Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown gave Tennessee’s defense a hard time in Week 11.

Ben Roethlisberger threw four touchdown passes, three of them to Antonio Brown, leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to an easy 40-17 win over the Tennessee Titans in a battle of division leaders on ‘Thursday Night Football.’

Fourth quarter

Steelers 40, Titans 17: Pittsburgh added to their lead with a field goal, but the highlight of the drive was Ben Roethlisberger using “dilly dilly” as an audible.

Steelers 37, Titans 17: Antonio Brown is having quite a night. He entered Thursday leading the NFL in receiving yards (882) and tied for second in catches (60). So far against Tennessee he has 10 catches for 144 yards and three scores, including this ridiculous 10-yard catch against his helmet to put Pittsburgh up 20 points:

Ben Roethlisberger meanwhile entered Thursday with 12 touchdown passes in nine games, with no more than two in any game. He has four touchdowns in this game, the 13th regular season game of his career with at least four TDs.

Steelers 30, Titans 17: Tennessee did a good job most of the night in taking LeVeon Bell out of Pittsburgh’s game plan. Bell only had five carries until the final drive of the third quarter. He carried three times on this drive, including what he thought was an eight-yard touchdown to put the Steelers up by 13. Then, he played keep away!

But that touchdown was overturned upon review, with Bell ruled down at the 1-yard line. But on the next play, a beautiful play action fake found Jesse James wide open in the end zone for Ben Roethlisberger’s third touchdown pass of the night.

Third quarter

Steelers 23, Titans 17: It has been a high-scoring second half so far, with three scores in the first three drives. Tennessee nearly had its second touchdown of the third quarter, but Delanie Walker dropped this would-be 17-yard score.

Three plays later, the Titans settled for a 44-yard field goal by Ryan Succop.

Steelers 23, Titans 14: Pittsburgh answered right back with who else? Antonio Brown caught his second touchdown pass of the night, a 10-yard score to cap off a 10-play drive, putting the Steelers up two scores. Brown has seven catches for 105 yards through the first 35 minutes of this game.

Steelers 16, Titans 14: That’s one way to get back into the game. On their first play from scrimmage in the second half, Marcus Mariota found Rishard Matthews for a 75-yard bomb, pulling Tennessee within two points. The surf celebration by the Titans was epic:

Second quarter

Steelers 16, Titans 7 A bizarre play happened at the end of the half. Antonio Brown fumbled away a catch and the ball bounced 10 yards downfield before a teammate recovered. However, the officials should’ve spotted the ball at the point Brown lost it, because with under two minutes left the ball can’t be advanced by the fumbling team (also known as the Holy Roller rule).

So Pittsburgh essentially got 9 free yards out of the play and spotted field goal range, where Chris Boswell hit a 50-yarder to make it a nine-point game.

Steelers 13, Titans 7 The Steelers had another perfect chance to score after the turnover, but a Roethlisberger sack and false start pushed them back to the 20. They eventually got a 34-yard field goal out of it.

Tennessee had a promising little drive going after starting on its own 2-yard line, but Mariota made another killer mistake with his second pick of the night. Coty Sensabaugh nearly had a pick-six before Mariota pushed him out of bounds.

The game settled into a slugfest as both teams traded big defensive stops on the way to punts. The Steelers’ offense has been stuck in neutral ever since the first two drives.

The Titans’ drive stalled at Pittsburgh’s 30-yard line and T.J. Watt blocked a field goal attempt, leaving Tennessee with no points after a long drive.

First quarter: Steelers 10, Titans 7

The quarter ended with the Titans back in Steelers territory after a Pittsburgh punt.

Steelers 10, Titans 7 Mariota recovered from his interception and got the Titans down inside the red zone. Corey Davis made his presence felt with an impressive toe-tapping catch to convert a third down. Mariota got Tennessee on the board with a 7-yard touchdown scramble.

Steelers 10, Titans 0 Pittsburgh couldn’t totally cash in on the turnover, but Chris Boswell got a 41-yard field goal to extend its lead.

The Titans’ first drive didn’t go as well as Pittsburgh’s. Marcus Mariota badly overthrew Rishard Matthews and got picked off by Mike Hilton.

Steelers 7, Titans 0 Took no time for the Steelers to get on the board. Ben Roethlisberger marched them down the field on their opening drive and nailed Antonio Brown with a 41-yard touchdown.

NBC is breaking out the Madden Cam for most of this game. Love it or hate it, it’s certainly a unique look.

Before the game

Two teams coming off narrow victories — in what should have been blowouts for both — will take the field on a short week when the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football at 8:30 p.m. at Heinz Field on NBC and NFL Network (live stream).

With the expectation that the Titans return guard Quinton Spain to the depth chart — after missing two games with turf toe — the team will have its 11 offensive starters lining up together for the first time since Week 1. Having successfully ramped up their rushing attack in last week’s win over Cincinnati, the Titans now need to find a way to get an early lead, and keep it, against a tough Steelers defense.

Tennessee will have a little help handling Pittsburgh’s brute defenders, with cornerback Joe Haden now out with a broken fibula and both linebacker James Harrison and safety Mike Mitchell limited in practice this week. Defense hasn’t typically been a problem for the Pittsburgh franchise, routinely producing Hall-of-Fame caliber players on that side of the ball — the team’s offense, however, has been less than ideal so far this season.

Despite having some of the best skill players in the league, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has looked like a shell of his former Super Bowl-winning, nothing-can-break-me self. That’s the guy NFL fans were used to seeing — a huge human limping to the line only to dig deep and throw a 70-yard bomb to secure a late-game win against a rival.

This season, Roethlisberger has looked like someone who did a little more than just consider retirement in the offseason. Somehow, despite a roster filled with names like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, not to mention the addition of some younger talents like JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner, the team has still struggled to demolish opponents. Roethlisberger’s job should be easier than it’s ever been — but it certainly hasn’t appeared that way.

Pregame reading

• Roethlisberger is really not a fan of Thursday Night Football games.
• The Titans are the much healthier team heading into this Week 11 matchup and should have Marcus Mariota and Delanie Walker back on the field.
• What’s better than trolling a division rival? Doing it as a part of a touchdown celebration, like JuJu Smith-Schuster and Le’Veon Bell did last week.
• Tennessee’s ground game saw a big improvement against the Bengals last week:

The Titans dominated possession, spending 40:09 on offense to the Bengals’ 19:51 and generally appeared to be in control for the vast majority of the game. Much of that dominance was thanks to a return to form for the Titans rushing attack who racked up 180 yards on the ground.

• Pittsburgh’s offense may have struggled at times this season, but its defense has been a consistent bright spot for the team.

The Steelers have invested heavily in revamping their defense with high capital draft picks in recent years, and that strategy has paid off. Homegrown stars like Ryan Shazier, Bud Dupree, T.J. Watt, and Vince Williams have turned Pittsburgh into one of the league’s most exciting young units.

• Bye-week excuses and short-week complaints aren’t doing much to actually improve the Steelers on game day.

So let me get this straight—the bye-week in which you were supposed to be ironing things out actually left you a little rusty, while this short week will leave you little time to prepare from a physical, mental or X’s and O’s standpoint?

I get it….I think.