PITTSBURGH — With Ben Roethlisberger reveling in the cheers he once feared he might not hear, the Steelers looked like themselves for the first time all season.
Roethlisberger, cheered loudly during his first game in 9½ months, returned from his four-game suspension to throw three touchdown passes, and the Steelers shut down a Browns offense that was depleted by Harrison hits during a 28-10 victory yesterday.
With the Steelers (4-1) leading 7-3 but backed up to their own 4 late in the third quarter, Roethlisberger completed passes of 50 yards to Mike Wallace and 36 yards to Heath Miller.
Three plays later, Hines Ward fought through two potential tacklers on an 8-yard touchdown catch that made it 14-3.
Roethlisberger also threw scoring passes of 29 yards to Wallace and 14 yards to Miller. He finished 16 of 27 for 257 yards during his first regular-season game since he was accused of, but not charged with, sexually assaulting a Georgia college student in March.
He received numerous loud ovations from the standing-room crowd of 65,168.
“I started thinking about it on the way here,” Roethlisberger said. “Before the game I got emotional. To hear the cheers was something special. I got a little emotional.”
Rookie Colt McCoy (23 of 33, 281 yards, TD, five sacks) didn’t look overwhelmed for the Browns (1-5) in his first NFL start, but he played with a depleted cast after Steelers linebacker James Harrison’s hits sidelined wide receivers Joshua Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi with head injuries.