Breaking Down Antonio Brown's Big Game on Monday Night Football

The Pittsburgh Steelers saw standout performances from several players in their 30-23 win over the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns, Le'Veon Bell had 145 yards of total offense and Lawrence Timmons recorded 12 tackles.

However, it was wide receiver Antonio Brown who made perhaps some of the most important plays in the game that keyed the Steelers' victory.

The fifth-year receiver was targeted 13 times by Roethlisberger and caught nine of his passes for 90 yards, and while Brown did not record a receiving touchdown, he managed to tally up a score by throwing a TD pass on a trick play that shifted the momentum in the Steelers' favor.

With the Steelers down 13-10, Roethlisberger lined up behind the center at the Texans' own 3-yard line with 1:10 left in the second quarter. Brown then came rushing over from the left side and took the handoff from Roethlisberger to set up what seemed like a sweep.

Instead, Brown reversed direction, kept the ball while eluding a pursuing J.J. Watt and found Lance Moore on a crossing route in the end zone to give Pittsburgh its first lead of the game.

ESPN Radio's Scott Van Pelt pointed out a key component of the trickery.

The TD gave the Steelers 17 unanswered points after trailing 13-0 early, but the home team wasn't done yet, as it forced another Texans turnover on the ensuing drive and tacked on one more score to take a 24-13 lead into the locker rooms.

In the second half, Brown continued to dazzle with his play.

About halfway through fourth quarter, Brown made two impressive grabs in a row that both required video review.

In the first catch, displayed below, Brown showed off his hands by hanging onto the ball despite plenty of contact from Houston's Andre Hal. It can be seen that Brown was first pushed on the helmet by Hal's left hand before having it stuck between his own arms and the ball. The original ruling on the field was a catch, and the review upheld that decision.

On the very next play, Roethlisberger lobbed a pass over to the right side of the end zone from the Texans' 16, and Brown manage to beat Houston's A.J. Bouye on his route before corralling the ball in.

The original ruling on the field was a catch, but the replay showed that Brown was unable to keep both feet inbound, resulting in an incomplete pass.

Upon seeing a picture of the play on Twitter after the game, however, Brown had some strong words for the officials. His tweet has since been deleted but you can still see the original here.

Hey, they may have taken away Brown's TD, but no one can take away his moves.

Want more proof? Here he is breaking Texans' Johnathan Joseph's ankles a few minutes later with a devastating cut.

The Steelers went on to take the win and extended their NFL record of consecutive games won on MNF to 16.

Brown's numbers from the game may not stack up as well against Roethlisberger's or Bell's, but it's those things that he did on the field that did not translate into the box score that made him such an effective player on Monday night.