Nov 25, 2002 By Jim Wexell For The 5 min read

PITTSBURGH – The city’s new darling, rookie kicker Jeff Reed, apparently wanted to re-pay the fans at Heinz Field for their cheers Sunday by missing an extra point late in the fourth quarter. Everybody got their money’s worth as the Cincinnati Bengals roared down the stretch, down by only eight points with 2:53 left to play.

The Bengals returned the kickoff to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 31, converted a 4th-and-3 play and found themselves with a 1st-and-goal at the Steelers’ 5 after Corey Dillon ran 8 yards.

“I’m pretty sure it was in everybody’s head, ‘Here we go again. How did we let this happen?'” said linebacker Joey Porter.

To the beleaguered Steelers defense, the Bengals were the Atlanta Falcons all over again. Heck, the Bengals did it last season, too. So a Steelers team that had put up a dizzying statistic for not blowing big leads throughout the Bill Cowher era was now in danger of blowing its second big lead in three weeks.

“It’s a time when you say, ‘Enough is enough,'” Porter said. “We should’ve been off the field a long time ago, but it just kept biting us, those third-down situations. We had to step up and make a play and guys kept plugging away and it finally happened for us. Guys made plays.”

Brent Alexander made the first one. On 1st-and-goal from the five, Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna passed to Ron Dugans, and Alexander, the free safety, batted the pass away.

“I probably should have caught it,” Alexander said. “In practice I probably would’ve caught it, but in the game situation you just want to make sure he doesn’t catch it.”

So on second down, Kitna threw incomplete to Peter Warrick with Deshea Townsend defending. A footnote to the play was Chad Scott. The Steelers’ left cornerback stuck his head in the play and came out of it feeling woozy.

“I jammed my neck a little bit,” Scott said. “I was alright.”

But the defensive coaches weren’t so sure. Taking a timeout was considered. “I thought he was OK,” said defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, who was up in the booth at the time. “So we went ahead and called the next play.”

And it may have been the best play Lewis called all day. A blitz that had been put in for the game was ripe for the 3rd-and-goal play. Porter blitzed up the middle to free defensive end Rodney Bailey, who came free and hit Kitna as he was throwing. The pass, intended for Chad Johnson, who was being defended by the woozy Scott, wobbled harmlessly away.

On 4th-and-5, the Bengals spread the field with receivers, but still had the dangerous Dillon in the backfield. Last week, Eddie George of the Tennessee Titans ran 4 yards against the Steelers’ dime defense for a touchdown. That play was on Lewis’ mind.

“I actually thought they were going to run there, based on what Tennessee did to us last week,” he said. “When they brought Dillon back in, I thought it was coming.”

Instead, Kitna dropped back and looked for Johnson, who was one-on-one with Scott. The pass was a “back fade” and Scott knocked it from Johnson’s arms to seal the Steelers’ win.

“The only way you can play it is if you see the ball thrown,” Scott said. “I just kept my eye on the ball and got my hand on it.”

Scott walked away, seemingly unfazed by the fact that he’d just clinched the 29-21 win.

“That’s just the life of a corner,” he explained. “Sometimes they make plays and they catch a ball and you’re terrible. Then you make a good play and you’re great. You’ve got to keep everything smooth. I don’t ride an emotional roller coaster.”

While Scott stayed cool on the field, his coordinator breathed a sigh of relief in the press box. The final drive was that nerve-wracking.

“Tremendously so, absolutely,” said Lewis. “I don’t have any hair left. I sat up there and pulled it all out.” The defense bent but did not break. It allowed 352 yards and 21 points, nearly exact as the season averages.

“But it comes down to wins and losses,” Porter said. “It was an ugly win in peoples’ eyes, but we won the game. I’ll take ’em all like that.”

An added plus, perhaps, is that the defense, which had allowed 48 points in its previous six quarters of play, has something upon which to build.

“We’re definitely going to regain the confidence, but I’m not going to say that fixed every problem,” said Alexander. “It’s still the situational game – knowing the down and distance and everything and knowing how to respond to different situations – that we’ve got to continue to work on. But what better time to respond than with the whole game, basically, was on the line?”