Pittsburgh Steelers crash down to earth after 34-3 beat down by Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles both had one goal in mind -- advancing to 3-0. With both teams entering Week 3 with a 2-0 record, it would be the battle of Pennsylvania, but much more besides bragging rights. How would rookie quarterback Carson Wentz compete against veteran Ben Roethlisberger? A lot of questions would be answered about the Eagles, who won their first two games against the Browns and Bears, as well as the Steelers coming off an emotional Week 2 win over the Bengals.

The start of the game had the Steelers starting with the football, and although their drive stalled in Eagles territory, a blocked Chris Boswell field goal turned into an Eagles field goal of their own as they took an early 3-0 thanks to a Caleb Sturgis field goal. The score would stand until the second quarter, but it wouldn't last long. The Eagles would slowly move the ball down the field with a 12-play drive which resulted in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Jordan Matthews to give the Eagles a 10-0 lead with 12:39 left in the half.

Desperately needing an answer, the Steelers would turn to Sammie Coates for yet another big play. Roethlisberger his Coates down the sideline for a 41-yard gain, but the drive would stall and would have to settle for a Chris Boswell 40-yard field goal. The kick cut into Philadelphia's lead, 10-3 with 7:40 left in the half.

Pittsburgh's defense saw injuries to Robert Golden (hamstring), Ryan Shazier (knee), Lawrence Timmons (shin) and the Eagles took advantage of those injuries with another drive which ended in a Sturgis field goal. The kick made the score 13-3 which was the score heading into halftime at Lincoln Financial Field.

It took the Eagles little time to strike again in the second half. Carson Wentz hit Darren Sproles for a 73-yard touchdown pass to give the Eagels a 20-3 lead early in the second half. The Eagles dominance continued after a failed 4th down conversion for Pittsburgh led to another lengthy drive which resulted in a Wendell Smallwood touchdown run to make the score 27-3, still in the third quarter.

With Wentz doing most of the damage through the air, it was appropriate the Eagles defense forced a Roethlisberger fumble, and equated it into another touchdown, this time a run by Kenjon Barner. The score, and point after touchdown, made the score 34-3.

The score wouldn't change, and it marked the first loss of the season for the Steelers. Pittsburgh has back-to-back home games coming up, as well as the return of Le'Veon Bell in Week 4 when they play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.