11 seconds ago 2009-12-04T17:55:03-08:00
DENVER, Colorado (AFP) – Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger threw three second-half touchdown passes to lead the reigning Super Bowl champion Steelers past Denver 28-10 for their fifth American football victory in a row.
The Steelers improved to 6-2 on the National Football League season, matching Cincinnati for the AFC North lead ahead of next week's meeting between the two. Denver slid to 6-2, one game atop San Diego in the AFC West.
Pittsburgh defender Tyrone Carter returned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown two minutes before half-time to give the Steelers a 7-3 half-time lead.
The Broncos, who suffered their second defeat in a row after a stellar start, took a 10-7 lead when Robert Ayers recovered a Roethlisberger fumble and ran 54 yards for a touchdown 3:30 into the third quarter.
That's when "Big Ben" struck midnight on Denver's hopes of winning.
Roethlisberger flipped a 3-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward just 2:21 later to give the Steelers the lead for good at 14-10.
"Big Ben" evaded a host of Denver rushers and found Mike Wallace for a 25-yard touchdown pass with 7:03 to play and produced the final points on another 3-yard touchdown toss to Ward with 82 seconds remaining.
Pittsburgh's Rashard Mendenhall had 22 carries for 155 yards to power the Steeler offensive unit, setting up the big plays by Roethlisberger.
"We feel like being a good offensive unit is being able to run when you want to and pass when you want to and that's what we're able to do," Mendenhall said. "As the season goes on, we want to get better and better."
