Their offensive players might be dropping like flies, but the Pittsburgh Steelers suddenly have tapped into a surprising well of hope. In a game in which Mike Vick left the game twice — once with dirt in his eye, once with a hamstring injury — and left tackle Kelvin Beachum went down with a potentially serious knee injury, the Steelers turned to two players who had yet to play a single game this season to earn a crucial win over the Arizona Cardinals by the historically rare score of 25-13. Landry Jones, he of the zero NFL pass attempts entering Sunday, came off the bench (twice) to replace Vick and deliver a gem against a Cardinals defense that led the NFL in interception percentage, ranked in fifth in passing yards allowed and fifth in the league in points allowed. Jones completed 8 of 12 passes for 168 yards — that's 14 yards an attempt, kids — with two TD passes in just about a half a game. Both touchdowns went to Martavis Bryant, who was suspended for the first four games of the season and missed making his season debut in Week 5 when he tweaked his knee prior to the thrilling win over the San Diego Chargers. Bryant stepped in for the first time on Sunday and caught six passes for 137 yards, including the 10-yard touchdown that gave the Steelers the lead for good in the third quarter and an 88-yard catch and run that put the game on ice with just under two minutes to play. In between, the Steelers' defense — which was without starters Will Allen, Ryan Shazier and Jarvis Jones — erased the Cardinals' respectable run game (20 carries, 55 yards, long run of 11) and held Arizona to three points in the final 30:47 of the game. The Steelers tallied six tackles for loss, deflected eight of Carson Palmer's 45 pass attempts and hit Palmer seven times. The key play of the game on defense was Mike Mitchell picking off Palmer in the end zone as the Cardinals were going for the lead with just over two minutes left. After a Steelers penalty, Bryant scored his second touchdown to win it. The stark reality is that Ben Roethlisberger isn't likely to return next week, which means Mike Tomlin might have to go with the — don't laugh — hot hand of Jones next week against the flagging Kansas City Chiefs before a Week 8 showdown with the Cincinnati Bengals. Vick was struggling in the game Sunday (3 of 8 passing, 6 yards, sack taken; 47 yards rushing) and prior to that. It has been clear that offensive coordinator Todd Haley hasn't trusted Vick to make big throws, and this is now the third game in a row Antonio Brown has been held in check relatively. - - - - - - - Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
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