Jeff Reed’s 21-yard field goal pushed Pittsburgh’s lead to 10-7.

But Derek Stanley brought the ball all the way back to midfield, returning the ensuing kickoff 49 yards. The kid is making the most of his second chance to return kicks, no?

From there, Steven Jackson rumbled  36 yards to the Pittsburgh 14. The  right side of the line opened a  huge hole and Isaac Bruce blocked downfield like Spartacus.

Then Ike  added to his Pro Football Hall of Fame resume by catching  12-yard TD pass,  artfully getting both feet down in the end zone. Nice.

The Steelers were forced to play catch-up without running back Willie Parker,  who suffered an ankle injury on his only carry of the game.

Najeh Davenport plowed through the middle of the Rams defense for 14 yards, moving the Steelers into Rams territory. After Najeh ground out another first down, Ben Roethlisberger went after rookie cornerback  Jonathan Wade again — burning him for a 33-yard TD to Nate Washington.

Wade got flagged for jostling Washington, but the interference didn’t help. In just 2:41, the Steelers traveled 65 yards for another TD.

Here is a shocker: The Rams started their  next  sequence with an Alex Barron holding penalty.  On the next play, Bruce caught a short pass that moved him into third place on the NFL’s career receiving yards list.

Scott Linehan played it safe with a third-down draw play and the Rams had to punt the ball back to Pittsburgh.  Geez, you’d hate to see a 3-11 team take shot down the field . . .

Back came the Steelers. Davenport  ran for one first down, then Ward caught an 11-yard pass for another first down, then Davenport ran  for another first down as Pittsburgh  rolled toward scoring range.

Holmes’ 11-yard catch moved the ball to the Rams 22. Roethlisberger is having some fun tonight, eh?

Davenport pounded the line two more times and  moved the sticks again. Then came  a TD pass to Davenport, with Roethlisberger rolling away from pressure make the throw and  Najeh bouncing off two would-be tacklers  to score.

Jim Haslett’s defensive unit is getting physically manhandled. I mean, this is a beat down!

The Steelers had a healthy 24-14 lead at the two-minute warning. Let’s see what Linehan dials up . . .

The Rams caught a break with a pass interference call against the Steelers. That advanced the ball 31 yards to the Pittsburgh 49.

Bulger completed his first pass of the game to tight end Randy McMichael.  Then he fired a 14-yard pass to Holt. But when he slipped a screen pass to Jackson to avoid the blitz, Steelers linebacker James Harrison relieved him of the football.

The officials ruled the play a fumble, but upon  further review, replays indicated the  pass was incomplete. So the Rams stayed on the field.

Milford Brown chipped in with a false-start penalty, putting the  Rams in a second-and-15 situation.  On third down, hapless  Drew Bennett dropped a terrific Bulger pass, so Jeff Wilkins came on and nailed  52-yard field goal.

That cut the Steelers lead to 24-17 with 61 seconds left in the half.

When Allen Rossum returned the ensuing kickoff to the Pittsburgh 39, the Steelers had motivation to go for more points. But blitzing safety Corey Chavous sacked Roethlisberger on the first play  and put an end to that bid.

The Rams burned three timeouts to get the ball back with 20 seconds left.

With the help of another replay review, Bulger got a 15-yard completion to Bruce. But the Rams got no further during this last-ditch attempt to tie the game before halftime.