PHILADELPHIA — Ben Roethlisberger had a bandage on his throwing hand and winced while dressing. Considering he was persistently chased, battered and stomped by the Philadelphia Eagles, the damage could have been worse.
With Brian Westbrook sidelined and Donovan McNabb hurting, the Eagles won with defense Sunday.
A swarming defense had nine sacks, forced a safety and got three turnovers, helping Philadelphia beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 15-6.
“We can’t thank them enough for how they played,” running back Correll Buckhalter said. “They bailed us out.”
Just six days earlier, Philly’s defense couldn’t stop anybody. The Dallas Cowboys moved the ball at will in a 41-37 victory over the Eagles last Monday.
But this unit was rejuvenated against the Steelers (2-1).
Roethlisberger had no time to throw and Willie Parker couldn’t find any room to run. Juqua Parker had 2 1/2 sacks as the Eagles (2-1) kept blitzing Roethlisberger, banged him around and eventually knocked him out of the game.
“They had a great scheme,” Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward said. “We didn’t have all 11 guys on the same page. They had our whole offense confused at times.”
