By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Jeff Reed kicks the winning 24-yard field goal last night to give the Steelers a 3-0 victory over Miami.
A month from now, when the NFL stamps a team's ticket to the playoffs, no one will care that the Steelers' 3-0 win against the dreadful and still winless Miami Dolphins last night was no Mozart.
An ugly win in the mud on a rainy November night means just as much as one on a sparkling summer day in early September.
"No one is going to put an asterisk on it, that's for sure," Steelers defensive end Aaron Smith said. "They're not going to say it came on a muddy field against a team that hasn't won. No one is going to care."
That was one of the two overriding emotions in the winning locker room late last night. This was the other: "This sure feels better than that game last week," cornerback Deshea Townsend said, grinning as he headed off into the early morning.
That would be the loss to the lowly New York Jets.
The loss that made this game so important to the Steelers.
Nothing less than control of the AFC North Division and maybe even a playoff spot was at stake.
Who says a 3-0 win can't be a Mozart?
"Give it back? I don't think so," Smith said. "In conditions like that, all you want to do is win. You're not going to look pretty doing it."
Peter Diana / Post-Gazette
Outside linebacker James Harrison causes Dolphins' quarterback John Beck to fumble in the 4th quarter. (vs. Dolphins 11/26/07)
The Steelers knew the deal when they headed out into the slop. They had to regroup after that hurtful loss to the Jets. They needed to do it for their mental well-being, sure. You lose one week to the one-win Jets and lose the next to the no-win Dolphins, it's pretty hard to be confident about your chances of surviving the rest of the season, let alone competing for the Super Bowl. But the Steelers also had to get it together for another, equally important reason. The Cleveland Browns.
You might say the Browns are coming. They've won five of their past six games -- the lone loss to the Steelers -- to make a race of it again in the AFC North. They also have a much easier remaining schedule. They would have been the team to beat down the stretch if the Steelers had lost to the Dolphins.
You better believe the Steelers heard those footsteps and, at the end of a long, dreary night, found a way to take care of some very critical business.
Send your thank-you cards to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Hines Ward. Three times on the winning drive, they combined for pass gains of 21, 6 and 11 yards. The footing was lousy for everyone else, but it seemed just fine for Ward, who finished with nine catches for 88 yards. Big Ben didn't have many problems, either. He finished 18 of 21 for 165 yards.
"In clutch time, Ben kept saying to me, 'Make a play,' " Ward said. "It felt good to contribute."
While you're digging out those thank-you cards, write out another to the Steelers' defense. "They won this game for us," Ward said. "No one can win if you shut 'em out."
Steelers kicker Jeff Reed made sure the game didn't go into overtime and maybe even end 0-0 when he found one of the few pieces of secure turf to boot a 24-yard field goal with 17 seconds left.
Just like that, the Steelers (8-3) still had their one-game lead over the Browns (7-4) plus the tiebreaking edge.
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
WIde receiver Cedrick Wilson catches a pass in front of Dolphins' cornerback Michael Lehan. (vs. Dolphins 11/26/07)
Sure, you can argue the home team didn't deserve this one. Its mistakes -- not the relentless rain and rotten condition of the new sod that Steelers management put down Saturday night as a sign of surrender after the four WPIAL championship games and the Pitt-South Florida game earlier in the weekend -- was responsible for the game being scoreless for so long.
There was a Roethlisberger interception deep in Miami territory, to Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter no less. "You know Joey was loving that pick," said Steelers linebacker Larry Foote, still a close friend even though Porter has moved on. "His mouth was moving so fast you couldn't understand him. But you know he was talking trash. He was screaming."
There were five sacks of Roethlisberger, critical penalties on running back Najeh Davenport and tight end Heath Miller, and a missed 44-yard field goal by Reed, although that really could be blamed on the steady rain and the new grass.
The Steelers were fortunate that Reed found better footing at the other end of the big stadium at the very end.
Those sighs of relief you heard early this morning came from their locker room. "It's like coach [Mike] Tomlin always says, 'Style points don't matter,' " Miller said.
And those groans of disappointment?
They were coming from Cleveland.
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on November 27, 2007 at 12:04 am
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