Finally Together in the Playoffs, Steelers Big 3 Send a Message to the AFC

PITTSBURGH — The piercing cold cut through three layers of heavy clothing like they were a damp T-shirt. It felt like thumb tacks were being pressed in to any patch of exposed skin.

Steelers fans wore black-and-gold jerseys atop deer hunter's insulated camos. Ben Roethlisberger wore sweatpants during warm-ups so baggy they might have concealed a kerosene heater.

Yes, it was cold. Seventeen degrees at game time. Yet the Steelers Big Three of Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown lit the Dolphins defense on fire in a 30-12 blowout victory. The trio combined for all four of Pittsburgh's touchdowns on the day.

"The real summary of the game is the Big Three rollin' on offense and stopping the run on defense," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said after the game. And while the Steelers did, in fact, stop the run well, the real summary of the game is that the Steelers and their offensive stars blew the Dolphins out of the game from the opening drive.

Before Sunday, Roethlisberger, Brown and Bell had not been on the field in the postseason together. Bell was injured before the 2014 and 2015 playoffs, and Brown also missed a playoff game last year. The Steelers usually exit the playoffs the moment Roethlisberger is forced to make chicken salad out of backs and receivers like Fitzgerald Toussaint and Markus Wheaton. That moment doesn't look like it's coming this January.

"It's good to have those guys in the stadium at this time of the year," Tomlin said.

Bell was particularly "hyped" (in his words) to make his playoff debut. And he lived up to expectations, finishing the afternoon with a Steelers playoff-record 167 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries.

"I would look at plays back then where I could have made a difference here or there," Bell said of the playoff games he was forced to watch in seasons past. "Maybe a play wouldn't have got called if I was in the game, or maybe I could have made some type of difference.

"I just think it's rewarding now. I'm here. I'm healthy. I know that things are a little different, and we can make a run."

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Based on how they dominated the Dolphins on Sunday, a Steelers run could last for several weeks.

Brown and Roethlisberger got things rolling early by taking advantage of the injury-depleted Dolphins secondary. Dolphins cornerback Tony Lippett, starting in place of injured Byron Maxwell, gave Brown such a big cushion on the opening drive that he might as well have been standing in left field down the river at PNC Park. All Brown had to do was catch a screen and stutter-step until blockers arrived to scoop up Lippett, then sprint 50 yards up the sideline for a touchdown.

Lippett moved up in tighter coverage on the next drive. The result: a quick Roethlisberger-to-Brown slant, a toasted Lippett and Brown speeding past deep safety Bacarri Rambo like the Road Runner raced past Wile E. Coyote, who got stuck in his own Acme rubber cement.

Roethlisberger did all the little things to make life easy for Brown. He shifted in and out of the no-huddle on early drives, distributed some passes to Darrius Heyward-Bey and Demarcus Ayers to keep the Dolphins honest and drew the defense offsides with a few hard counts. Two drives, two quick Brown touchdowns, and the Dolphins were on their heels.

That was the cue, then, to switch gears to Pittsburgh's other star offensive weapon.

"They went to a softer box, and that's when the run game comes," right tackle Ramon Foster said.

"I'm just watching them, and their safeties are deep every time," Bell said. "So I'm thinking, 'OK, AB just scared them.'"

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Roethlisberger didn't disagree: "I think the first two series we came out throwing, and it really backed them off.

"The second half of the season, Le'Veon has been on such a tear because people are really trying to make us one-dimensional, whether it is the run or the pass," Roethlisberger said.

Bell took over with 10 straight carries for 78 yards on the Steelers' third touchdown drive. Acting as more of a chef's knife than a jackhammer, Bell stutter-stepped and jump-cut in the backfield, while his blockers mauled Dolphins defenders who looked more demoralized with each snap.

"It's his style," Foster said of Bell's stop-and-go approach to finding holes. "I've seen other guys try to do it, but they can't do it. Our job is just to stay on our blocks, and he'll make us right. He's by far the best back in the league."

With the Dolphins hanging tough in the third quarter, Bell reasserted himself, reading the Dolphins defense after each handoff like a point guard seeking the quickest route to the basket. The game devolved into a repeating pattern of Dolphins turnovers and mistakes, followed by a steady diet of Bell.

"It's postseason ball—the running game has to be big," Foster said. "The teams that are efficient have a chance to win it."

But the teams that can effectively change their approach from week to week or series to series, like the Steelers do, have an even greater chance to win it.

"We can spread guys out, throw the ball over them, throw balls all over the place," Bell said. "We can line up big and run the ball. We can run the ball out of shotgun. We're really balanced, and we can attack in different ways."

With the Big Three cruising, the Steelers have a great chance to beat a Chiefs team next week that they trounced 43-14 in Week 4, the first time Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown were able to take the field together this season.

And if the Steelers reach the AFC Championship Game, and the rest of the postseason goes as expected, they will likely face a Patriots team that hasn't faced Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown together since November 2013. The Steelers were without Bell when the Patriots won the 2015 season opener, and Landry Jones was under center when New England beat Pittsburgh in Week 7 of this season.

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That's what is unusual about the Steelers Big Three: They have been together for four years, and they define the team's identity, yet one of them always seems to be missing. Even this season, they played together just 11 times, and Roethlisberger was fighting a significant injury for several of those games.

This year, everyone is finally healthy—or at least healthy enough—at the right time. Roethlisberger wore a walking boot to the postgame press conference after hurting his right ankle, but he said he'd play Sunday. Besides the Big Three, the Steelers had other critical veterans on the field Sunday, like defender James Harrison (who was exceptional) and center Maurkice Pouncey (who helped spur the running game).

"It's not just the superstars," Foster said. "It's the young guys following their lead. It brings everybody else along. It leads the young guys into believing what we're doing is right. It's a tremendous lift."

Still, the Steelers have been here too many times to look past the Chiefs.

"All this does is heightens Kansas City's awareness of what we're able to do," Foster added. "And we have to go to their place. This is just a start."

Despite the final score, Roethlisberger said, "I think we can be better."

It's true. The 20-3 start allowed him to get away with two interceptions and a third near-pick that was dropped. Brown dropped an easy pass in the fourth quarter. The defense made several sloppy mistakes, and the kickoff coverage was miserable.

"The 'my bads' are usually not good," Roethlisberger said. "You can't have them. It's just the way it is in the postseason. And I think in the second half we had a little bit too much of that."

"We weren't perfect," Tomlin said. "But we haven't been perfect all year."

How could they be, when their most important players are so rarely together at the most critical moments?

That may be what is scariest about the Roethlisberger-Bell-Brown Steelers. They crushed a surging Dolphins team in the arctic chill Sunday. And yet, they are still just warming up.

Mike Tanier covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @MikeTanier.