Now that was a shootout.
Sunday's 38-35 Steelers' win over Oakland featured Antonio Brown's 17 catches and 284 yards receiving (and 22 yards rushing); Derek Carr's four touchdown passes and 301 yards passing; DeAngelo Williams's 170 yards rushing and two receptions for 55 yards receiving; Pittsburgh's nearly 600 yards of total offense (597 total net yards, to be precise) and Oakland's 440 net yards on offense. Time expired on the game-winning kick.
Heckuva an entertaining game.
Big Ben looked good passing the ball for 334 yards (despite at least five early drops by intended receivers) before his latest injury, which is a problem. Yet another challenge.
Roethlisberger's injury presents another opportunity, you might say, for Landry Jones to show what he's got. Jones hit Antonio Brown on the final drive for the pivotal 57-yard gain that put Chris Boswell in position to kick the game-winning field goal, even if it was about a 10-yard pass and 47 yards after the catch. That's okay. Got the job done. Whatever it takes.
- Next up: The Cleveland Browns, at Heinz Field, at 1 p.m., next Sunday, Nov. 15. It's a rivalry game. Browns Week. Now the real fun begins. We might even get Johnny Manziel.
Footnote No. 1 - Sign of the times, or of how the times have changed (the stat is courtesy of Steelers.com): On Sunday, "Ben Roethlisberger surpassed Joe Montana (40,551) for the 14th-most passing yards in NFL history. Next up on the list for Big Ben is No. 13 Kerry Collins (1995-2011) with 40,922 yards."
No disrespect, but ... Kerry Collins? Ahead of Joe Montana? What is wrong with this picture?
Footnote No. 2: Anybody else notice that Cam Thomas didn't play? No? He was not on the "inactive" list, but he didn't play, meaning he contributed about as much as usually does. And maybe more so.
Footnote No. 3: Jacoby Jones didn't do so well. He managed two punt returns for one yard. Four kickoff returns for an average of 20.8 yards per return. Not good.
Official Gamebook may be found here.
