TITANIC GIVEAWAY

Steelers force seven turnovers in road win

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, TENN.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin isn’t sure who’s going to play quarterback next for his Steelers. The way his defense is playing, it might not matter.

Antonio Brown scored on an 89-yard kickoff return to open the game, and the Pittsburgh Steelers forced seven turnovers in defeating the Tennessee Titans 19-11 Sunday.

This is the team that won’t get Ben Roethlisberger back from suspension for two more games. Left tackle Max Starks is injured, Byron Leftwich was cut to add depth on the defensive line (but will be signed again) and Dennis Dixon even hurt his left knee early and didn’t return. Tomlin said needs Dixon to undergo some tests.

“I know it won’t be me,” Tomlin said of his starter at Tampa Bay. “I’m not good enough.”

Charlie Batch replaced Dixon, and Pittsburgh (2-0) was outgained 238-127 on offense.

But the Steelers swarmed the Titans (1-1) to come up with four sacks and force the most turnovers by Tennessee since 2000. Jeff Reed kicked four field goals off those turnovers.

The Titans even tried pulling Vince Young after his third turnover. Kerry Collins was intercepted to end his first series and had a fumble himself but nearly rallied the Titans anyway.

“We’ve been playing pretty good,” Steelers safety Troy Polamalu said. “There are some mistakes we’ve got to learn from. They were in the game still even with all the turnovers they had, so we still have to get better.”

Titans coach Jeff Fisher said he was looking for a spark and promised Young will start against the New York Giants next week.

Polamalu helped eat up the clock by leaping over the line and tackling Collins for a loss on first-and-goal. Collins did toss a 2-yard touchdown pass to Nate Washington two plays later, and he found Kenny Britt for the 2-point conversion to pull within 19-11 with 58 seconds left.

After Colin Allred recovered the onside kick for the Titans, Bryant McFadden broke up Collins’ pass to Washington in the end zone with 13 seconds left. Pittsburgh snapped Johnson’s 100-yard rushing streak at 12 straight. The NFL’s rushing champ had a chance to move a game away from the league record of 14 held by Barry Sanders, but he finished with just 16 carries for 34 yards. An 85-yard touchdown was wiped away by a holding penalty.

The Steelers did all this without injured nose tackle Casey Hampton. James Harrison had three sacks, forced a fumble and recovered another.

The Steelers intercepted Young twice, sacked him twice and caused him to fumble once.