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Steelers pull out overtime win versus TitansRoethlisberger leads comeback for tying and winning field goals Friday, September 11, 2009 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Steelers kicker Jeff Reed is congratulated by punter Daniel Sepulveda after kicking the winning field goal against the Titans in overtime last night at Heinz Field.

The Steelers' offense went from Super Bowl hangover to Super Bowl repeat all in one game last night as Ben Roethlisberger and Co. overcame early lethargy to beat the Tennessee Titans, 13-10, in overtime at Heinz Field.

There was no dramatic, winning pass as in Super Bowl XLIII, just plenty of them by Roethlisberger on a night in which he had virtually no support on the ground.

The victory in the NFL opener was delivered on the first drive of overtime, after the Steelers won the coin toss. Jeff Reed kicked a 33-yard field goal with 10:28 left.

Roethlisberger, who had a rickety first half, responded with a big second half and overtime. He completed 5 of 7 passes on the winning drive, including a 22-yarder to rookie Mike Wallace at the Titans' 15 that set up Reed's winner.

"We're not where we want to be," said receiver Hines Ward, whose lost fumble at the 4 in the final minute of regulation forced the overtime. "But it is a great way we responded in overtime."

It was the 18th regular-season comeback victory for Roethlisberger in a final period, and the eighth time Reed has won with a late kick in the regular season, ninth overall.

On a night in which the Steelers managed only 36 yards rushing, Roethlisberger, completed 33 of 43 passes for 363 yards and had two receivers with more than 100 yards. Santonio Holmes caught nine passes for 131 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown in the first period; Ward had eight for 103.

The victory did not come without cost, however.

Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu left the game for good late in the second quarter with a MCL sprain to his left knee that coach Mike Tomlin said likely will keep him out between three and six weeks.

"We were not a perfect team by any stretch," Tomlin said. "But it was good to maybe learn some lessons with a 'W.' We were fortunate to get it because that is a good football team. ... Hopefully, we will learn some lessons so the road will be a little less bumpy next time."

Willie Parker led the Steelers with 19 yards rushing on 13 tries.

The Steelers were poised to win the game in the final minute of regulation when Roethlisberger completed a 30-yard pass toWard at the Titans' 4 with the score tied. But as Ward, in typical fashion, fought for more yards, safety Michael Griffin stripped the ball out of his hands and linebacker Stephen Tullock recovered with 51 seconds left.

The Titans, though, contributed to their own demise. Former Pro Bowl kicker Rob Bironas missed one field goal and had another blocked, and Polamalu intercepted a Kerry Collins pass at the Steelers' 5 in the first half.

For much of that first half, the offense looked listless, managing12 yards rushing and Roethlisberger, who threw two

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interceptions, was under almost constant pressure from the Titans' rush.

The Steelers and Titans traded touchdowns in the final 1:22 to wind up in a 7-7 tie at halftime.

Roethlisberger completed his 34-yard touchdown pass to Holmes with 1:22 to go. But the Titans quickly tied it on two consecutive passes. One covered 57 yards from Collins to Kenny Britt.

On the next play, Collins hit a wide-open Justin Gage for a 14-yard touchdown to tie it with 48 seconds left in the first half.

The half ended when Roethlisberger's Hail Mary pass into the end zone from his 45 was intercepted by cornerback Cortland Finnegan and returned 80 yards before Max Starks and Heath Miller finally tackled him at the 20.

Polamalu had the quarter of his life before his injury. He burst about 18 yards to stop Chris Johnson at the Tennessee 2 on the Titans' first series. After that, he made several other tackles.

But his best play will make the team's highlight film again next year. The Titans' offense was on the move with a second down at the Steelers' 44 when Collins dropped back and threw deep toward wide receiver Britt.

Polamalu leaped at the 5 and caught the ball with one hand, his left. He then got up and ran it back 16 yards to the 21.

In the third quarter, the running game continued to bog down and Roethlisberger came under almost constant pressure when trying to pass. The Titans broke the deadlock with 11:03 left in the game when Bironas kicked a 45-yard field goal to cap a 36-yard drive after a punt. Jeff Reed retied it, 10-10, with a 32-yard field goal with 2:57 to go.

For more on the Steelers game, read the new blog, Ed Bouchette on the Steelers at post-gazette.com/plus. Ed Bouchette can be reached at [email protected].

First published on September 11, 2009 at 12:42 am

Page 2 of 2Steelers pull out overtime win versus Titans



Steelers mistakes cost them in a grizzly lossReed misses two FG attempts, Holmes drops passes Monday, September 21, 2009 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette photos

Kicker Jeff Reed hangs his head as he walks off the field after missing his second field goal of the game against the Bears yesterday in Chicago.

CHICAGO -- There have been worse performances in Chicago. Dillinger, Daley in '68, St. Valentine's Day, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow.

Approaching that infamy, though, are the Steelers of the past 75 years. They came here to play a game for the 13th time since 1934 and came away with their 12th loss.

This one had to hurt the deepest for them because of how they lost, 17-14, on Robbie Gould's 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining. Both teams now have 1-1 records.

Gould did what Jeff Reed could not; he kicked the ball through the uprights in the fourth quarter. Reed had two chances in the final 11:37 and missed both wide to the left.

"Of course this is uncharacteristic of him," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "He just kicked the game-winner in overtime last week, and that's what we're used to. We aren't used to what happened with him today."

Reed's first miss came from 38 yards out when he seemed to slip slightly on new, bad turf made worse by rain. The Steelers were ahead by seven at the time.

Reed's second miss occurred with 3:18 to go and the score tied, 14-14. It came from 43 yards out and it appeared as if Reed tried to adjust by taking choppy steps on his approach, but the result was the same.

The Bears took over at their 33 and drove against last year's top defense to the Steelers' 26, and Gould knocked home the winner.

"There's no excuse," said Reed, who insisted he did not slip on the soggy field. "I missed two kicks and basically what it was, I was trying too hard on both of them. That's what happens to a right-footed kicker -- you hook them.

"I'm just embarrassed because these guys fought their tail off to win the game. If there's one player who can single-handedly lose a game, I'll take credit for it."

No, he had company.

Santonio Holmes dropped what would have been two big catches along the sideline. He appeared to drop a perfectly thrown pass over his shoulders from Ben Roethlisberger in the end zone on third down before Reed's final miss. Holmes said cornerback Charles Tillman slightly deflected it.

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"He tipped it just enough," said Holmes, who acknowledged that wet balls might have contributed to the many drops on both sides.

"You had to fight the elements. The rain did play a big part. You have to be professional about it."

There also was the matter of the Steelers' defense, which not only allowed the Bears their winning drive at the end, but also a touchdown drive of 97 yards to tie the score, 7-7, with 19 seconds left in the first half. In between, there was a second Chicago touchdown drive of 72 yards to tie it, 14-14, with 6:21 left.

Quarterback Jay Cutler, unpopular in Chicago after his four interceptions contributed to Green Bay's victory in the Bears' opener, accounted for both of his team's touchdowns with passes of 6 yards to tight end Kellen Davis and 7 yards to rookie wide receiver Johnny Knox.

Cutler did not throw an interception and was sacked just once. He completed 27 of 38 passes for 236 yards on a day in which the Steelers held Matt Forte to 29 yards on 13 carries and the Bears just 43 yards rushing.

"I thought Jay Cutler was very good with the football," Tomlin said. "In the face of pressure, he made very good decisions."

Roethlisberger could have had a day as equal if Holmes had come down with the pass in the end zone and if he had not been hit when he threw an interception that was caught at the Chicago 5 in the first half.

He completed 23 of 35 throws for 221 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Matt Spaeth for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. That play capped a 92-yard drive.

Roethlisberger also scored the Steelers' second touchdown on a 2-yard bootleg in the third quarter for a 14-7 lead. That drive came courtesy of Rashard Mendenhall.

The second-year back had his first signature moment in the NFL, his broken shoulder in the fourth game of his rookie season aside. Mendenhall ran 39 yards to the Chicago 2 to set up Roethlisberger's go-ahead touchdown.

Earlier in that drive, Mendenhall fell down as he caught a pass thrown behind him in the flat, got up, ran the other way and ended up gaining 13 yards on the broken play.

The Steelers were more productive on the ground yesterday than they were in the opener. They had 105 yards rushing and a 4.8-yard-per-carry average. Willie Parker had 47 yards and Mendenhall had 39 on three carries.

"I'd rather run for no yards and win," Tomlin said.

That is something the Steelers historically do not do in Chicago, where they last played in 1995, and came away with their only victory in this city. But then, they also do not often lose these types of close games.

"Usually, we find a way to pull it out at the end," defensive end Aaron Smith said. "Unfortunately for us, they pulled it out."

It looked at one point as if Roethlisberger would add to his 20 career winning drives when the Steelers' offense moved to the 25 to set up Reed. His 33-yard field goal in overtime beat Tennessee in the opener and was his ninth career winner.

It's the first time Reed missed two field goals since Sept. 26, 2004, at Miami. He also did it twice in 2003.

"It was a tough one today," linebacker James Farrior said. "We could have made some plays when we were supposed to, we just didn't. Chicago's got a good team and just hung in there to the end. That's usually what we do."

For more on the Steelers, read the new blog, Ed Bouchette On the Steelers at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Ed Bouchette can be reached at [email protected].


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Bears' fourth-quarter rally stuns Steelers in 17-14 loss

By Scott Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Monday, September 21, 2009

CHICAGO — The Steelers' misery in Chicago continued Sunday, though they only had themselves to blame following another loss in the Windy City.

The Steelers surrendered 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter at soggy Soldier Field, and the defending Super Bowl champions now find themselves tied for second place with the Cincinnati Bengals, whom they play next week, in the AFC North.

Robbie Gould kicked a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to deliver a 17-14 win to the Bears and send the Steelers to their 12th loss in 13 games in Chicago.

The kicks that Steelers fans will remember are the ones that the normally reliable Jeff Reed pushed left in the fourth quarter.

The first one, a 38-yarder, would have given the Steelers a 17-7 lead. The second one, which Reed badly hooked, came on a 43-yard attempt with 3:23 left in a 14-14 game.

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler made Reed and the Steelers (1-1) pay. He coolly marched his team down the field against the No. 1 defense in the NFL, setting up the kick with which Gould split the uprights.

"First of all, I'd like to congratulate Robbie on making the game winner," Reed said in a quiet Steelers locker room. "I've been in those shoes plenty of times, and I know how great that feels as opposed to how I feel.

"I tried too hard on both of them. I thought the first one was going to sneak in, and the second one I didn't give it a chance. I'm just embarrassed."

His teammates supported Reed, who kicked the game-winning field goal in the Steelers' season opener Sept 10 against Tennessee, in part because the outcome didn't just come down to his right foot.

"We shouldn't have even put Jeff in that position," Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said.

Indeed, on the play that preceded Reed's second miss, wide receiver Santonio Holmes couldn't hold onto a Roethlisberger pass in the left corner of the end zone. The Steelers, in fact, were plagued by such near-misses all game, which

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explained why they never put away the Bears (1-1).

And why they lost even though they never trailed until the last 15 seconds of the game.

Roethlisberger never got a chance to pull off what would have been his most unlikely fourth-quarter comeback. Rookie returner Stefan Logan lost a fumble on the kickoff following Gould's field goal.

"We let one slip away from us," Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward said.

The Steelers made it look downright easy in the first quarter.

The defense held the Bears without a first down on two possessions, and Roethlisberger led a 13-play, 92-yard drive that he capped with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Matt Spaeth.

The final three quarters were considerably different than the first one, but they had the same theme: The Steelers making enough mistakes, including untimely penalties and dropped passes, to let the Bears hang around.

"If you shoot yourself in the foot, obviously you're going to allow a team to capitalize on the mistakes you make," Holmes said.

Yet even after the Bears tied the score, 14-14, with a little more than six minutes left in the fourth quarter, it seemed inevitable that Roethlsberger would conjure up more fourth-quarter magic. He was 23 of 35 for 221 yards, a touchdown and an interception for the game.

He drove the Steelers to the Bears' 25-yard line, and on third-and-2, Roethlisberger caught Chicago in a blitz — and with cornerback Charles Tillman covering Holmes one-on-one.

Holmes ran a fade, and Roethlisberger appeared to hit him in stride in the end zone, but the ball glanced off the receiver's hands. Holmes, who is less than eight months removed from making one of the most memorable catches in Super Bowl history, said Tillman got just enough of a hand on the ball to change its flight.

After Reed missed the 43-yard kick, Cutler showed that his four-interception performance last week was an aberration.

He did not allow the Steelers' defense to get off the field until Gould had kicked his sixth career game-winning field goal at Soldier Field.

The Bears rallied in the fourth quarter, largely because Cutler completed 9 of 10 passes in the final 15 minutes.

"When we have the lead going into the fourth quarter, we expect to be a great defense and hold onto the lead," Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel said. "I felt



like all along we had control of the game, I really did."

Scott Brown can be reached at [email protected] or 412-481-5432.

Images and text copyright © 2009 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.

Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent from Trib Total Media




Steelers blow 20-9 lead in 4th quarterA dropped TD pass, a tactical error and a miscommunication set the stage for stunning loss Monday, September 28, 2009 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

The Steelers' Willie Parker is upended by the Bengals' Keith Rivers yesterday. Parker carried the ball 25 times for 93 yards and caught a touchdown pass.

CINCINNATI -- Mike Tomlin and his players preached it so often this year, and yesterday it hit home to the Steelers as rudely as bird droppings on their Lombardi Trophy.

If their loss in the fourth quarter in Chicago the week before did not do it, the bigger collapse yesterday in a place they have owned since they built Paul Brown Stadium might have turned the trick.

There was plenty of soul-searching in what traditionally had been a jubilant visitors' locker room for the Steelers here the past decade, and it came after the Bengals stunned them with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a 23-20 victory.

The loss snapped the Steelers' eight-game winning streak here, and it was the second time they had lost here in the 10-year history of the stadium.

"It's just a numbing feeling right now," offensive tackle Willie Colon said, speaking for virtually all in his locker room.

This is not last season. Last season, they won a Super Bowl; last season, they won games in the fourth quarter; last season, they did not blow big leads in the final minutes.

No, this season looks nothing like their last one as they tumbled to 1-2, smacking the Bengals all over the ring only to look up and find themselves on the floor at the end, knocked out by a team they had beaten in 15 of their past 19 meetings.

"We don't need what transpired out there to let us know it's a new season," Tomlin said.

"I don't want to make this a habit, but it appears to be for the second week. We've got some work to do. We have to finish games better."

If the Steelers fail to win the AFC North Division -- and they now trail Baltimore (3-0) by two games and Cincinnati (2-1) by one -- they can look back at this one with regret. They not only blew a 20-9 lead, they failed to extend it when they not only had the Bengals on the ropes but had them tied around their necks.

Cincinnati won it with two touchdowns in the final 10 minutes. Cedric Benson ran 23 yards for a touchdown with 9:14 to go to cut the lead to 20-15 and Carson Palmer tossed a 4-yard pass to Andre Caldwell with 14 seconds left to win it.

But the seeds for this loss came much earlier. Tomlin blamed "the details" on their loss. He could have described them as blunders. Consider:

PG graphic:

Tough start for Steelers

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• Instead of punting late in the second quarter with a 13-0 lead, Tomlin opted to go for it on fourth-and-4 at Cincinnati's 35. A pass failed and, with 1:06 to go, the Bengals had enough time to set up Shayne Graham's 34-yard field goal to crack the ice.

At the time, the Steelers had 258 yards to the Bengals' 91.

• On the first drive of the second half, Santonio Holmes ran the wrong way and Ben Roethlisberger threw the right way, but cornerback Johnathan Joseph was there and not Holmes and he intercepted and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown. Suddenly, the down-and-out Bengals were back in it at 20-15, even if they did botch the extra point.

"A miscommunication," both Tomlin and Roethlisberger described it, not wanting to put the finger on their wide receiver.

• Limas Sweed, who caught his first pass of the season earlier, dropped a 34-yard touchdown pass, all alone in the end zone. Jeff Reed followed by missing a 52-yard field-goal attempt wide to the left.

"You saw what I saw," Tomlin said. "He dropped it."

• Those dirty details apparently surfaced long before kickoff. Rashard Mendenhall did not play on offense. He was punished by Tomlin, who explained that "Rashard wasn't on his details this week, so I chose not to play him on offense."

If they keep paying attention to detail like that, they could make their 2006 Super Bowl hangover look like a party.

"I'm at critical red, state of red," Colon said, when asked what the state of urgency is for this team. "We have to get going now.

"We have to finish games. We're not doing the little things, and it's catching up to us. If we don't change, it's going to be a rotten season."

The strange part is they were beginning to do the things they had not done in the first two games. Willie Parker ran 25 times for 93 yards and caught a 27-yard pass for a touchdown. Roethlisberger, who completed 22 of 31 for 276 yards, was sacked just once and scored another touchdown on a 1-yard sneak.

Reed, who missed both field-goal tries in a three-point defeat in Chicago, made his first two, although from only 19 and 24 yards when the offense stalled again.

After one quarter and change, it looked ridiculously easy with the Steelers on top, 13-0. They outgained the Bengals, 152 yards to minus-10 and never punted until the fourth quarter.

But the field goal at the end of the half and the pick-six touchdown at the beginning of the next one breathed life into the Bengals, and the more details the Steelers let go, the more Palmer and Cincinnati got into a groove.

"Hanging in there was obviously a test for the guys," said Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, embracing one of his bigger regular-season victories. "We didn't get off to a good start. ... We kind of dug ourselves in a hole."

That turned out OK on a day in which men dressed in black and gold extended their hands and helped rescue the Bengals.

For more on the Steelers, read the new blog, Ed Bouchette On the Steelers at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Ed Bouchette can be reached at [email protected].

Ed Bouchette's blog on the Steelers and Gerry Dulac's Steelers chats are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.


Page 2 of 2Steelers blow 20-9 lead in 4th quarter


Bengals stun Steelers with last-minute TD

By Scott Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Monday, September 28, 2009

CINCINNATI — During a first half that the Steelers dominated, Bengals fans cheered sarcastically after a couple of plays in which Cincinnati gained yardage.

By the end of an AFC North game that left the defending Super Bowl champions in third place in their division — and searching for answers following another come-from-ahead loss — those same fans were raucously chanting "Who dey?" as they filed out of Paul Brown Stadium.

Carson Palmer threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell with 14 seconds left Sunday, and that propelled the Bengals past the Steelers, 23-20.

The Bengals overcame 13-0 and 20-9 deficits in snapping an eight-game home losing streak to the Steelers in front of 64,538. Cincinnati never led until after Palmer had Roethlisbergered the Steelers by marching the Bengals 72 yards on 16 plays for the winning touchdown.

The Bengals (2-1) twice converted on fourth down during the drive, including on fourth- and-10 from the Steelers' 15 with 36 seconds left. Running back Brian Leonard, who had to battle just to make Cincinnati's team, got enough of a step on Steelers linebacker James Farrior to pick up 11 yards after hauling in a short pass.

Two plays later, Caldwell corralled the pass that sealed the Steelers' fate.

The Steelers (1-2), who are under .500 for the first time since Mike Tomlin took over as coach, will try to rebound Sunday when they host the San Diego Chargers in an 8:20 p.m. game.

"I feel like the game's my fault," said Farrior, who is a defensive captain. "I stop the guy on fourth down, and the game's over, and we're not even talking about this. I can take responsibility for this."

Alas, for the Steelers, there was plenty of blame to go around.

An offense that came out of the locker room humming twice had to settle for short-field Jeff Reed field goals in the first half after it had driven inside Cincinnati's 5-yard line.

It also let the Bengals back in the game when a miscommunication between

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quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes early in the third quarter resulted in an easy interception by cornerback Johnathan Joseph and a 30-yard return for a touchdown.

The Steelers outgained the Bengals by 100 yards, dominated the time of possession and led comfortably for most of the game. Yet, after the game, players such as outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley and right tackle Willie Colon sat on stools in front of their lockers wearing blank stares as they tried to process what had happened to a team that had owned Cincinnati.

"That's two games we should have won," said Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, also alluding to a 17-14 loss to the Bears on Sept. 20. "It was more about what we didn't do than what the other team did. We're just not finding ways to finish teams off."

A dropped touchdown pass by Limas Sweed in the third quarter helped keep the Bengals in the game. And just as the Bears had done the previous week, the Bengals had their way with the Steelers' defense in the fourth quarter.

Palmer led two touchdown drives in the final 15 minutes, leading to questions of whether a veteran defense wore down in the fourth quarter.

"That will never be an excuse," Tomlin said. "The reality is, we better be fresh relative to our opponents. We just have to make critical plays at critical moments. We have people who are capable of doing that."




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Mendenhall leads Steelers past ChargersRunning back rushes for 165 yards, 2 TDs, in proving his worth Monday, October 05, 2009 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Rashard Mendenhall scores against the Chargers in the second quarter last night at Heinz Field.

Rashard Mendenhall spent last week on the bench, demoted by his coach because he did not know his assignments.

Last night, Mendenhall saved the Steelers' offense and perhaps his team's season when he rushed for 165 yards, two touchdowns and delivered on a final scoring drive that staved off a lightning comeback by the San Diego Chargers.

Mendenhall ran for 35 yards on a 51-yard drive that ended with Jeff Reed's 46-yard field goal with 43 seconds left to preserve the Steelers' 38-28 victory.

At one time the Steelers led by four touchdowns only to see the Chargers close to within one in yet another poor fourth-quarter showing by their defense. Nevertheless, they snapped a two-game losing streak to even their record at 2-2, one game behind co-leaders Cincinnati and Baltimore in the AFC North Division.

"He played a good game," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of Mendenhall, who had only 103 career rushing yards entering last night. "He had a good week's practice. I'm not going to take any credit for that."

Mendenhall, starting for the first time since his shoulder was broken in the fourth game of last season, combined with the pinpoint passing of Ben Roethlisberger to guide the Steelers to leads of 21-0 at the half and 28-0 in the third quarter before the Chargers stunned the Heinz Field crowd with quick scores in the fourth quarter that closed the margin to one touchdown with 4:31 to go.

Two touchdowns came on a strip of Steelers punt returner Stephan Logan and after a successful onside kick by the Chargers.

"We never make it easy, it seems," tackle Willie Colon said. Roethlisberger threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns, and Mewelde Moore caught one and passed for another as the Steelers achieved the kind of balance on offense they long have sought. Tight end Heath Miller caught two touchdown passes and Hines Ward had his second 100-yard receiving game of the season.

"It was a great day for the offense as a whole," Mendenhall said. "The offensive line did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage all game."

With starter Willie Parker out with turf toe, Mendenhall resurrected a run game that ranked 27th in the NFL entering the season.

Mendenhall scored his second touchdown in the first half, powering up the middle for 2 yards with 1:28 before halftime. He scored from the 1in the first quarter.

Making only his second NFL start, Mendenhall turned in a fabulous first half with two short touchdowns runs, 80 yards

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rushing, one catch for 20 yards, many broken tackles and two knockout blows on blocks.

The Steelers' first-round draft pick in 2008 answered many questions that have swarmed around him the past two seasons.

"He ran hard and he hit the holes hard," Colon said.

Mendenhall scored his first NFL touchdown from the 1 with 11:49 left in the first quarter. He ran hard on three consecutive plays from the 14, picking up 9, 4 and the final 1 for a 7-0 lead.

The Steelers threw a few wrinkles into their offense on that drive. Center/guard Doug Legursky lined up at fullback and Mendenhall ran behind his block into the end zone. Earlier, Logan lined up at wide receiver.

Roethlisberger came out throwing on that 79-yard drive, opening the game with three consecutive passes with the best being a 35-yarder to rookie receiver Mike Wallace.

Their next drive covered 75 yards and it began with four consecutive running plays by Mendenhall and ended with a touchdown pass of 19 yards from Roethlisberger to Moore. Roethlisberger beat an all-out blitz by seven Chargers by flipping the pass to Moore, wide open in the left flat. Moore then powered through two Chargers near the goal line for the score that put the Steelers in front, 14-0, with 4:08 let in the first half.

Their third touchdown came on their fourth drive of the half, and this one covered 79 yards on 13 plays. The biggest -- certainly the brassiest -- play of that drive came when Tomlin ordered his offense to go on fourth-and-1 at their 30. Roethlisberger made his coach look good, gaining 3 yards on a quarterback sneak.

Another key play on the drive came when Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie intercepted Roethlisberger but was called for holding receiver Santonio Holmes on the play. That gave the Steelers a first down.

Tight end Heath Miller caught a 12 yards pass to the 2 but fumbled and newly signed fullback Carey Davis recovered. Mendenhall then plowed up the middle for the score and a 21-0 lead.

The Steelers were quicker on their next drive, covering 81 yards in eight plays. The drive ended with Miller catching a 6-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger. It was the Steelers' fifth drive of the night and their fourth touchdown for a 28-0 lead.

San Diego finally broke the ice with a third-quarter touchdown pass of 3 yards from Philip Rivers to tight end Antonio Gates, who caught nine passes for 124 yards.

Matching the lightning bolts on their helmets, the Chargers scored again in quick and unique fashion. The Steelers forced them to punt from their 11, and Logan fielded the ball cleanly. However, as he was swarmed by a handful of Chargers, fumbled and Jacob Hester recovered and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.

Just like that it was 28-14 with 12:37 left to play.

The Steelers scored again with 7:18 to go to seemingly take a comfortable lead, 35-14. But the electrified Chargers were not done. They moved 67 yards in a minute-and-a half to score on a 30-yard pass from Rivers to Gates with 5:48 left. That cut the margin to 35-21.

They then recovered an onside kick that went through the hands of Ryan Mundy and moved 54 yards on three plays, scoring on a 13-yard pass from Rivers to Chris Chambers. That made it 35-28 with 4:31 to go.

But Mendenhall and finally Reed put the game away.

Ed Bouchette can be reached at [email protected]


First published on October 5, 2009 at 12:35 am

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Trio of sacks secures Steelers win over DetroitSTEELERS 28, LIONS 20 Monday, October 12, 2009 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peter Diana / Post-Gazette

William Gay does his best impersonation of former teammate Larry Foote after sacking Lions quarterback Daunte Culpepper in the fourth quarter.

DETROIT -- It looked like another meltdown again late yesterday afternoon in a city that knows too much about that lately. Only this wasn't Detroit and its downed economy, nor the Lions and their decade of dubious dynasty that was in trouble.

Instead it was the Super Bowl champion Steelers, and their once dominating defense, which already had blown two fourth-quarter leads on the road, that was on shaky ground. And they were gasping as, of all teams, the Detroit Lions (1-3) mounted a comeback.

Then out of nowhere appeared an old friend to save them from the embarrassment of losing to the Lions, who lost them all last season. Blitzburgh, which inexplicably vanished in 2009, swooped in to end Detroit's upset plans, and the Steelers headed home happy with a 28-20 victory.

"We're still searching for the Steelers," said linebacker James Farrior, a defensive captain, as his team escaped Ford Field with its second consecutive victory to raise its record to 3-2.

The Steelers, ahead by 15 points late in the fourth quarter, allowed an 82-yard drive by the Lions that cut the margin to eight when Daunte Culpepper threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dennis Northcutt with 4:57 left.

Then, with 1:54 left, the Lions found themselves with a first down at the Steelers' 21 and Operation Blitzburgh went into effect. Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau ordered some blitzes, and the Steelers sacked Culpepper on three consecutive plays, pushing the Lions back to the 45 and, in essence, closing out a game that should have been put away much earlier.

James Harrison did not have any of those sacks, but he had three of the Steelers' seven yesterday.

"We dialed them up," safety Ryan Clark said. "A lot of other games we haven't been dialing up the pressures. Coach LeBeau just got aggressive. I guess he figured if we're going to get beat, if we're going to give up leads, let's give them up being who we are."

The Steelers have been wondering just who they are through the early part of the season after losing two in a row on the roadafter an opening victory. Their defense, uncharacteristically, became the culprit, blowing lead after lead. Even in the home victory against San Diego the previous Sunday the Chargers scored 21 points in the fourth quarter.

"It's tough ... but we can't blame anybody, we just have to get better," offensive tackle Willie Colon said.

The offense made it seem easy for a while, but also had its share of mistakes that allowed the Lions, 11-point underdogs, to stay close.

Ben Roethlisberger threw four touchdown passes, three to his teammates and one on a 38-yard interception return by Detroit cornerback William James. Roethlisberger threw touchdown passes of 15 yards to Heath Miller, 17 yards to Hines Ward and 47 yards to Mike Wallace.

One touchdown drive persevered after another Roethlisberger interception was waved off by a personal foul when he was hit

Page 1 of 2Trio of sacks secures Steelers win over Detroit


in the lower legs after releasing the ball.

Rashard Mendenhall, who had another good day running with 77 yards on 15 carries, scored the Steelers' first touchdown on a neat 7-yard burst in which he beat the cornerback to the corner on the right side.

"As you continue to play and gain experience, you get better and better at what you do," said Mendenhall, who has 242 yards in his past two starts for injured Willie Parker.

Things might have gotten even more interesting at the end had Clark not stopped one Detroit drive by intercepting a Culpepper pass and had Jason Hanson not missed a 49-yard field-goal attempt, both in the third quarter.

Hanson kicked two field goals from 46 yards in the first half to go with James' interception return for a touchdown as the Lions trailed, 21-13, at the intermission. The Steelers went up 28-13 when Wallace broke open so fast and so deep that Roethlisberger's pass to the rookie speedster was slightly under thrown. Wallace, who sped past James, caught the ball at the 1 and tumbled into the end zone on the 47-yard play.

"I hesitated throwing it," Roethlisberger said. "I was looking for a safety. I said 'He can't be this open.' That's why it was a little underthrown, I was so surprised."

Despite throwing an interception for a score, Roethlisberger had another good day in a string of them this season. He completed 23 of 30 passes for 277 yards and a 123.9 passer rating.

He would have had another touchdown toss -- and the game might have been a blowout -- except Wallace dropped a pass when he was wide open at the Detroit 28 in the second quarter. The play might have gone for 71 yards had Wallace held on to the ball.

Two plays later, James intercepted Roethlisberger's pass for a Detroit touchdown and instead of 21-6 it was 14-13 in the second quarter.

"I still think about it," Wallace said in the locker room. "I could have given our team a [big] lead and the next play he picked it off, so I figured it was all my fault. We have to make sure we catch them."

The Lions managed 335 yards of offense to the Steelers' 344. Detroit did it by converting 11 of 18 third downs, many of them long ones. They also beat the Steelers at another part of their game, time of possession. Detroit ran 15 more plays and had the ball for 5 more minutes than the Steelers.

But there was no complete meltdown, just a finishing blitz by a defense that had almost forgotten that part of its arsenal.

"Guys just wanted to get home," Clark said.

For more on the Steelers, read the new blog, Ed Bouchette on the Steelers at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Ed Bouchette can be reached at [email protected].


First published on October 12, 2009 at 12:00 am

Page 2 of 2Trio of sacks secures Steelers win over Detroit


Steelers able to hold off Lions for victory

By Scott Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Monday, October 12, 2009

DETROIT — Maybe Dick LeBeau reached a breaking point.

Or maybe the venerable defensive coordinator figured if his players were going to fall victim to another late rally, they were at least going to do things his way, which is to say the Steelers' way.

With the defense backed into the shadow of its end zone late Sunday afternoon, LeBeau threw everything but the Ford Field peanut vendors at Detroit quarterback Daunte Culpepper.

Three consecutive sacks led to a desperation heave that Ike Taylor knocked down in the end zone, and the defensive stand allowed the Steelers to survive an upset bid by the Lions.

After hanging on for a 28-20 win, the Steelers have their first winning streak of the season. They'll get a chance to string together three consecutive victories Sunday when they host the Cleveland Browns, whom they haven't lost to since 2003.

The Steelers improved to 3-2 after their offense dominated the first half and the defense made the kind of stop that had eluded it for the most part this season.

It came after Culpepper moved the Lions (1-4) to the Steelers' 21 with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Steelers responded to the charge by burying Culpepper under an avalanche of blitzers at the end of their first game in Detroit since they won Super Bowl XL here in 2006.

"I'm content for right now," said outside linebacker James Harrison, who notched three of the Steelers' seven sacks, "but we need to start finishing a lot better."

The Steelers couldn't have gotten off to a much better start offensively.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger picked the Lions apart by spreading the ball around, while Rashard Mendenhall again ran with patience and authority.

Mendenhall, starting his second consecutive game for the injured Willie Parker, rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown. His first-quarter score, which came on a 7-yard run, gave the Steelers a lead they would never relinquish.

Page 1 of 2Steelers able to hold off Lions for victory - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Roethlisberger threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns and hooked up with six different receivers — seven if you count Lions cornerback William James (formerly Peterson).

James intercepted Roethlisberger in the second quarter and returned the pick 38 yards for the Lions' only touchdown of the first half.

One of the few recent throws by Roethlisberger that did not end up in the hands of his intended target allowed the Lions to cut the Steelers' lead to 14-13 in the second quarter.

"The guy just made a great play," Roethlisberger said of James, a graduate of Laurel Highlands High School. "I went to the sideline right away and told (offensive coordinator Bruce Arians), 'Let me call this series, this drive.'"

Given a short field because of Stefan Logan's 49-yard kickoff return, Roethlisberger needed just six plays to get the Steelers into the end zone — and allow them to take a 21-13 lead into intermission.

On the Steelers' first possession of the second half, rookie Mike Wallace made amends for dropping a deep pass earlier by hauling in a 47-yarder for his first NFL touchdown.

Wallace had to wait on the pass because Roethlisberger thought his eyes might be playing a trick on him as he scanned the field.

"I hesitated throwing it," Roethlisberger said, "because I was looking for a safety. I'm like, 'he can't be this open.'"

Not that the Steelers were in the clear after building a 28-13 lead against a team that went 0-16 last season.

Culpepper, starting for injured rookie Matthew Stafford, had almost 300 yards of total offense. But he couldn't get the yards when the Lions needed them most as LaMarr Woodley, William Gay and Lawrence Timmons staged a sack parade at the end of the game.

"I think when coach LeBeau makes those blitz calls, everyone's like 'OK, let's go,' said Steelers free safety Ryan Clark, who had seven tackles and an interception. "That's who we are. That's how we like to play. That's how we like to win games. I think coach LeBeau had that same sense that we were going to go after them and whatever happened, happened."




Page 2 of 2Steelers able to hold off Lions for victory - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


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