Special Start Leads Steelers to 37-16 Win over 9’ers

The last time the Steelers were 3-0, it was the first year of head coach Bill Cowher.  15 years later, not much has changed with a new head coach.  Mike Tomlin has this Black and Gold playing at a high level right now, as Sunday they ran the San Francisco 49’ers out of town, pounding San Fran 37-16.  Allen Rossum got the Steelers off of to a fast start after they fell behind 3-0, as his 98-yard kickoff return for a score started the Steelers rolling, and by the time it was all over they had their third straight win of the season, second at Hinez Field.

The 3-0 Steelers and appear to be back to the form they showed when winning the Super Bowl two seasons ago.  Willie Parker again sparked the offense, as he ran for 133 yards and now has 100+ yards in four straight regular season games.  The Steelers defense hounded 49’ers QB Alex Smith all day, and held San Fran, a team with some serious offensive problems, to 289 yards.  Frank Gore, the  49’ers workhorse back, ran for just 39 yards on 14 carries.  “This [team] steps in stadiums on Sunday to compete, to win and we don’t worry about style points,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “I think we’ve been talking quite a bit about that: We can’t worry about style points.”

Pittsburgh has outscored their three opponents 97-26.  Sunday vs San Fran they lead 14-6 at the half after bending but not breaking on defense, and finally at the end of the half moving down the field and scoring when Ben Roethlisberger found Jermae Tuman for a 9-yard score.  After trading field goals in the third, Pittbsurgh put the game away outscoring San Fran 20-7 in the final quarter.

The Steelers really do like they are going to be a force in the AFC.  They have a defense that is playing very tough right now, and their offense, as long as they play mistake free, seem to have more then enough talent to give most teams trouble.  They may not be the Pats or Colts, but right now, they are playing with a ton of confidence and with a road game at a struggling Cardinals team and then home for the Seahawks, the Steelers could be staring at 5-0 before a bye week on October 14th.  Needless to say next weeks game at the 1-2 Cardinals should be the most interesting test of 2007.