Most wonderful time of the year? Not quite.
The Steelers have been on a roll and surprised everybody by getting a shot at home field advantage Sunday, but the Titans were having none of it and handed the Stees their worst loss in over a year (h/t).
No complaining…this game isn’t going to be an excuse come playoff time so don’t whine. One seed isn’t going to determine whether or not the Steelers win the AFC. That type of thinking is garbage, especially with a porous offensive line and a turnover-prone QB, there are bigger things to worry about.
Onto the painful recap…
FIRST QUARTER
Things go well early for the Steelers. They are owning field position and get two shots to start drives from midfield.
But the first one stalls.
No problem, the Steelers march right down the field a few minutes later.
1st and Goal from the 3 yard line. Parker gets stuffed for a 1 yard and 3 yard loss. All of a sudden it is 3rd and Goal.
Ben tries to scramble across the goal line, but gets nailed by some guy and fumbles. Titans ball.
A bad omen to start the game…if it was meant to be, the Steelers go up 7-0 and don’t look back. It’s a safe bet that this game is totally different if the Steelers strike first.
Should have been 10-0 Steelers at this point, but the offense laid an egg.
SECOND QUARTER
Former Steeler Rob Bironas kicks a field goal shortly into the second.
3-0 Tennessee.
No big deal, Steelers have been down before. Cortland Fagagain shows how good of a player he is by taking another dumb penalty. If a good football player is a half-white defensive back who takes at least 1 personal foul penalty a game, then yeah, Tennessee has a winner.
But Big Ben fumbles again when he is stripped in the pocket. Same old.
Ben loves them.
Tennessee gets a free play when Woodley jumps offsides. Kerry Collins throws a pass from his walker and Justin Gage hauls it in for big time TD.
10-0 Tennessee.
The Steelers make the second half worth watching when Ben chucks a ball deep down the sideline and Holmes makes one of the better grabs of the year in the endzone. Shame a play like that was wasted in a game like today.
10-7 Tennessee .
HALFTIME
Happy Holidays
THIRD QUARTER
Hines Ward goes nuts and catches back to back 21 yard passes from Ben, the second one for a clutch TD. It felt like the Steelers had finally broke through. But this would be the top of the mountain for the day.
14-10 Pittsburgh.
All year long, the Steelers defense had bailed out the offense. The offense was business as usual, turning the ball over 4 times…but this was one game that the Steelers D didn’t bring their A game either.
Say what you want about Kerry Collins, but if you could pick one QB to absolutely shred the Steelers defense in a “crucial” game, he wouldn’t be it.
Collins completes seven passes in a crushing drive capped by Chris Johnson scoring on a long 4th down run. Johnson saw only Ike Taylor between him and the endzone, and Ike was on his back quicker than Paris Hilton.
Johnson starts showing off at the 15 yard line and almost hands the ball to Troy Polamalu, which would have been more satisfying than your wildest dreams.
Stooge play of the year.
17-10 Tennessee.
Roethlisberger serves up another pick and the Titans take advantage of another short field after converting a 4th down. Familar much?
Some fat guy runs it in, ties Earl Campbell’s TD record, and Titans fans cream their diapers. Seeing LenDale White mentioned in the same breath as Campbell just made NFL fans vomit everywhere.
FOURTH QUARTER
Nothing more to say here.
Ben gets sacked some more, fumbles a few more times, and throws another interception.
Ryan Clark hurts his shoulder and Titans fans point and laugh. When Justin Gage gets the Wes Welker Treatment in the playoffs, you’ll know why.
Who is Keith Bulluck?
FINAL: 31-14 Tennessee
Notes:
+ Teams have bad games. It happens to everybody.
+ The Steelers won’t win a single playoff game if they turn the ball over 4 times. You can’t get away with that against playoff teams like Tennessee.
+ It’s all up to Ben and the offensive line. We’ll go as far as they take us.
+ Cortland Finnegan & LenDale White = Dumb jocks from high school gym class
+ Harrison broke the Steelers single season sack record today. He doesn’t care about it, so neither do we.
+ Ken Dorsey and the Browns are in for a world of hurt next week.
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