Ben Roethlisberger spent a week politely answering questions about Andrew Luck, saying all the right things to anyone who asked about how impressed he was with the rising Indianapolis Colts star.
Then the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback delivered a virtuoso performance not even the precocious Luck could match.
Hot at the start and typically cool at the end, Roethlisberger masterfully guided the Steelers to a 51-34 victory Sunday that provided Pittsburgh with the jolt of legitimacy they’ve been searching for all season.
Roethlisberger set franchise records with 522 yards passing and six touchdowns while picking up his 100th victory in his 150th start.
And though he insists he wasn’t keeping track, there’s little chance Roethlisberger will forget one of the most prolific days in NFL history.
“We just felt like they couldn’t stop us because we were just clicking,” Roethlisberger said. “It was one of those nights that players talk about when things feel like they’re going right.”
The fact it went right against Luck – who has more than a little bit of Roethlisberger’s swashbuckling in him – was purely incidental.
Probably, though Steelers coach Mike Tomlin intentionally mentioned how great Luck was to his quarterback more than once.
“He won’t admit it but I’m sure (it bothered him),” Tomlin said. “You don’t ascend to the position that he is professionally without that competitive fire burning.”
It scorched the Colts (5-3), ending Indianapolis’ five-game winning streak in record-setting fashion.
Roethlisberger’s yardage total was the fourth highest in NFL history. He became the first player to go over 500 yards passing twice as the Steelers (5-3) won consecutive games for the first time this season.
Antonio Brown caught 10 passes for 133 yards and two scores. Heath Miller caught seven passes for 112 yards and the clinching TD with 5:14 remaining.
Luck passed for 400 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions. He handed the Steelers a safety when he was called for intentional grounding in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter that handed momentum to the Steelers.
“Just a bonehead play by me,” Luck said.
The 907 combined yards passing were the second most ever, trailing only the 971 yards Detroit and Green Bay put up on January 1, 2012.
The Colts gave up 639 yards and never led.
Roethlisberger joined Tom Brady, Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to win at least 100 games in their first 150 starts.
“Ben is Ben,” Brown said. “He never surprises me. It’s a great day at the office.”
Brady, meanwhile, threw five touchdown passes and Brandon LaFell had a career high 11 catches as the New England Patriots hammered the Chicago Bears.
Brady, who was 30-of-35 for 354 passing yards, tossed touchdown strikes on five of the Patriots’ first half dozen drives.
Rob Gronkowski, who had to leave the game in the third quarter because of dehydration, had 149 yards on nine receptions and caught three of Brady’s touchdown passes in the Patriots’ win.
LaFell set career-highs for receptions and 124 receiving yards and had a touchdown catch for New England, who improved to 6-2 on the season.
The Patriots won their fourth consecutive game and extended a home win streak to 13 games.
“It was good to see the whole team ready to go, playing with that kind of energy and execution,” said New England coach Bill Belichick. “It was a pretty good day for us out there today. We’ll have to turn this one around quickly and get ready for Denver next week.”
The Patriots scored three touchdowns in a 57-second span during a 31-point second quarter.
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler completed 20-of-30 passes for 227 yards with three touchdowns. Cutler also had a pair of turnovers.
Matt Forte had 114 yards on 19 carries and caught a touchdown pass for the Bears, who lost for the fourth time in five games.
Bears coach Marc Trestman said they will be doing a lot of soul searching.
“We lost today. We got beat by a really good football team,” said Trestman of the Bears, who dropped to 3-5.
“We have a whole half a season to play and we are going to go back tomorrow and start over and address every situation that we have and all aspects of our football team” he said.
Meanwhile Bears defensive end Lamarr Houston suffered an injury while celebrating a sack on Jimmy Garoppolo while his team was trailing by 35 points.
Houston leapt in the air after sacking the rookie backup quarterback for an 11-yard loss in the fourth quarter. After landing he grabbed at his right knee and went to the ground.
Chicago trailed 48-23 with a little over three minutes remaining at the time of the sack.
Brady and the Patriots must now get ready to face Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos at home next Sunday.
In Charlotte, quarterback Russell Wilson rallied his team to a come-from-behind road win, firing a touchdown pass to Luke Willson with 47 seconds remaining to lift defending Super Bowl champs Seattle to a 13-9 victory over Carolina.
The Detroit Lions came from behind to beat the Atlanta Falcons 22-21 in London, England while New Orleans routed Green Bay 44-23.
Cleveland also beat Oakland 23-13, Kansas City hammered St Louis 34-7, Houston cruised by Tennessee 30-16, Cincinnati edged Baltimore 27-24, Miami handled Jacksonville 27-13, Buffalo pounded the Jets 43-23, Arizona overcame Philadelphia 24-20 and Minnesota topped Tampa Bay 19-13 in overtime.
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MATCH INFO
England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)
New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)
Warlight,
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Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
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2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
