Steelers win against Rams, 12-6, but lose Roethlisberger to injury

ST. LOUIS, Mo. The Steelers hung on for a 12-6 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, but they lost quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a left knee injury.

There was no immediate word on how serious the injury was, but there was some early good news if you can call it that because X-rays showed no broken bones. They also could not immediately determine if there was any damage to the knee, which also is somewhat of a good sign. However, until he has an MRI in Pittsburgh, they will not be able to determine if there were any tears to ligaments.

The injury occurred with 5:06 left in the third quarter when St. Louis safety Mark Barron crawled on the ground and then dove into the quarterback for a sack. No penalty was called on what is supposed to be an illegal hit on a quarterback in the pocket.

Roethlisberger hobbled off the field with the help of trainer John Norwig and Dr. James Bradley and was taken immediately into the locker room on a cart for more evaluation. He had completed 20 of 24 passes for 192 yards, but was sacked three times and threw an interception.

Michael Vick replaced him to finish the game and likely will start Thursday’s game at Heinz Field against Baltimore even if there is little damage to Roethlisberger’s knee.

Safety Will Allen’s interception with 2:51 left in the game the Steelers’ first pickoff of the season virtually sealed the victory. He returned it to the St. Louis 31, and Josh Scobee kicked a 41-yard field goal with 1:56 left.

The Steelers won their second straight game to improve their record to 2-1. The Rams are 1-2.

Le’Veon Bell ran for 62 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries and caught seven passes for another 70 yards in his 2016 debut after a two-game suspension. Antonio Brown caught 11 passes for 108 yards.

Rookie Todd Gurley, the 10th overall pick in the draft, made his NFL debut after recovering from a torn ACL last November. He ran six times for nine yards and caught a pass for five more.

The Steelers led 9-3 in the third quarter when they lost Roethlisberger. St. Louis scored for the second time with 5:38 left in the game when Greg Zurlein kicked his second field goal, this one from 27 yards, and the Steelers clung to a 9-6 lead until Allen’s interception.

There was no scoring in the third quarter. The Steelers had not scored since taking a 9-0 lead after their first two series.

Bell capped a 92-yard drive in his first game back from suspension with a 1-yard touchdown run with 13 minutes left in the second quarter. The Steelers, however, did fail to convert on a 2-point conversion try when Roethlisberger’s pass was tipped away.

Roethlisberger completed 13 of 15 passes for 132 yards on those first two drives, and the Steelers led 9-0.

St. Louis scored for the first time on Greg Zuerlein’s 49-yard field goal with 2:05 left in the half. The Rams got the ball on their 19 to start that drive when Roethlisberger’s deep pass down the left sideline was intercepted by Janoris Jenkins.

Roethlisberger completed 7 of 8 passes for 71 yards as the Steelers took the opening drive of the game 77 yards but were stopped at the two and had to settle for Scobee’s 21-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. The game was delayed nearly half an hour when a pregame pyrotechnics display went awry and burned part of the artificial playing surface. The fire was extinguished, and then the chemicals had to be mopped up to protect the players from any contact with them.

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