Tom E. Curran • E-mail

Green Bay, Wis. -

Monday night they were the bug. Sunday evening they were the windshield.

The Philadelphia Eagles defense – shamed by the Dallas Cowboys in a 41-37 loss earlier in the week – took out their embarrassment on the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 15-6 beatdown Sunday.

Numbers?

The Steelers managed 14 first downs (three on a garbage-time drive at the end), went 2 of 13 on fourth down, had a paltry 180 yards of offense (50 on that last drive), had 19 plays that went for 1-yard or less (including nine sacks but not including incompletions) and will have to keep quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in a vat of ice until Thursday.

"This game was a butt-kicking, it really was. We really got our teeth kicked in," said Steelers offensive tackle Willie Colon (and that concludes the anatomy part of our program).

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin – a defensive guru by trade – took the podium after the game with his eyes wide, moist and angry. His offense had been pillaged and set fire to by wily old Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson.

"They took it to us tonight," said Tomlin. "No doubt. We talked about dealing with the pressure packages that they had. We didn’t do a good enough job of that."

Asked if they tried to make changes after Roethlisberger got body-slammed repeatedly in the first half, Tomlin said: "We did. But to be quite honest with you it was blood in the water at that point. Some of the situations, you pick the pressure up and people get physically beat. It got to a point where we had to get guys blocked and we didn’t get them blocked and they got to our quarterback."

Video   Elevating his game Sept. 21: Donovan McNabb talks about how important it was to beat the Steelers. NBC Sports

The Eagles' exclamation points – two of them – came in the fourth quarter when Dan Klecko, Juqua Parker and Trent Cole forced Roethlisberger into a throw-or-be-killed safety that made it 12-6. On the Steelers next possession, safety Brian Dawkins came up with a strip sack/fumble recovery on third-and-15, bruising Roethlisberger’s hand and ending his day about three hours too late.

"He's battered a little bit," said Tomlin.

Monday night in Dallas, Eagles linebacker Chris Gocong said he was hurt, angry, disappointed …you name it after the Eagles got precious little pressure on Tony Romo and saw him throw for 312 yards and three touchdowns.

Asked if Sunday's performance was an outgrowth of that game, Gocong said, "We had no sacks against Dallas. No pressure last week. About 10 sacks today? You do the math. That's a result of last week. Once we got them on their heels, they were ours from there. You could tell the frustration. Just the way Ben was getting up after a sack. You get sacked 10 times and hit way more than that, it’s hard mentally for a quarterback. I think it puts a little hesitation in a quarterback’s mind."

There wasn't blanket cause for rejoicing in the Eagles locker room though. Their two best offensive players – running back Brian Westbrook and quarterback Donovan McNabb – paid a price as well.

McNabb bruised his chest getting dogpiled on at the end of a flea-flicker attempt in the first half. Westbrook injured his right ankle in the first quarter and didn’t return. He left the Eagles locker room on crutches. The mere act of putting his hand on the table to push himself up at the end of his press conference made McNabb wince.

The Eagles are now 2-1 and are at Chicago next Sunday. Not exactly what you want to dial up with a bruised quarterback and a bandaged running back – Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher. 

Special feature NFL's top shots A look at the best photos from Week 3, including a flip in Atlanta. NBCSports.com

What that means is that Johnson may have to keep dialing up the kind of defense he did on Sunday for the foreseeable future.

"Our defense is ridiculous. They were like bees out there," praised Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett. "Thank goodness I play for this team instead of having to go against this team because that defense is just out of control." 

The 2-1 Steelers meanwhile, have the Ravens next week. And Ray Lewis and the boys have been known to play some defense as well. Think they see some opportunities right about now?

"(It's the) National Football League," said Tomlin. "When you put a display out there like (the Steelers offense did), you’re gonna see (pressure) again and again and again until you make it disappear."

Fear not, Coach Tomlin. Sometimes it doesn’t take long to make problems go bye-bye. Ask the Eagles how their week went.

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