By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
James Harrison's interception late in the first half snuffed out a Chargers scoring threat and kept the score at 7-5 going into halftime.
One week, almost to the minute, after Ben Roethlisberger gave validity to the widely held belief that quarterbacks get too much credit in victory and too much blame in defeat by pronouncing himself the reason for a Steelers loss, the San Diego Chargers' Philip Rivers had a chance to do the same and passed.
That doesn't take Rivers off the hook.
Rivers didn't play as ugly a game in an 11-10 loss to the Steelers at Heinz Field yesterday as Roethlisberger did a week earlier, but there's no denying the fact that with just slightly better quarterback play the Chargers could have won.
Instead, they took a loss to fall to 4-6, which left this one-time AFC favorite all but close to being out of playoff contention.
What a shocking turnaround for a team that at one point in the season was the favorite to win the AFC. No team in football should have taken more heart from the year-ending injury of New England quarterback Tom Brady in the first game of the season than the Chargers. They lost in the AFC title game to New England last season, and with Brady out the favorite's role fell to the them.
Although not for long. They immediately shed that role by losing their first two games. In the weak AFC West, their only hope to make the playoffs is overtaking the Denver Broncos, who hold a two-game lead and have a win against the Chargers. The West Division will not likely produce a wild-card team.
The Chargers' defense, which came into the game ranked 26th in the NFL, did its job, holding the Steelers without a touchdown. But the highly regarded offense could not take advantage.
Rivers came into the game with the second-highest passer rating in the NFL, a superlative 106.4. He has thrown 21 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions.
He met his match against the Steelers defense. His rating yesterday was 43.6, on 15 completions in 26 attempts for 159 yards and two interceptions.
It was the interception he threw late in the first half that turned the game around. Instead of taking the Chargers in for a score on a first and 10 from the Steelers' 17, he threw a pass that was intercepted by James Harrison with about 90 seconds remaining in the half. Following a 33-yard return by Harrison, the Steelers got three points on a Jeff Reed field goal by moving 54 yards in eight plays.
It was at least a six-point swing.
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu intercepts a pass by San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers in the first half of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008.(AP)
If that wasn't enough, earlier in the quarter Rivers committed the ultimate quarterback error by holding the ball too long in the end zone and allowing the Steelers a safety.
Forget about the six-point swing, those two points cost the Chargers the game.
On the interception, San Diego coach Norv Turner felt wide receiver Vincent Jackson was open.
"It was hard to tell where he was throwing the ball," said Turner, "but he was throwing for the back corner and the ball got away from him. I thought when the play started it was going to be a touchdown. It was the right decision to throw the ball to Vincent but it didn't get there."
Rivers said, "That's one of those you can't really explain. It stayed in my hand too long. I had Vincent there. It was just a poor throw.
"There's no other explanation for it other than the ball got away from me.
"That was another opportunity for us. We could have got a TD or at least three, it turns out they score."
The safety came early in the second quarter after the Chargers had held the Steelers on downs on their 2. On second down, from his 3, Rivers went back to pass.
"They came at us pretty good," he said. "I was trying to buy a little time. In hindsight, you wish you would have tried to get out of there and live for another day."
The man doing the hitting was the omnipresent Harrison, who forced Rivers to fumble. The fumble was recovered in the end zone by San Diego tackle Marcus McNeill, who was tackled for the safety by, of course, Harrison.
The Chargers were saying all the right things about their season.
"Our mind-set is to keep fighting," said linebacker Shaun Phillips.
Maybe there is a miracle turnaround in store for the Chargers. But if there's not, they'll remember this game in Pittsburgh and with it know just how important the play of a quarterback can be.
Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.
First published on November 17, 2008 at 12:00 am
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