Steelers Rout Panthers, 27-3
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) -- The Pittsburgh Steelers took care of business, handily beating the Carolina Panthers, 27-3 Thursday night.
The Steelers were denied a shutout when Carolina's John Kasay kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8:29 on the clock in the fourth quarter.
Ben Roethlisberger found Mike Wallace on a 43-yard scoring play and Emmanuel Sanders on a 35-yard completion to set up Rashard Mendenhall's 1-yard touchdown run as the Steelers opened a 20-0 halftime lead.
"It was a read – they brought a blitz and Mike ran up through there and he takes off so fast," Roethlisberger said.
It didn't seem that close and it wasn't, not with the Steelers outgaining the Panthers (2-13) by a more than 3-to-1 margin.
"We're far from perfect, but we were good enough to win tonight," Mike Tomlin said. "We'll just continue to look at the areas where we fall short and hopefully improve."
Roethlisberger got his nose bloodied again, but Tomlin said it wasn't broken.
If Baltimore loses to Cleveland, the Steelers will win their division. If not, the Steelers will need to beat the Browns next week, but right now they are in control of their own destiny.
