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When it’s all said and done, Steelers do what is expected of them

Commentary

PITTSBURGH — You know all those so-called experts who said the Steelers would have no problem with the Miami Dolphins?

They were right.

The Steelers scored early and often Sunday to beat the Dolphins 30-12 before 62,726 delighted fan-sicles at the walk-in freezer labeled Heinz Field on Sunday afternoon.

They now advance in the playoffs at Kansas City this Sunday at 1.

The entire game may not have been easy, but the start certainly was. The Steelers scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, driving 85, 95 and 78 yards to build a 20-3 lead in less than 20 minutes.

They started by passing the ball, then just handed it to Le’Veon Bell, who alternately hiccupped and slashed his way through the Dolphins defense.

The Dolphins defense was depleted by injuries, and they also had to rely on backup quarterback Matt Moore, whose greatest quality — courage — wasn’t recorded on the stat sheets. His passer rating wound up at a respectable 97.8, and that’s probably what percentage of his body will be slathered in liniment for the rest of this week.

Poor Moore took a pounding, none as vicious as the explosive hit Bud Dupree laid on him in the second quarter. Dupree’s contact wound up being to Moore’s chin, knocking the quarterback momentarily loopy and drawing a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Backup T.J. Yates went in for one snap, his first live action in more than a year. before Moore returned. On a cruelly frigid day when it was painful just to blink, Moore went back in the game and soldiered on in pursuit of a lost cause.

The next time the Steelers are in the market for a backup quarterback, they should remember his commitment.

The Steelers stuffed running back Jay Ajayi, who piled up 204 yards against them in regular season. That game was played in Miami’s steamy heat. This time, Ajayi wound up with 171 fewer yards and bundled in a sideline cape on the heated bench at the end of the game, the victim of a shoulder injury.

The Steelers missed a lot of tackles on Ajayi in the regular season game. They seemed to be on a mission not to repeat that on Sunday, regularly and emphatically slamming him to the turf.

The game was especially violent, and the Steelers defense, so suspect in the first half of the season, was playing with a purpose.

You could say the early offense set a tone, but it did more. The offense really it decided the game. The Dolphins’ dream switched from pulling an upset to getting back to south Florida tonight to thaw out.

Lawrence Timmons played like a madman with 14 tackles, and the linebackers acted like this was a personal mission for them. So did defensive end Stephon Tuitt, back on the field after missing games with a knee injury.

Le’Veon Bell set a Steelers record for postseason rushing yards with 167, nudging Franco Harris into second place. Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown hooked up on long catch-and-run plays, making Brown the first NFL player to have two receptions of at least 50 yards in the first quarter of a postseason game.

An otherwise great day for the Steelers had one jarring note. Roethlisberger was in a walking boot after the game, the result of a right ankle injury sustained when he was sacked by Ndamukong Suh with 4:23 left in the game.

“I’ll be out there next week,” Roethlisberger said.

But why was he out there in the waning minutes of a game that was well under control?

He should have been in cold storage then. It was a perfect day for it.

Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com

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