PITTSBURGH — Not only did the Pittsburgh Steelers rise from their previous week’s Baltimore burial, they might optimistically believe they can be 6-1 or 5-2 over the next month after a somewhat surprising 37-19 victory in Carolina on Sunday.

Here are the Steelers’ next four opponents: Tampa Bay, which apparently will change quarterbacks, at home next Sunday, followed by games at Jacksonville, at Cleveland and back home versus Houston.

Game on.

“It was a good step in the right direction; it was a good response,” said defensive end Brett Keisel, a 13-year veteran.

This is how they envisioned things, especially on offense, which had exploded for 27 points in the first half of the opener against Cleveland and had been mostly silent until the second half at Carolina. During the eight quarters in-between those scoring outputs, they had managed only six Shaun Suisham field goals over eight quarters.

“This is a big win for us,” said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who bounced back from a poor outing in Baltimore. “This is a good Steelers football game — physical, offense, defense and special teams.”

The Steelers had no sacks in Baltimore, no turnovers for the season and ranked 29th in the running game entering their contest against the Panthers. The Steelers produced two 100-yard rushers, three sacks of Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and two fumble recoveries, one setting up a touchdown and the other producing points on a recovered fumbled punt return in the end zone.

There was a bit of a dark cloud over the whole thing because the Steelers lost three starting defenders – cornerback Ike Taylor (broken forearm) and linebackers Jarvis Jones (wrist) and Ryan Shazier (knee) with “significant” injuries, according to coach Mike Tomlin.

“I ain’t trying to crown them tonight,” Tomlin proclaimed after the big win.

No, but with the schedule they have over the next month, they are poised to get off to a much better start than their 2-6 record halfway through 2013.

Wide receiver WR Antonio Brown became only the second back since 1960 to have a streak of 19 consecutive games in which he caught at least five passes for 50 yards. Laveranues Coles did it in 19 straight over the course of the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

The Steelers produced two 100-yard backs for the first time in 28 years. Le’Veon Bell had 147 yards on 21 carries and LeGarrette Blount had 118 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown.

Suisham set the franchise record by kicking 23 field goals without a miss with his 3-for-3 night at Carolina. Jeff Reed held the old mark of 22 in 2005.

Notes: Linebacker Ryan Shazier left the game in the first half with a right knee injury, reportedly a sprained MCL. . . . Running back Dri Archer missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. The injury to the rookie occurred in the first half of the opener. . . . Wide receiver Lance Moore, who missed the first two games with a groin injury, played one snap. . . Cornerback Ike Taylor had surgery Monday to fix a broken right forearm that happened in the first half Sunday night. It should take at least six weeks to heal. . . . Linebacker Jarvis Jones had surgery on his right wrist Monday after he left the game in the first half.

REPORT CARD VS. PANTHERS

–PASSING OFFENSE: B-plus — Ben Roethlisberger completed 22 of 30 passes for 196 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was not sacked. He had a passer rating of 112.6, more than double his previous game in Baltimore. He threw some pinpoint passes, especially a 7-yard touchdown in the right corner of the end zone to Antonio Brown, who caught another TD for 7 yards. His line gave him good protection after some shaky early moments.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: A-plus — It does not get much better than two 100-yard rushers, 264 rushing yards and an average per carry of 7.8. Le’Veon Bell ripped off an 81-yarder that represented more than half of his 147 yards on 21 carries. LeGarrette Blount had a 50-yard run as part of his 118 yards on 10 carries. This is what the Steelers had hoped for when they added Blount to complement Bell. They did it with rookie Dri Archer still nursing an ankle injury too.

–PASS DEFENSE: C – Panthers quarterback Cam Newton completed 24 of 35 for 250 yards and one touchdown, but he was sacked three times, one of them a sack-fumble forced by Jarvis Jones deep in Carolina territory that led to a Steelers touchdown. Derek Anderson relieved Newton after the game got out of hand and drove the team to another TD, a 37-yard pass to rookie Kevin Benjamin. All in all, the two quarterbacks had 330 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 110.8 passer rating.

–RUSH DEFENSE: C — The NFL’s 29th-ranked run defense was not really tested by Carolina, which ran just five times in each half for a total of 42 yards. The Steelers were allowing an average of 170 yards a game on the ground through their first two games and they figured the Panthers would try to take advantage of that.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: A — Shaun Suisham made all three of his field goals, Brad Wing pulled off the rare feat of averaging more on net (49.3) than gross (46.0) on three punts — because his 59-yarder was muffed and wound up with special team ace Robert Golden recovering the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

–COACHING: A — The Steelers had 10 days to prepare for Carolina, which was favored by 3 1/2 points, and stuck with the plan of trying to run the ball on the Panthers on offense, running the no-huddle and putting pressure on Cam Newton, which they did much of the day.