PITTSBURGH -- This team was buried.

Down 17 points to the Denver Broncos, defense lifeless, offense sluggish, Brock Osweiler punishing.

Then the Pittsburgh Steelers gripped the game with both hands and shook Heinz Field.

Lesson No. 1,176 -- the Steelers are never truly out of a game with Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown. The two were phenomenal with 16 connections for 189 yards and two touchdowns against, oh, just the league’s best defense in a 34-27 win.

Antonio Brown catches a touchdown pass in the third quarter of the Steelers' comeback win over the Broncos. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Brown carried the Steelers for parts of this game. Throw defensive coverages out the window, Roethlisberger said.

"AB was AB. Period," Roethlisberger said.

The defense’s second-half shutout was miraculous, considering Osweiler’s monster first half. The Steelers were making plays all over the place. It was odd. They were so bad in the first half.

"Everybody was pissed off," said defensive end Cam Heyward, who had a sack and a tipped pass, about the first-half play. "We really just had to wake up...Played with a lot more energy (in the second half)."

All these fireworks came despite Roethlisberger’s what-was-he-thinking moment.

Brown was double covered when Roethlisberger rolled to his left and forced a throw into the hands of linebacker Brandon Marshall, injecting new life into the Broncos at the 41-yard line. Roethlisberger said he was 'trying to make something happen" and has to be smarter.

No worries, the defense provided the Big Ben Bailout.

The Steelers can tilt a game's momentum in seconds. Ryan Shazier's fourth-quarter interception turned into a touchdown three plays later thanks to Roethlisberger's 23-yarder to Brown with 3:24 left.

Dangerous. Playoff dangerous.

What it means: This shows serious toughness to come back from 27-10 down against a good team. The Steelers were a mess in the first half. Talk about a playoff springboard. Beat the Ravens and Browns and you enter the playoffs on a 7-1 run. This win took guts. "We're playing as a team," Roethlisberger said. "We're bailing each other out, we're picking each other up."

What were they thinking?: Not downing a punt and letting Jordan Norwood pick it up by the sideline could have cost the Steelers seven points with 1:04 left in the third quarter. Norwood went 71 yards for the score, but Denver got hit with illegal substitution, points negated. An incredibly lucky bounce for Pittsburgh. Tomlin was not happy. "We have to down that football," Tomlin said. Also, center Cody Wallace rocketing his body into linebacker David Bruton Jr.’s helmet for a first-half penalty wasn’t the best idea.

One reason to get excited: After a disastrous first half, the Steelers got a spark late with the cornerback trio of William Gay, Brandon Boykin and Ross Cockrell. They also played three safeties on some third downs, sliding Robert Golden into the linebacker position alongside Shazier. The defense forced three-and-outs on three of Denver’s first four second-half drives. That was the difference. "When we play as well as you know you can, it's pretty amazing," Shazier said.

One reason for concern: After 14 sacks through his first nine games, by far the best clip of his career (1.55 per game), Roethlisberger took three sacks through the first three quarters Sunday. Roethlisberger hadn’t been sacked more than twice since a 12-6 win over St. Louis in Week 3. The offensive line has been good all year. Let’s call this an aberration against a top-shelf D.

Fantasy watch: Brown, Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton are all safe fantasy plays every week. Book it. That is all.

Ouch: Safety Mike Mitchell left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury but returned. Otherwise, the Steelers stayed relatively healthy.