Le refuge ^_^

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His last did the same. And in between the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and his red-hot team put together systematic 52-21 dismantling of Carolina on Thursday night that left little doubt about their depth and their talent regardless of whether Le’Veon Bell ever shows up for work or not.Ten different Steelers touched the ball on offense. Six of them scored. None of them were named Bell. While the three-time Pro Bowl running back tweeted his thoughts from home while waiting — and waiting — to sign his one-year franchise tender Sean Davis Jersey , Pittsburgh ripped off its fifth straight victory with stunning ease.“Really big performance against a really good team on a short week so there is a lot to be proud of,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said. “But we are probably not that good.”Maybe not, but Pittsburgh (6-2-1) looked every bit the part of legitimate contender in the AFC, perhaps for the first time this season.Roethlisberger completed 22 of 25 passes for 328 yards and five touchdowns while posting a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3. James Conner, who has filled in capably during Bell’s self-imposed sabbatical, ran for 65 yards and a score before being evaluated for a concussion late.Antonio Brown added eight receptions for 96 yards — including a 53-yard touchdown in the second quarter — to cap an eventful day that began with the star wide receiver being cited for reckless driving after police clocked Brown’s Porsche driving over 100 mph down a busy highway in the northern city suburbs.“This is what we expected,” Roethlisberger said. “We knew we were going to have to put up a lot of points. We did that. The defense, they were playing like their hair was on fire.”Bell has until next Tuesday to sign a contract if he wants to play this season. His teammates have long since tired of talking about Bell’s status and at this point.“I’m not going to comment on someone who’s not in the locker room right now,” Roethlisberger said.And why bother? For three hours on Thursday night Pittsburgh looked every bit as potent without Bell as it did with him. If he returns, they insist they’ll welcome him with open arms. If he doesn’t, they are intent on keeping the train rolling.The Panthers (6-3) saw their three-game winning streak come to an abrupt halt in a city where they’ve never won. Carolina fell to 0-4 all-time in Pittsburgh and was never really in it after the Steelers scored 21 points in the game’s first 11 minutes.Cam Newton completed 23 of 29 for 193 yards and a pair of flips to Christian McCaffrey that the second-year running back turned into scores, but Newton’s showdown with Roethlisberger never materialized. The Steelers sacked Newton five times and rarely let him get comfortable. McCaffrey finished with 138 yards total offense (77 yards rushing, 61 yards receiving) and accounted for all three Panther touchdowns but it wasn’t nearly enough.“We had a lot of our noses bleeding early on,” Newton said. “We’ve got to stop it and keep things going in our favor. We just got outplayed today.”Newton didn’t help matters when he threw off his back foot out of the Carolina end zone while trying to avoid getting sacked in the first quarter. Pittsburgh linebacker Vince Williams raced under the floater and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown to give the Steelers a 14-7 lead they never came close to relinquishing.Roethlisberger’s rainbow to Brown put Pittsburgh up 31-14 at the half and when Roethlisberger found Vance McDonald in the back on the end zone on the Steelers’ first drive of the second half, the competitive portion of the evening was over. Pittsburgh’s 52 points matched the most ever surrendered by the Panthers in franchise history. Carolina allowed the same total in a 52-9 loss to Oakland on Dec. 24, 2000.“They did some good things against us Ramon Foster Jersey ,” Panthers head coach Ron Rivera said. “We made too many mistakes early on to give ourselves an opportunity to win a football game.”REID TARGETS ROETHLISBERGERCarolina safety Eric Reid was ejected in the third quarter after being called for targeting when he dived at Roethlisberger’s head as the Pittsburgh quarterback was sliding at the end of an 18-yard scramble.Several Steelers, most of them offensive linemen, took exception with the hit and a brief scrum ensued. Pittsburgh center Maurkice Pouncey said Roethlisberger offered to pay any fines the linemen may accrue for sticking up for him.Reed, signed by Carolina in September, walked over to Roethlisberger and apologized before being escorted to the locker room.“I understand the NFL is trying to protect quarterbacks but when they’re running the ball they’re running backs,” Reid said. “I’m not thinking that ‘It’s Ben, don’t tackle him.’ There’s a guy running with the ball so I’m doing my job.”PAYING TRIBUTERoethlisberger and Newton both wore cleats during the pregame that paid tribute to the 11 members of the Tree of Life synagogue that were killed in a mass shooting last month. Roethlisberger’s cleats featured the names of all 11 victims while Newton’s cleats read “Hatred Can’t Weaken a City of Steel.”UP NEXTPanthers: Travel to Detroit on Nov. 18 to take on the Lions. Carolina is 6-2 all-time against Detroit.Steelers: Visit Jacksonville on Nov. 18. The Jaguars beat Pittsburgh twice on the road last season, including a 45-42 upset in the divisional round of the playoffs. What a great win for our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. I was completely wrongin my belief the offense couldn’t run on Baltimore’s stout defense, and I’m glad to admit that I was wrong. After speaking with our editor at BTSC, Jeff Hartman, we decided to revive the “Burning Questions” article once a week. This will usually run mid-week, but with the short week we decided to run it the morning of the game.HERE WE GO!! Joshua DobbsI know what Steeler Nation felt when Ben Roethlisberger was laying on the field at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, a collective hush followed shortly by a holy #&@*!What I want to know is how you felt when Joshua Dobbs dropped back in his own end zone, off of play action, and was looking to pass. I laughed, I laughed so hard as he was dropping back because I thought our coach Vince Williams Jersey , one Mike Tomlin, had lost his freaking mind. Take into account the momentum and feel of the game had seemed to shift. Not to mention this was Dobb’s first pass in his young professional career and coming in cold on top of it. I laughed even harder as it was being completed, but I did look, expecting to see a yellow flag lying on the ground. What was Tomlin thinking? I tell you what he was thinking, “We Don’t Live In Our Fears”, and if you don’t believe that go back and watch that sequence of events. Gutsy call.End of the HalfI’m normally the person that loves the aggressive approach, I would love to have a dollar for every time the defense sits back in prevent defense and I yell at the TV wondering what they are doing. The end of the first half wasn’t one of those situations.We had just missed out on a possible scoring opportunity the previous possession, when the normally sure handed JuJu Smith-Schuster dropped a pass. It looked as though he had room to run and if nothing else we would get a possible field goal attempt from Chris Boswell. The next possession, Baltimore was held to a field goal, aided by a Baltimore penalty, at this point I’m saying ”yeah, good half”.However, the Steelers get the ball back with less than a minute and I’m thinking let’s run this out and get into the locker room. What ensued next was my wife coming out into the garage and asking me “what is wrong, I heard you inside the house”. In explaining to her what was wrong, as normal she walks back into the house shaking her head. It was a solid performance in the first half holding Baltimore to two field goals. The offense had just missed out on another possible scoring opportunity with the dropped ball bu JuJu. Other than the “Ole Heave and Pray” approach by Joe Flacco, Keith Butler’s unit had pretty much dominated a division foe and rival in hostile territory. To say I was livid was a mild understatement. I get being aggressive Zach Gentry Pittsburgh Steelers Jersey , but not at that point of the game or that position on the field with that amount of time. I guess the Tomlinism of “We Don’t Live In Our Fears” applies to all situations even if we don’t always agree. What were your thoughts on the end of the first half of the game?Cam, Christian and CarolinaThe schedule doesn’t get any easier for the black-and-gold, and they have another tough opponent in a shortened week. What lies ahead is a running quarterback, an all purpose running back and one of the league’s better tight ends.Cam Newton’s ability to throw is one thing, but being able to run is another. He has 73 rushing attempts credited to his stat sheet, and 342 yards rushing along with 4 TDs. The defense will need to have focus on containment as well as staying fundamentally sound in their gaps. I believe Butler may employ a spy in this game. I would rather face Cam in the pocket, as opposed to eating up large chunks running free. Christian McCaffrey is a guy who can present match up nightmares with his versatility. He averages a little over 6 catches a game, and to me that presents more of the issue with limiting him from being relevant in the game. This isn’t saying he can’t run the ball, but his ability in space is more concerning. The second year back has 49 catches for 378 yards on the season. Greg Olsen is a solid receiving threat, and we all know how the Steelers have struggled with covering tight ends. He has been hobbled this season with a foot injury, but has managed to remain a part of the Panthers’ arsenal of late catching 3 TD passes in as many games. Has also caught 12 passes on 15 targets, so when Cam goes to him it’s usually a positive outcome. The Carolina Panthers have other weapons but these three players present the match ups that have me worried. Which of the three do you believe will present the toughest test? ...Love to hear your thoughts in the comment section!