steelers 2010 the road to 13-4 - Pittsburgh Post

PLAYOFFXTRA
G AME-BY-G AME CAPSULES BY GERRY DUL AC
STEELERS 2010
1
STEELERS 15
FALCONS 9 (OT)
Sept. 12 • Heinz Field
2
Sept. 19 • LP Field, Nashville
5
6
In his first game after serving a four-game
suspension, Roethlisberger threw three
touchdown passes, and the defense sacked
Browns rookie QB Colt McCoy six times and
intercepted him twice to come back from an
early, 3-0 deficit. The Steelers scored 21
points in the second half.
9
PATRIOTS 39
STEELERS 26
Nov. 14, Heinz Field
In a match of teams with the best record
in the AFC, the Steelers were dominated,
suffering one of their most-lopsided defeats
in recent history. QB Tom Brady passed
for 350 yards and three touchdowns, all
to rookie TE Rob Gronkowski. The Steelers
dropped to 6-3.
13
STEELERS 23
BENGALS 7
Dec. 12 • Heinz Field
Polamalu and LB LaMarr Woodley returned
interceptions for touchdowns as the defense
came back after an opening touchdown drive
to hold the Bengals to 190 yards of offense.
Polamalu, injured on the scoring return, had
another interception in the fourth quarter
when he picked off Bengals QB Carson Palmer in the end zone.
10
7
STEELERS 23
DOLPHINS 22
Oct. 24 • Sun Life Stadium,
Miami Gardens
Sept. 26 • Raymond James
Stadium, Tampa
SAINTS 20
STEELERS 10
Oct. 31 • Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans
The Steelers lost for the first time on
the road when Heath Miller’s fumble after
a 20-yard catch-and-run set up the Saints’
clinching touchdown on an 8-yard pass from
Drew Brees to wide receiver Lance Moore
with 3:47 remaining. The loss dropped the
Steelers to 5-2.
11
STEELERS 35
RAIDERS 3
Nov. 21 • Heinz Field
The Steelers recorded the largest margin of
victory in series history with a dominating performance. Roethlisberger threw three touchdowns as the offense generated 431 yards.
The defense had six sacks, two interceptions
and held the Raiders to 182 yards. That allowed the Steelers to overcome a franchiserecord 163 penalty yards.
14
STEELERS 38
BUCCANEERS 13
Veteran QB Charlie Batch, making his first
start in 2½ years, came back from an early
interception and threw touchdown passes of
46 and 41 yards to WR Mike Wallace in the
first half to lead the Steelers to their second
consecutive road victory.
A 1-yard QB sneak by Roethlisberger with
2:30 remaining was ruled a TD, but was overturned by replay and ruled a fumble. In a bizarre twist, it could not be determined which
team had recovered, and the Steelers were
awarded the ball at the Dolphins’ 1. Reed then
kicked an 18-yard field goal for the victory.
STEELERS 19
BILLS 16 (OT)
Nov. 28 • Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, N.Y.
S Troy Polamalu had a big interception at
the Steelers’ 2 near the end of regulation,
and new K Shaun Suisham kicked four field
goals, including the winning 41-yarder in OT,
to hold off the host Bills. The Steelers got a
break in OT when Bills WR Stevie Johnson
dropped a pass in the end zone.
15
JETS 22
STEELERS 17
Dec. 19, Heinz Field
The Steelers allowed a 97-yard return for
touchdown on the opening kickoff and failed
to score on two passes from the Jets’ 10
as time expired, dropping them to 10-4.
Despite the defeat, the Steelers clinched a
playoff spot and remained tied with the Ravens for first in the AFC North.
THE 17
PLAYOFFS
The Steelers entered as
the No. 2 seed in the AFC
after winning the North
Division. As a result, they
received a first-round bye
into the divisional round
and at least one home game
3
STEELERS 19
TITANS 11
In his first NFL game, rookie Antonio
Brown returned the opening kickoff 89 yards
for a touchdown and Jeff Reed kicked four
field goals to give the Steelers their second
victory in 10 games in the state of Tennessee.
Oct. 17, Heinz Field
PIT TSBURGH POST-GA ZE T TE
THE ROAD TO 13-4
Playing without suspended QB Ben Roethlisberger, Rashard Mendenhall’s 50-yard
touchdown run on the Steelers’ first play
from scrimmage in overtime produced a
win. It was the eighth consecutive seasonopening victory for the Steelers, the longest
streak in the NFL.
STEELERS 28
BROWNS 10
•
STEELERS 27
PANTHERS 3
Dec. 23 • Heinz Field
Roethlisberger and Wallace connected for a
43-yard touchdown pass and Suisham kicked
two field goals as the Steelers moved closer
to the division title with an easy victory in a nationally televised Thursday night game at Heinz Field. The defense had four sacks and held
the Panthers to a season-low 119 yards.
STEELERS 31, RAVENS 24
Jan. 15 • Heinz Field • Divisional Round Game
Safety Ryan Clark forced two turnovers that resulted in a pair of Ben Roethlisberger touchdown passes
and RB Rashard Mendenhall scored the go-ahead
touchdown with 1:33 remaining as the Steelers came
back from a 21-7 halftime deficit to advance to their
fourth AFC championship game in seven years. The
Ravens had just 28 yards offense in the second half
and finished with 126 — the fewest yards allowed by
the Steelers in the postseason since the Minnesota
Vikings had 123 in Super Bowl IX — the team’s first
Super Bowl championship.
4
RAVENS 17
STEELERS 14
Oct. 3 • Heinz Field
Ravens QB Joe Flacco completed four consecutive passes on the final drive, including
the winning, 18-yard touchdown to WR T.J.
Houshmandzadeh with 36 seconds remaining
to allow the visiting Ravens to tie the Steelers
for first place in the AFC North.
8
STEELERS 27
BENGALS 21
Nov. 8 • Paul Brown Stadium,
Cincinnati
The Steelers took a 27-7 fourth-quarter
lead on touchdown passes from Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antwaan Randle El,
then had to hold on for victory as Bengals
rookie WR Jordan Shipley dropped a fourthdown pass at the Steelers’ 5 with less than
a minute remaining.
12
STEELERS 13
RAVENS 10
Dec. 5 • M&T Bank Stadium,
Baltimore
The Steelers took control of the AFC North
when the blitzing Polamalu stripped the ball
from Flacco, leading to Isaac Redman’s winning, 9-yard TD pass from Roethlisberger with
2:51 remaining. Redman caught the ball at the
7 and bounced off two tacklers and into the
end zone as the Steelers improved to 9-3.
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STEELERS 41
BROWNS 9
Jan. 2 • Cleveland
Browns Stadium
The visiting Steelers clinched their NFLbest 20th division title since 1970 when
they jumped to a 31-3 halftime lead behind a
pair of touchdown passes from Roethlisberger. The rout began when Polamalu, returning
from a two-game absence, had an interception on the second play of the game.