Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — It looked like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins were going to play a sleepy, close-to-the-vest game befitting the frigid temperatures at Acrisure Stadium on Monday night.
Then the Pittsburgh offense exploded. Starting with their final drive of the first half, Arthur Smith’s unit came through with four consecutive touchdown-scoring drives, and four different Steelers doing the scoring, leading the Black and Gold to a 28-15 victory.
Connor Heyward got the Steelers on the board with the game’s first touchdown on a tush push at the end of the first half to end a long, methodical scoring drive.
The Steelers got the ball on the other side of the break, and went into lightning mode, racing 71 yards on six plays to finish with an Aaron Rodgers touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Rodgers then quickly directed another scoring drive, finding DK Metcalf for a punishing catch-and-run touchdown, during which he shoved aside former Steelers defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick.
As the offense was taking off, so was the defense. The Dolphins went three-and-out after a Jalen Ramsey sack on their first series of the second half. Following the Metcalf score, it was another three-and-out, with Payton Wilson providing the third-down sack of Tua Tagovailoa this time. Miami had a total net of negative 20 yards of offense in the third quarter.
Getting the ball back once again, Smith got into his bag of tricks, with tight end Jonnu Smith rushing the ball 14 yards for the final score.
The offensive production wasn’t necessarily statistically dominant. Rodgers finished 23 of 27 for 224 yards and the two scores. Jaylen Warren, dealing with a pregame illness, was held to 33 yards on 12 carries, but Kenneth Gainwell punched through for 80 yards on his 13 runs. Metcalf was the team’s leading receiver with 55 yards on three catches.
But with the Pittsburgh defense holding Miami down, that production was more than enough. Dolphins running back De’Von Achane entered Monday night having rushed for over 500 yards in his last four games — and he left one of them early with a rib injury. Monday night, he managed just 60 yards on 12 carries.
Tagovailoa was 22 for 28 for 254 yards. He threw a first-quarter interception to Asante Samuel Jr., and was sacked four times.
The Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention with the loss, while the Steelers held serve with the Baltimore Ravens, maintaining their one-game lead in the AFC North after the Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
The Steelers (8-6) will now play their final NFC conference game with a Week 16 road trip at the Detroit Lions next Sunday. That game has a 4:25 p.m. kickoff.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Offense Breaks Out in Beat-Down of Dolphins, 28-15
