On Sunday, September 25, 2016, the Pittsburgh Steelers came to Lincoln Financial Field at 2-0, with Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and an offense that had scored 62 points in two games. The Philadelphia Eagles were also 2-0, but they had beaten Cleveland and Chicago with a rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz, who had been the No. 2 pick in April and was supposed to spend the year as a backup. Pittsburgh was a 3.5-point favorite. Philadelphia won 34-3.
It was the Steelers’ most lopsided loss since 1989. The teams meet in Philadelphia again on Sunday, November 22, 2026, in Week 11, in a game the league moved to 1 p.m. ET (8 p.m. Cairo). Pittsburgh has not won a game in Philadelphia since a 20-14 victory on October 24, 1965, a run of 11 straight losses there.
A blocked kick and a 12-play drive
The Steelers moved the ball on their first possession. Roethlisberger hit Eli Rogers for 32 yards on third-and-6 and Brown for 13, and Pittsburgh reached the Eagles’ 14. DeAngelo Williams lost 4 yards on second down, Roethlisberger missed Markus Wheaton on third-and-13, and Bennie Logan blocked Chris Boswell’s 36-yard field-goal try.
Philadelphia answered with a screen. Wentz threw short to Darren Sproles, who went 40 yards to the Pittsburgh 14, and Caleb Sturgis kicked a 29-yard field goal. The Eagles’ next drive went 12 plays and took 6:06. Rookie Wendell Smallwood ran 11 yards to the 13, and Wentz found Jordan Matthews for a 12-yard touchdown. It was 10-0 early in the second quarter.
Pittsburgh’s best chance came right after. Roethlisberger hit Sammie Coates for 41 yards on third-and-4 and Brown for 20 more to the Philadelphia 16, but Fletcher Cox sacked him for 9 yards on third down, and Boswell settled for a 40-yard field goal. Sturgis added a 38-yarder with 2:29 left in the half, and the Eagles led 13-3 at halftime.
The scramble
Two snaps into the second half, after a false start, the Eagles faced third-and-8 at their own 27. Wentz stepped up, ran to his right away from the rush and, still moving, lofted the ball over linebacker Ryan Shazier to Sproles near the right sideline. Sproles caught it and ran the rest of the way, 73 yards, for a touchdown. It was 20-3.
Wentz did not see the end of it. “It’s actually funny that you ask because [center Jason] Kelce came running and was in my face and celebrating a little early, and I was yelling at him to get out of my face,” he said. “I missed part of it, so I’m excited to check out the highlight.” He said he thought about running on the play. “I always want to be a thrower first,” Wentz said. “Even when a play breaks down, I’m always looking [to throw] because that’s where the big plays are happening.”
Doug Pederson, in his first season as the Eagles’ coach, said the play was nothing new to him. “You just put on his college film. Just watch him,” he said. “We exhausted his college tape and those were the plays that he made at North Dakota State.”
Two more touchdowns before the fourth quarter
The Steelers’ next drive reached the Philadelphia 38 on a 13-yard Williams run, then stalled on three straight incompletions. A running-into-the-kicker flag on Chris Maragos gave them a fourth-and-5 try, and that pass fell incomplete too. Philadelphia then got a free 15 yards on a face mask call on William Gay, Wentz hit Brent Celek for 24 yards, and Smallwood ran for 14 and 12 yards to the 1. Pittsburgh stopped him once there. He scored on the next snap, the first touchdown of his career, and it was 27-3.
On the Steelers’ next series, Logan sacked Roethlisberger for 8 yards, and on second-and-18 Cox sacked him again and knocked the ball loose. Brandon Graham recovered at the Pittsburgh 45. A roughing-the-passer penalty on Stephon Tuitt moved the ball to the 26, and Kenjon Barner ran for 4, 14 and 8 yards, the last for a touchdown late in the third quarter. It was 34-3.
Two of Pittsburgh’s fourth-quarter drives ended with Graham sacking Roethlisberger and a fourth-down stop at the Philadelphia 27, and with Rodney McLeod intercepting a deep throw for Darrius Heyward-Bey in the end zone with 4:44 to play. Philadelphia ran out the clock with Smallwood.
| Quarter | Time | Team | Scoring play | Score (PIT-PHI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 5:32 | PHI | Caleb Sturgis 29-yard field goal | 0-3 |
| 2nd | 12:09 | PHI | Jordan Matthews 12-yard pass from Carson Wentz (Sturgis kick) | 0-10 |
| 2nd | 7:43 | PIT | Chris Boswell 40-yard field goal | 3-10 |
| 2nd | 2:29 | PHI | Sturgis 38-yard field goal | 3-13 |
| 3rd | 13:08 | PHI | Darren Sproles 73-yard pass from Wentz (Sturgis kick) | 3-20 |
| 3rd | 5:48 | PHI | Wendell Smallwood 1-yard run (Sturgis kick) | 3-27 |
| 3rd | 2:31 | PHI | Kenjon Barner 8-yard run (Sturgis kick) | 3-34 |
The numbers
Wentz completed 23 of 31 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns, the first 300-yard game of his career, and was not sacked. He had now thrown 102 passes in the NFL without an interception. Roethlisberger completed 24 of 44 for 257 yards with no touchdowns and an interception, and was sacked four times, twice by Cox. Brown caught 12 passes for 140 yards on 18 targets, but the Steelers ran for 29 yards, and Williams had 21 of them on eight carries.
| Steelers | Eagles | |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterback | Ben Roethlisberger | Carson Wentz |
| Completions-attempts | 24-44 | 23-31 |
| Passing yards | 257 | 301 |
| Touchdowns-interceptions | 0-1 | 2-0 |
| Times sacked | 4 | 0 |
| Top receiver | Antonio Brown, 12 for 140 | Darren Sproles, 6 for 128 |
| Top rusher | DeAngelo Williams, 8 for 21 | Wendell Smallwood, 17 for 79 |
| Team rushing yards | 29 | 125 |
| Third downs | 4 of 11 | 4 of 10 |
What they said
“We lost just about every element of that matchup,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “They outcoached us. They outplayed us.” Roethlisberger said, “They got after us and made us one-dimensional.” Brown said, “We couldn’t put points up. Couldn’t get any stops. We have to find a way to get back.”
Cam Heyward, who is still with the Steelers ten years later, put it this way that week: “There is room for improvement all around, whether it’s the pass rush, not tackling well, not rallying to screens better, not winning third downs.”
Pederson, the first coach in Eagles history to win his first three games, said: “Am I surprised? A little. But at the same time, I know that locker room, I know those guys and I know what they are building. By no means have we accomplished anything yet.” He called the win “a good benchmark.”
What came next
The Eagles had their bye the next week and lost their next game, 24-23 in Detroit. They finished 7-9. Pittsburgh won the AFC North at 11-5 and reached the AFC Championship Game, where it lost 36-17 in New England. Tomlin’s Steelers lost all four of their games in Philadelphia: 15-6 in 2008, 34-3 in 2016, 35-13 in 2022 and 27-13 in December 2024.
Wentz, now 33, started Minnesota’s 23-6 Monday night loss to Buffalo in Week 9.
Week 11 in Philadelphia
This time the roles look reversed. Pittsburgh, now coached by Mike McCarthy, is 6-2 and plays at Cincinnati on Sunday night in a game for the AFC North lead. The Eagles are 2-7 after seven straight losses, the latest a 19-11 home loss to the Giants. The playoff standings are in the latest playoff picture.
The scoring plays, clock times, drive details and player numbers above come from the official play-by-play and game data. The quotes are from postgame comments and remarks during the following week.
No published comments yet. Start the conversation.