Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell do what superstars do, and take over in Steelers win

In the twilight of John Elway’s career, he became a game manager. While some think this is a negative for a quarterback, it was good enough to get him two Super Bowls before he decided to hang up the cleats for good.

While most might not want to admit it, this is exactly what Ben Roethlisberger should be looking at as the new norm for not just the 2017 season, but for any season he plays after this one.

Why? When the Steelers needed huge performances from their superstars in their 19-13 Week 6 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, they got just that. But those players were Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell.

Don’t get me wrong, Roethlisberger will still have to make plays, someone has to throw the ball to Brown, but he won’t have to do it all, as he had to do at several times throughout his career.

Instead, the Steelers game plan vs. the Chiefs in Week 6 proved a guide to success for Pittsburgh moving forward.

Look at the Pass/Run ratio in Week 6: 37 run / 25 pass

Le’Veon Bell’s ridiculous stat line: 32 carries, 179 yards, 1 touchdown (5.6 yard average)

Antonio Brown’s ridiculous stat line: 8 catches, 10 targets, 155 yards, 1 touchdown (19.4 average)

Ben Roethlisberger is extremely valuable to the offense, but it is time he learns he can lean on the other superstars on the team to get this team to the promised land. Throwing the ball 40+ times is no longer the recipe for the Steelers offense, and that is okay. The offensive line looked like they were more than capable of being a power running team, capable of many different looks, and the passing attack being more than capable of delivering when it matters the most.

There is still plenty of work to be done for this offense, but the win on Sunday was a huge step in the right direction for a team desperately needing a statement win. Should they have scored more than 19-points? Obviously, but the offensive line play, and key playmakers stepping up in big moments should be a huge sense of hope for the future as the team now prepares for the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7.

When all is said and done this year, we all could look back on this Week 6 game and say, “This was the moment they finally got it figured out.”