Antonio Brown’s three TDs, Le'Veon Bell's 100+ yards doom Colts

Well, after two solid games to lead off Thanksgiving, we were due for a turkey.

It’s saying something when the highlight of your offensive game is a fake punt, and that something is not good. In the final game of Thursday’s trio, the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5) and three-TD Antonio Brown throttled a hapless, injury-ridden Indianapolis Colts (5-6) team, 28-7, scoring early and holding the line late.

The Colts came into Thursday knowing the odds were not in their favor; backup quarterback Scott Tolzein was pressed into service when Andrew Luck failed concussion protocol. Tolzein, who backed up Aaron Rodgers and played on the practice squad of the San Francisco 49ers during their Super Bowl season a few years back, played about as well as you could expect a backup to play … which is to say, good enough to give you hope but not good enough to win.

The Colts receivers did Tolzein no favors, dropping at least three catchable balls that would have gone for huge gains or touchdowns. Tolzein himself, blessed with far more courage than foot speed, was unable to push the ball in either on the ground or in the air on two separate first-and-goals inside the 5-yard-line. Two late, and very ugly, interceptions snuffed out any hope Indianapolis might have had of a comeback.

Indy’s lone highlight came from punter Pat McAfee, who pulled off a brilliant second-quarter fake punt for a 35-yard pass completion that led to the Colt’s only touchdown, and was the MVP of NBC’s schmaltzy Thanksgiving features (“I like stuffing because it has lots of carbs. I like pizza for the same reason, but that has nothing to do with Thanksgiving”).

Meanwhile, the Steelers, after a few floundering (and Ben Roethlisberger-less) weeks, are rounding back into a form that could challenge the top of the AFC. Brown once again looks like a game-changer; he reeled in three separate highlight-worthy touchdown catches. Le’Veon Bell (120 yards on 23 carries) was as tough to tackle as a cloud, wriggling his way to first down after first down. And Roethlisberger played his usual brand of sling-it-deep-and-drop-it-on-a-postage-stamp football, hitting Brown for those three touchdowns and 221 yards. Together, these three and the rest of the Steelers ought to be concerning every team in the AFC.

Pittsburgh has control of the AFC North, at least for the next three days, and appears ready to make the kind of run that will end in a playoff berth. Indianapolis, meanwhile, is in a world of trouble, a game and a half behind Houston in the AFC South and reeling. Next week, the Steelers take on the needing-victories-fast New York Giants, while the Colts travel to New York to play the yet-again-flailing Jets on Monday night.

The Steelers almost surely ate their Thanksgiving dinner earlier in the day, but if they didn’t, somebody owes Brown a few extra helpings of stuffing.