A dominating second-half performance from the Pittsburgh Steelers guided them to a 37-19 victory over the Carolina Panthers in their NFL clash at Bank of America Stadium.
The home side went ahead in the game as Cam Newton drove his side downfield, but was unable to get the ball in the endzone. Graham Gano was forced into action as he kicked a field goal from 40 yards.
Pittsburgh came back into the game due to good running from Le'Veon Bell, but like the Panthers, were forced to settle for a field goal from the boot of kicker Shaun Suisham.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger then pushed his side back into the redzone and they believed they had scored their first touchdown in seven quarters, but Markus Wheaton's score was chalked off.
Suisham was forced into action again and he converted from 24 yards, and again just before the half when he fired over from 45 to put his side in command of the game at the break.
In the second half, the Steelers caught a huge break when the Panthers jumped into the neutral zone on a field goal and that allowed the visitors another three attempts to find the endzone.
Roethlisberger managed to evade the rush and throw to Antonio Brown on his way to the ground and the receiver made the catch for the seven-yard touchdown.
The Panthers hit back with another field goal, but Pittsburgh began to pull away from the home side as Roethlisberger and Brown connected for the second time in the quarter for a touchdown strike.
Carolina pulled within 10 points when Newton fired to Greg Olsen down the right sideline and he beat his man to run all the way into the endzone for a 37-yard score.
However, a huge error by Philly Brown on a punt return put the game beyond Ron Rivera's men as he fumbled the ball on his one-yard line and that allowed Robert Golden to recover and score.
LeGarrette Blount sealed the win for the visitors when he powered over three tacklers into the endzone with an eight-yard run. Kelvin Benjamin scored a consolation touchdown for the Panthers when he snagged backup quarterback Derek Anderson's pass over William Gay.
Simon Sinclair
