Steelers kicker Jeff Reed celebrates his game-winning 37-yard field goal.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Steelers blew it. They should have capitalized on Myron Cope Night by having the diminutive broadcaster lead the team onto the field frantically waving his Terrible Towel. Cope would have had the fans in a frenzy. Heinz Field would have gone wild.
And maybe the Steelers wouldn't have been so flat.
Cope, who retired this season after 35 years as color analyst for Steelers radio broadcasts, got to twirl his towel last night, but only to fire up the crowd for the ABC sign-on to "Monday Night Football." The fans responded with the kind of enthusiasm the Steelers could not muster. The Steelers sleepwalked through the first half, barely playing even with a team that shouldn't be in their class.
The came alive long enough in the second half to eke out a 20-19 victory that was not pretty. Hard to believe this was the same team that slapped Cincinnati, a 6-2 team, silly eight days earlier.
"We did not play our best football game," coach Bill Cowher said. "But we won the game. There's a lot to be said for that."
The Steelers had said all week they respected the Ravens. They said they would not be lulled into complacency by the Ravens' 2-4 record. They maintained the injuries that took All-Pros Ray Lewis and Ed Reed out of the lineup, and which should have ripped the heart out of the Baltimore defense, would not make them lose their focus. They insisted the apparent demise of the once-great running back Jamal Lewis would not affect their concentration.
They lied.
Not even a vintage Steelers drive to start the game -- 15 plays and 79 yards in 8 minutes, 15 seconds -- could inspire this team. Or maybe they thought the rest of the game would be that easy. It wasn't.
What was most galling about the Steelers' struggles was that Anthony Wright was the Baltimore quarterback. Wright was an undrafted free agent who made the Steelers in 1999. He had a strong arm but soon went the way of most No. 3 quarterbacks. He bounced around the league for years and became the Baltimore starter only after Kyle Boller was injured. He wasn't reminding anyone of a Pro Bowl quarterback, but for much of the game he was pretty much matching Ben Roethlisberger.
The only thing that might have hurt more was if a certain Ravens backup came on to play quarterback. That really would have rocked Heinz Field. But it never happened. Kordell Stewart watched the entire game from the sideline.
The difference between Wright and Roethlisberger was this: Wright couldn't take his team in for a score on his final drive and Roethlisberger did.
How bad was it?
Consider:
On the second play of the second quarter, with the Ravens backed up to their 1 after a Roethlisberger punt, Lewis ran for 7 yards and fumbled. The Steelers recovered and had a first-and-10 on the Baltimore 12. But on a third-and-10 Roethlisberger was sacked for a 12-yard loss. What looked to be an easy touchdown, turned into only three points as Jeff Reed kicked a 42-yard field goal.
Holding a one-point lead with about six minutes remaining, the snap intended for punter Chris Gardocki dribbled off the leg up upback Sean Morey when long snapper Greg Warren misunderstood a verbal signal. The miscue led to a 47-yard field goal that gave the Ravens the lead.
The Steelers' game plan was unusual and, in fact, was a reversal of the very strategy that has been the hallmark of Cowher's success. Instead of the run, the Steelers emphasized the pass, particularly early in the game.
"We knew they'd have eight men in the box and we wanted to loosen them up," Cowher said.
So while Willie Parker was averaging 5 yards a carry in the first half, the focus of the offense was Roethlisberger, who threw 17 times.
"It worked on the first drive," Cowher said. Roethlisberger completed 6 of 7 on that drive but hit on only three of his next 10.
For the game, Roethlisberger completed 18 of 30 for 177 yards and two touchdowns. He was brilliant on a third-quarter drive when he threw six consecutive completions, the final one of which was good for 8 yards and a touchdown to Heath Miller.
He was almost as good on the final drive, passing 14 yards to Antwaan Randle El and 23 to Quincy Morgan to help set up Reed's 37-yard winner.
The Steelers play hapless Green Bay Sunday. They would be wise to pay closer attention than they apparently did to Baltimore.
(Post-Gazette sports columnist Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1468.)
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