Steel City Underground presents “Steelers Throwback Thursday” featuring plays from recent seasons which you may have forgotten about! Now we’re “bringing them back!”

With the 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers focusing on turnovers, it seemed appropriate to look back at a season in which the Steelers grabbed 15 interceptions and eight fumble recoveries (on 12 forced fumbles). Early during the 2015-16 regular season, the Steelers entered Week 5 with a 2-2 record to face the Chargers on the road in San Diego. The Chargers were carrying the same win-loss record, making the game important for both teams if they hoped to get their teams on track moving forward.

With Ben Roethlisberger injured, Michael Vick was the starting quarterback for the Steelers. Vick utilized both DeAngelo Williams and Le’Veon Bell in the run game while spreading passes to Heath Miller, Markus Wheaton, Antonio Brown, Darrius Heyward-Bey, and Matt Spaeth. Although the Steelers were able to out-rush the Chargers, 155 yards to 52, Philip Rivers was a gunslinger, tossing 354 net passing yards.

The Chargers got on the scoreboard first with a 12-yard pass from Rivers to Antonio Gates and held the Steelers to no points in the first quarter. Pittsburgh would earn three points before halftime via a 47-yard field goal from Chris Boswell. When both teams returned to the field after the half, it was a big play by Antwon Valentino Blake that helped the Steelers defense keep Rivers from turning all of his passing yards into touchdowns.

Blake, with the Steelers in their zone defense, was able to jump a pass attempt from Rivers to Malcolm Floyd easily. Grabbing the ball out of the air, Blake followed blockers Cameron Heyward and Bud Dupree to score a 70-yard pick-six and strike an arrow through San Diego’s heart. The play would turn the momentum of the game in Pittsburgh’s favor.

Although Rivers and Gates would connect one more time for a score in the fourth quarter, Vick would find Markus Wheaton open on a 72-yard pass for a touchdown and orchestrate the game-winning drive that saw Bell pound the ball across the goal line despite David DeCastro landing on him with no time left on the clock to give the Steelers a 24-20 win.

The Steelers went on to finish the regular season 10-6-0 and entered the playoffs. They won the Wild Card game against the Cincinnati Bengals, 18-16, but lost the Divisional Round game to the Denver Broncos, 16-23.

The Chargers fell apart, finishing the regular season 4-12-0. The only AFC North team they were able to beat that year was the Cleveland Browns.

On the season, Blake logged two interceptions, tying William Gay and Ross Cockrell (with Mike Mitchell grabbing three), but gained the highest yardage with 112 yards. Only Blake and Gay would score defensive touchdowns that season.