The Giants came into Pittsburgh with a six-game winning streak despite some sputtering performances from their offense in recent weeks, but they couldn’t overcome the unit again this week.
The Steelers intercepted Eli Manning twice, sacked him twice and held the Giants to 234 yards of offense in a 24-14 win that moved them to 7-5 on the season. That’s the same record that the Ravens have after beating the Dolphins on Sunday and leaves things tightly knotted at the top of the AFC North with four games left to play.
Lawrence Timmons had the first interception of the game, thwarting a Giants scoring chance and setting the Steelers up for their first touchdown after a long return into Giants territory. Antonio Brown scored that touchdown on a fairly quiet day that saw tight end Ladarius Green lead the team in receiving yards.
Green caught six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown to fill exactly the role that the Steelers had in mind when they signed Green this offseason. Injuries kept him out of the lineup for the first half, but it looks like he’ll be a major part of the offense down the stretch.
Le’Veon Bell chipped in 182 total yards and Ben Roethlisberger completed 24-of-36 passes for 289 yards. Both players turned the ball over in the second half to give the Giants some hope of climbing back into the game, but their offensive ineptitude proved to be too deeply seated for the team to muster much fight as the game wound down.
They’ll need to find their footing this week because a loss to the Cowboys next Sunday will end any hope of contending for the division title while several other teams remain in the hunt for Wild Card spots in the NFC. The Steelers will be in Buffalo and Cincinnati the next two weeks before returning home for a matchup with those Ravens in Week 16.