DeAngelo Williams scored three touchdowns to help the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 43-18 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Heinz Field this evening.
The hosts ran away with things in the first half as they looked to put last week's season-opening defeat behind them, completing two-point scores on both of their first two touchdowns, including the first successful one in an opening quarter since 2001.
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The first score came when Ben Roethlisberger found Heath Miller at the front of the endzone for a two-yard touchdown, before targeting Antonio Brown to make it an eight-point play.
Phil Dawson got the 49ers on the board with a 47-yard field goal in the second, but Pittsburgh took control of the game when Williams jinked his way over the line and Roethlisberger found Miller for another two-point conversion.
Things only got better for the Steelers before half time when Roethlisberger threw a long 35-yard pass straight down the middle for Darrius Heyward-Bey to collect in the endzone, although Josh Scobee's first extra point attempt of the evening was unsuccessful.
It never looked like being a costly miss, though, and the lead was 26 by the halfway stage courtesy of a second two-yard touchdown on the night for Williams.
The third quarter passed by without either side troubling the scorers, but the game came to life again in the fourth when Anquan Boldin just about got his feet down in time when collecting a 14-yard Colin Kaepernick pass on the left side of the endzone.
Any hope that may have given the 49ers was quickly tempered when Williams powered over from a yard out for his third touchdown of the game, although San Francisco quickly responded as Kaepernick found Torrey Smith down the middle to complete a 75-yard score before the same two combined to add an extra two.
The Steelers continued to keep their visitors at arm's length, however, and Roethlisberger threw his third touchdown pass of the night midway through the final quarter, finding Brown deep in the endzone for a seven-yard score.
They successfully saw out the remainder of the match to pick up their first win of the campaign, while San Francisco also now have a 1-1 record after the opening two weeks.
Barney Corkhill
