INDIANAPOLIS - Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown hooked up for three touchdowns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense shut down the depleted Indianapolis Colts in a 28-7 victory Thursday night.
The Steelers (6-5) helped their playoff chances with a second straight win and snapped a four-game losing streak on Thanksgiving.
"When you're in the huddle with him [Roethlisberger], you know you're going to have a chance to make some big plays," Brown said.
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck sat out with a concussion, and his absence showed as Indy's first winning streak of the season ended at two games. While replacement Scott Tolzien hung tough most of the night, the performance wasn't good enough to extend the Colts' 10-game winning streak on Thursday nights.
The Steelers built a 21-7 lead by scoring touchdowns on each of their first three possessions - a 5-yard TD run from Le'Veon Bell, and touchdown catches by Brown of 25 and 33 yards.
Indy's only score came on a 5-yard TD pass from Tolzien to Donte Moncrief early in the second quarter, a play set up by the first completion of Pat McAfee's career on a fake punt.
The Colts (5-6) had two chances to trim the deficit but Tolzien was stopped twice on third-down runs at the 1-yard line, and the Steelers forced incompletions on both fourth-down plays.
New England Patriots
