Paul Domowitch's report card on the Eagles-Steelers game
MAKING OUR GRADES RUSHING OFFENSE: Steelers weren't going to be easy to run against anyway. But without Brian Westbrook for the final three quarters, they finished with their fewest rushing yards (65) since Week 12 of last season. Grade: D-minus
MAKING OUR GRADES
RUSHING OFFENSE: Steelers weren't going to be easy to run against anyway. But without Brian Westbrook for the final three quarters, they finished with their fewest rushing yards (65) since Week 12 of last season.
Grade: D-minus
PASSING OFFENSE: Donovan McNabb completed his first 15 passes, but then the music died. He averaged a pitiful 3.1 yards per attempt in the second half.
Grade: B-minus
RUN DEFENSE: Willie Parker came in to the game with two straight 100-yard rushing performances and an impressive 4.6-yard-per-carry average. He left with 20 yards on 13 carries. Eagles have held their first three opponents to 2.4 yards per carry.
Grade: A-plus
PASS DEFENSE: Ben Roethlisberger is going to have nightmares about this game for a while. Jim Johnson unleashed the blitz hounds and they sa cked Big Ben eight times and held him to 5.2 yards per attempt.
Grade: A-plus
SPECIAL TEAMS: P Sav Rocca is off to a Pro Bowl-calibre start this season. He put 3 of 5 punts inside the 10 v. Steelers and nailed another one 64 yards when Eagles were pinned deep in their own territory. Coverage units did a solid job.
Grade: A-minus
OVERALL: With the offe nse missing four starters for most/all of the game, the defense had to carry the day, and boy, did they carry it, blitzing the hell out of Ben Roethlisberger and holding Steelers to 180 net yards.
Grade: A-minus