New York Jets vs Pittsburgh Steelers Match Player Stats On Oct 09, 2016

The Sports Xchange
Oct 9, 2016

PITTSBURGH -- Ben Roethlisberger threw four touchdown passes, giving him a Steelers' all-time best 15 through five games, and Pittsburgh shut out the New York Jets in the second half of a 31-13 victory Sunday.

Roethlisberger, nearly error-free until losing a fumble in the fourth quarter, threw scoring passes of 72 yards and 5 yards to Sammie Coates, 1 yard to Jesse James and 5 yards to Antonio Brown, who was forced by the NFL to change his shoes during the first half but still made nine catches.

Roethlisberger, in his 13th season, went 34-of-47 for 380 yards and no interceptions -- hitting 14 consecutive passes at one point during the second half -- as the Steelers (4-1) came back from an early 13-7 deficit to win their seventh in a row at Heinz Field. Roethlisberger has nine TD passes and no interceptions in his last two games.

Coates' deep-ball TD catch on the Steelers' opening drive was the first of his NFL career and helped him overcome three dropped passes later in the game, one at the goal line on the drive that ended with Jones' third TD catch of the season and a 14-13 Steelers halftime lead.

Coates (six catches, 139 yards) later finished off an extended Steelers drive late in the game -- after the Jets, down by 11 points with 8 1/2 minutes remaining, punted rather than going for it on fourth down -- with his 5-yarder.

The Jets (1-4) took that 13-7 lead on Ryan Fitzpatrick's 15-yard scoring pass to Pittsburgh native Brandon Marshall, who took advantage of his 4-inch height advantage over Steelers cornerback Ross Cockrell to make a leaping catch. But the Steelers defense throttled the Jets after that, even though Fitzpatrick did not throw an interception after throwing nine in the second half in his first four games. The Steelers scored the final 24 points.

Fitzpatrick ended 25-of-38 for 255 yards as the Jets fell to 1-8 all-time in Pittsburgh despite Nick Folk field goals of 35 and 48 yards in the first half, with Matt Forte's season-long 28-yard run setting up the 48-yarder. Forte finished with 53 yards on 12 carries

Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell didn't reach the end zone, but ran 20 times for 66 yards and had nine catches for 88 yards in his second game of the season. Bell was suspended for the first three games but has a combined 332 rushing and receiving yards in two games since returning.

Chris Boswell had a 47-yard field goal in the third quarter following Brown's 33-yard punt return for the Steelers, who couldn't pull off a fake field goal in the first half -- a gamble that led to the Jets drive that ended with Marshall's TD catch.

Brown, fined $9,000 earlier this season for wearing blue shoes, was forced by an NFL equipment supervisor to take off shoes honoring Muhammad Ali after two drives in the first half. He wore traditional black shoes after that, and went on to make his fifth TD catch in five games.

NOTES: Both teams played the second half without key defensive players as Steelers DE Cam Heyward and Jets LB David Harris both were pulled with hamstring injuries. ... The Steelers wore their throwback striped black-and-gold third jerseys for the final time. ... The Jets were without CB Darrelle Revis (hamstring). ... The Steelers are 18-5 against the Jets. ... RT Chris Hubbard became the third Steelers undrafted free agent in two weeks to make his first career start. ... Roethlisberger has nine TD passes and no interceptions and in his last two games. ... Jets C Nick Mangold injured a knee late in the third quarter.