Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger might have had one of his best days as a pro on Sunday, given the absence of his top two receivers.
With Ward (knee) out for a second straight game and Holmes (hamstring) rendered unavailable just before kickoff, Roethlisberger still managed to complete an impressive 18-of-22 passes for 206 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown to tight end Heath Miller to open the scoring in the second quarter.
The fourth-year pro also managed to put some distance between himself and his last performance against the Seahawks, in Super Bowl XL, when he posted the lowest passer rating by a winning quarterback in Super Bowl history.
"I hope I'm always a leader out there," said Big Ben of Sunday's effort." When you lose guys, you have to count on guys to step up. Today was one of those things where I took it upon my shoulders to say 'I've got to be able to count on those guys.'...That's the biggest thing -- they have confidence in me, and I have confidence in them, and we found a way to get it done."
Roethlisberger's favorite target on the day was Cedrick Wilson, who caught five balls for 69 yards in arguably his most productive regular season outing since coming to the Steelers from the 49ers via free agency in 2005.
SIMPLY THE BEST?
Following their performance against the Seahawks, the Steelers ascended to the top of several NFL defensive categories.
Pittsburgh jumped ahead of New England into the top spot on the NFL total defense chart, as it is now surrendering just 235.6 yards per game, and is also first in scoring defense with only 9.4 points per game allowed.
Tomlin's crew is second in the league in passing defense (145.6 yards per game), with Week 7 opponent Denver the only team better, and is in a three-way tie with the Giants and Bears for the NFL lead in sacks (17).
The Steelers are also first in yards allowed per play (4.2), and are second in first downs allowed per game (13.4) behind only division rival Baltimore.
On the offensive end, the Steelers rank behind only Oakland, which has played one fewer game, in rushing offense (167 yards per game), and Willie Parker re- assumed the individual lead in rushing yards (507) following his fourth 100- yard game of the campaign.
NEXT UP: BYE WEEK
The Steelers will have the opportunity to nurse their injuries during their designated bye week, following which Pittsburgh will travel to Denver to face the Broncos in a Sunday night contest.
Tomlin said Monday that he expects to have Ward, Holmes, Hampton (hamstring) and Polamalu (torn rib cartilage) back in Week 7, though reserve cornerback Bryant McFadden (high ankle sprain) might be unable to return.
The Steelers are 10-8 all-time following the bye week.
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