PITTSBURGH -Patience.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had plenty of it, which is why they were able to even their record at 1-1 with a methodical 24-0 dismissal of the Seattle Seahawks on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field.
After the opening week debacle in Baltimore, it must have been tempting for the Steelers to come out and launch a fireworks show.
The circumstances couldn't have been more favorable: They were at home, and they had a mediocre opponent playing in the tough circumstances of a cross-country trip.
But they didn't give in to that temptation.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wasn't looking downfield much. He went for the safe passes underneath, which turned into bigger gains when his receivers eluded tacklers.
After turning the ball over seven times in Baltimore, the Steelers didn't have a single turnover, Sunday's sweetest zero apart from the one on the Seahawks' side of the scoreboard.
The only instance of blatant impatience came on the first drive, when the Steelers got to the 1-yard line and tried to punch it in on fourth down.
Running behind a dicey line, Rashard Mendenhall was stopped, and the Steelers gave the ball over on downs.
If the call to go for it wasn't bad enough, coach Mike Tomlin compounded that by throwing his challenge flag, contending that Mendenhall had cracked the plane of the goal line.
It wasn't even close.
But the Steelers put that behind them and went on to play a solid game on both sides of the ball.
Roethlisberger, awful in Baltimore, completed 22 of 30 passes for 298 yards. His passer rating, a dismal 52.9 in the opener, zoomed to 115.7 against the Seahawks.
His only moment of stress came late in the first half, when Seattle lineman Raheem Brock launched himself at Roethlisberger's legs, causing an injury to the quarterback's right knee.
He hobbled off in favor of Charlie Batch, but was able to return without incident.
The Steelers spread the ball around as Roethlisberger connected with eight different receivers, including all three running backs (Mendenhall, Isaac Redman and Mewelde Moore).
The ran it 35 times, passed 30 and had one instance of trickery, with receiver Emmanuel Sanders taking the ball on the reverse and precisely threading a pass to Hines Ward for a 15-yard gain on the Steelers' second touchdown drive.
Antonio Brown appeared to be hemmed in on a punt return, but instead found an opening and gained 41 yards.
There was plenty for the 63,663 fans to cheer after most of them probably cursed their television sets a week earlier.
If it wasn't spectacular, it was at least spectacularly efficient.
"It was appropriate, given how we performed and played a week ago," said coach Mike Tomlin of the Steelers' bounce back.
Tomlin, by the way, seems to be on a 2011 mission to say as little as possible.
After a few perfunctory on-field handshakes and an oh-so-brief media session, Tomlin was off, probably already thinking about next week's prime time game in Indianapolis.
"I'm still chewing on last week," Tomlin said. "I'm sure we all are. That's just the nature of this thing. It's not going to take one performance to that stench off of us."
Patience, coach.
Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com
