Garvin becomes hero by doing his job
No, Terence Garvin wasn’t trying to fracture the punter’s jaw.
It just worked out that way.
And he was a bonafide hero in the Steelers locker room after Sunday night’s stunningly easy 30-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Garvin, you’ll likely recall, is the undrafted rookie from West Virginia who won an audition with the Steelers for a spot in training camp. It was thought then that his best chance was a spot on the practice squad, but Garvin again defied the odds and won a spot on the final 53-man roster.
He had played mostly on special teams through this season, but got some spot looks as an inside linebacker.
Then, with the nation watching, he cleared a path for Antonio Brown’s 67-yard punt return for a touchdown by “hitting the first guy I saw.”
Turns out, the guy was Bengals punter Kevin Huber, who probably felt he could make up for dropping a snap earlier in the game by tackling Brown and preventing a Steelers touchdown. Instead, he came face-to-face with Garvin.
Inside linebacker beats punter in most cases, including this one.
“If somebody’s trying to break it free and you feel like you can finalize the break, that’s what I was doing, trying to finalize the break,” Garvin said.
As it turned out, Garvin not only finalized Brown’s break into the clear, he finalized Huber’s night with a crushing block that sent the punter sprawling backward and to the turf. Huber was attended to by the Bengals medical staff and left the field under his own power, but with a fractured jaw. Huber also was tested for concussion symptoms. His injury forced placekicker Mike Nugent into emergency duty as a punter.
Think Brown appreciated the work of Garvin and his special teams buddies?
“Special teams was key,” Brown said. “We were able to get their punter out of the game and their kicker was punting about 33 yards per punt, so that helped us in field position.”
While the Steelers special teams excelled, it was Cincinnati’s special teams units that had kind of inspired the Steelers. “They came in, their punter had a real good average, their field goal kicker’s banging game-winners, they’re blocking kicks,” Garvin said.Playoffs?
Without invoking the famous Jim Mora quote, here’s what it would take for the Steelers to qualify for the NFL playoffs.
Obviously, the Steelers have to win their last two games. They also must finish in a tie with at least two other teams at 8-8.
The possibilities are the Jets and Miami or the Ravens and Jets.
If the Steelers end up tied with the Jets and Miami for the final playoff berth, Pittsburgh would advance because all ties within a division are broken first and the Jets would knock Miami out and the Steelers would edge the Jets based on their head-to-head win in October.
If the Steelers, Ravens and Jets all finish 8-8, the Steelers would eliminate Baltimore, based on a better record against common opponents.