Steelers’ furious rally leaves Browns stunned
PITTSBURGH – The Steelers stole victory from the jaws of defeat Sunday with an improbable, implausible 36-33 win over the Cleveland Browns in an AFC wild-card playoff game at Heinz Field. This game had more ups, downs and turnarounds than a week at Kennywood Park.
Pittsburgh trailed throughout the game and was behind 33-21 with 10:17 remaining. To say things looked bleak would be a gross understatement.
But the Steelers persevered and live to play another day. Pittsburgh will carry an 11-5-1 record into a divisional playoff game at Tennessee at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. A win there would place Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game eight days later.
Pittsburgh scored the game’s last 15 points to cruise into the next round.
“What a game,” Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. “We gave up some big plays, but this team has shown so much resiliency this season. I think that showed throughout the game, but it really came out in the fourth quarter. The bottom line is we have been making plays when we need to make plays.”
Cleveland drew first blood on a 1-yard touchdown run by William Green with 13:44 remaining in the first quarter. Cowher had a pass completion to Kevin Johnson overturned on replay, but on the next play, quarterback Kelly Holcomb passed again to Johnson, this time for 83 yards and a first-and-goal at the Steelers’ 1-yard line.
“That play was a miscommunication,” Cowher said. “Hank Poteat thought he was playing a different coverage. Kelly Holcomb hit some big plays down the field against us.”
Cleveland struck again early in the second quarter when Antwaan Randle El muffed a Chris Gardocki punt and Chris Akins recovered for Cleveland. On the next play, Holcomb passed to Dennis Northcutt for a 32-yard touchdown to extend the Browns’ lead to 14-0.
Randle El atoned for his mistake by taking Gardocki’s next punt 66 yards for a touchdown 9:35 before halftime to cut Cleveland’s lead to 14-7. It was the longest postseason punt return and the first in the postseason for a touchdown in Steelers history.
Phil Dawson’s 31-yard field goal with 49 seconds remaining in the first half extended the Browns’ lead to 17-7. It capped a 10-play, 41-yard drive.
Jeff Reed’s 46-yard field goal attempt at the end of the half was wide left.
Cleveland took it to the Steelers early in the third quarter. Jerome Bettis was stopped for a 2-yard loss on third-and-1, then Northcutt returned Tom Rouen’s punt 59 yards to the Steelers’ 14-yard line. Then, on third-and-11, Holcomb passed to Northcutt for a 15-yard touchdown to extend the Browns’ lead to 24-7 with 12:11 remaining in the third quarter.
“At that point, it was still early on and you still had a lot of time left,” Cowher said. “We just kept playing and chipping away at it.”
Hank Poteat was beaten on Cleveland’s first two long plays, but this time it was safety Mike Logan who was beaten by Northcutt to the left corner of the end zone.
Logan atoned for his mistake, too, with an interception of a Holcomb pass intended for Johnson, but it was up to the Steelers offense to take advantage of Logan’s play.
“I think Mike’s interception was really what got us going,” receiver Hines Ward said. “We went to the hurry-up and it kind of jump-started us.”
Pittsburgh went to the hurry-up offense with 7:35 left in the third quarter and got three first downs, moving to Cleveland’s 30-yard line. Then Maddox passed to Randle El for 24 yards to a first-and-goal at the 6. Maddox passed to Burress for the touchdown with 3:50 remaining in the third and, after the play was upheld on review, the Steelers had trimmed the Browns’ lead to 24-14.
Pittsburgh’s drive not only tightened the score, but also woke up the restless fans, all 62,595 of them, in Heinz Field. Holcomb quieted them quickly, when he passed to Andre’ Davis for 43 yards to Pittsburgh’s 27-yard line. The Browns moved to the 15-yard line and Holcomb ran to the 11. From there, Cleveland settled for Dawson’s 24-yard field goal and a 27-14 lead with 14:52 remaining.
Maddox quickly marched Pittsburgh down the field and into the end zone. He passed three times to Randle El, then capped the drive with a 3-yard scoring pass to tight end Jerame Tuman and with 12:28 still on the clock, Pittsburgh trailed by six, 27-21.
Holcomb then passed to Davis for a 22-yard touchdown to make Cleveland’s lead 33-21 with 10:17 remaining. The touchdown play capped a 5-play, 61-yard drive. It also appeared the Browns didn’t get the play off before the play clock expired, but no flag was thrown.
“Somebody said that, but I was watching the play,” Cowher said of the play clock.
The Browns then helped the Steelers move into scoring position with three defensive penalties on a drive that carried the Steelers to a first-and-goal at the Browns’ 5-yard line. Maddox passed to Ward for the 5-yard touchdown that made it 33-28 with 3:06 remaining.
On its next possession, Cleveland inexplicably called two passing plays, both incomplete, to save the Steelers a timeout. Pittsburgh got the ball back with 2:35 remaining, with one timeout plus the two-minute warning.
“Even at that point, I thought maybe we scored too quickly,” Cowher admitted. “I was thinking about an onside kick then, but even if we stop them, we would have given up field position. We decided to just put the pressure on the defense and let them get the ball back for us. They (Cleveland) helped us a little bit by throwing it twice.”
Maddox passed to Burress for 24 yards to Cleveland’s 37, then passed incomplete to Burress at the two-minute warning, which came officially at 1:56. Maddox passed to Ward for 10 yards, then hit Burress for 17 to a first-and-goal at the 10-yard line. Maddox passed to Ward for 7 yards to the Browns’ 3-yard line and called timeout with 58 seconds remaining.
Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala then ran for a 3-yard touchdown to give Pittsburgh its first lead of the game, 34-33, with 54 seconds remaining. Randle El passed to Tuman for a two-point conversion to extend their lead to 36-33.
“The safety came down in the box,” Fuamatu-Ma’afala said. “He set up to the right and as soon as I saw that I went back to the right.”
“I didn’t even see that play,” safety Lee Flowers said. “I was praying at that point.”
Holcomb tried to rally the Browns to a tying field goal. He hit Andre King for 16 yards from the Steeler 45, but the wide receiver couldn’t dive out of bounds in time to stop the clock.
And so it goes in this most unpredictable of NFL seasons. It continues at least another week for the Steelers.