For a man who tips the scales at close to 136kg, nose tackle Shelby Harris sure gets overlooked a lot.
Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday did not see him when Harris intercepted his pass to Antonio Brown from the Denver two with 1 minute, 3 seconds remaining, sealing the Broncos’ 24-17 win that snapped the Pittsburgh Steelers’ six-game winning streak.
“Of all the interceptions I’ve thrown it’s one of the most fluky I’ve been associated with,” Roethlisberger said. “I never thought in a million years a defensive lineman would get blocked off the ball that far, right into an interception.”
Photo: AFP
The Broncos (5-6), who ended the Chargers’ six-game winning streak the previous week, were not surprised by Harris’ big play.
After getting cut seven times by the Raiders, Jets and Cowboys, Harris has finally made a name for himself in the past year and a half in Denver.
“I love Shelby. He’s worked his tail off,” teammate Chris Harris Jr said. “He’s a guy that came out of nowhere, and people kept cutting him and cutting him and he just kept fighting, man. I love Shelby and the effort that he has. He always makes plays for us.”
Not like this.
“I got to prove to everyone that I have the best hands on the team,” Harris said of his first career interception, which came 48 hours after he missed Friday’s practice for the birth of his daughter.
Maybe Roethlisberger did not see him, Shelby Harris said, “but the ball saw me.”
“All I saw was an interception,” Brown said.
Harris kept the football and said he would take it with him to the hospital to see his wife and newborn afterward.
The Broncos used four takeaways to counter a 97-yard touchdown toss from Roethlisberger to JuJu Smith-Schuster and hand the Steelers (7-3-1) their first loss since September.
“It’s going to be a quiet plane ride home,” said Smith-Schuster, whose 13 catches for 189 yards were not enough to keep Pittsburgh from losing for just the second time in their past 18 regular-season road games.
Cornerback Bradley Roby and safety Darian Stewart were burned on Smith-Schuster’s long touchdown grab, but they made up for it when they teamed up on the final play of the third quarter for Denver’s third takeaway.
“I knew I had to do something,” said Roby, who forced James Connor to cough up the football after a 23-yard gain. Stewart recovered the ball at the Denver 21.
The Broncos then went 79 yards in 11 plays with Phillip Lindsay, who gained 110 yards on just 14 carries, taking it in from the two to break a 17-17 tie.
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