Lightning throws jolt into Steelers during loss to Eagles
PITTSBURGH – The black cloud over Latrobe followed the Pittsburgh Steelers to Heinz Field and caused a 31-minute delay in their preseason home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles won the game, 21-16, but a lone lightning bolt was the talk.
“I did see it,” said coach Bill Cowher. “It was right over the scoreboard. It was very vivid.”
The officials didn’t waste any time in suspending play and sending the players to the locker room at 9:50 p.m. as the remaining fans moved under cover.
The players waited in the tunnel while first-year referee Walt Anderson contacted the National Weather Service and the National Football League. The former told Anderson the electrical portion of the storm had passed and the latter told him it was best if the game proceeded.
“They did the right thing,” Cowher said. “They wanted to make sure it was cleared out and I’m glad we got the game in.”
At the time of the interruption, the Eagles were holding a 21-13 lead with 9:48 left in the third quarter and the Steelers facing a fourth-and-18 from their own 34. It didn’t take long, however, to clear the field.
“The first thing I did was get my headset off, and then I went into the tunnel like everybody else,” Cowher said. “Hey, you were at St. Vincent that day. It doesn’t take long.”
Last Tuesday, during practice on the hilltop cornfield, a storm came over the Laurel Mountains and wiped out practice. Cowher calmly conducted interviews as lightning flashed and wind swirled. He wasn’t so calm Saturday night.
“I did see it and I had the same reaction everybody on that field had. I mean, we were getting out of there,” he said. “Then I realized it wasn’t like practice. We had to hang around.”
The players waited in the tunnel before Anderson ordered the resumption of play. Both sides went through a couple of quick sprints before lining up and snapping the ball at 10:21 p.m. Jonathan Ruffin’s 46-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter accounted for the game’s only points after the interruption.
“I’ve never been involved in anything like that,” said quarterback Tommy Maddox. “It was kind of a weird feeling.”
“That’s the first time I ever had a postponement in a game, ever,” said running back Jerome Bettis. “I didn’t see the lightning. It was behind me, unfortunately. But, hey, if you’re going to stop the game you’ve got to stop it and err on the side of caution, and I think they did that.”
The Steelers have dealt with the havoc the bad weather has wreaked upon their schedule throughout training camp. For that reason, Cowher didn’t feel his team was affected by the storm Saturday night.
“It didn’t bother us at all. That’s the way we’ve been operating, kind of on standby and ready to go with whatever the decision is,” he said. “But I think once the rain came, and we went off the field and came back out, it was kind of hard to get going for both teams.”
The cumulative effect of the rainy weather and poor practice conditions has bothered the Steelers, according to Cowher. His offensive leaders agreed with the assertion made by Cowher late last week.
“Definitely,” Maddox said. “We’ve had to work very hard at the end of [last] week to kind of catch up and I think everybody’s done that. We’ve just got to continue to go up as this preseason winds down and get ready for that opener.”
“Everything’s been kind of quirky,” said Bettis. “We haven’t really gotten a lot of good work in so it’s been kind of unfortunate.”
How far behind is the offense?
“That’s hard to say,” Bettis said. “I’m not a coach and I don’t really gauge where we are, but I know we’re not where we need to be. There’s the rain, but there’s also the injuries. There are a lot of different things that cause that. The offense is always going to be a little bit behind the defense by nature, but we know we’re not there yet. We’ve got to keep going.”