23
22The story coming into the game was the “new rules” about head-to-head hits. This past week, we participated in a panel of bloggers over at Blitzburgh Blog on the topic of James Harrison being a dirty player.
The Dolphins made the Steelers wear their black jerseys this year, making it the 3rd straight road game the Steelers have had to wear the black jerseys. They won the first two.
First Quarter
Emmanuel Sanders gets hit in the head on the kick return. Wonder if there will be a fine? Probably not. Sanders fumbles and the Dolphins recover.
The Steelers defense holds the Dolphins to 1 yard and force the field goal. Great stand by the Defense.
0-3
The Steelers offense does nothing and Ben tries to flick a pass to Redman under pressure, but the ball comes out early and it’s ruled a fumble. Another turnover by the Steelers deep in Dolphins territory.
The defense holds once again on 3 straight run plays, forcing another field goal.
0-6
Ben hits Heath on a double-pump slant route to get things rolling on the next drive. Mendenhall gets two carries to get us to 3rd and 2, but Redman gets stoned in the B-gap. Punt.
Aaron Smith stonewalls Ronnie Brown in the backfield on 2nd down and pressure from Woodley forces a throw-away from Henne on 3rd. Punt.
A holding call sets the offense back, but two check-downs to Mewelde Moore are able to pick up the first down. Moore gets a few chances to tote the rock and dances his way out near the 40. Ben gets things rolling hitting El Yeah for 12 more to get across the 50. Ben goes to the no huddle but a holding call sets things back. Ben does his Ben thing and scrambles out of pressure and floats on in to Ward for a big 43 yard game on 3rd and 23. After a run to get down to the 6, Arians goes to the Bubble Screen well once again, and guess what? It goes nowhere once again. Someone needs to take a pair of scissors to the playbook and cut that play out.
Second Quarter
Arians goes 5-wide and the Dolphins bring heat, forcing Ben to dump it down quick to Miller who can’t reach the end zone. Reed drills it.
3-6
Jason Worlids makes his case for Special Teams player of the year, making another tackle on kick coverage.
Henne completes his first pass of the game, hitting Marshall for 12 yards. Miami apparently is using the Arians playbook too, as they run the bubble screen and B-Mac and Woodley blow it up, forcing a fumble that falls right into the hands of Farrior.
Mendenhall rumbles for a solid gain to get inside the 20. Ben overthrows two passes to bring up a key 3rd down. Ben stands in under pressure and slings it to Hines on the right sideline who makes a move past a defender, picks up a key block from Emmanuel Sanders and hits paydirt.
10-6
Henne hits a few passes and is able to march the Dolphins down the field, getting inside the 10 on a check-down pass to Ronnie Brown. The defense locks it down and keeps the Fins out of the end zone.
10-9
Manny Sanders breaks off a good return, starting the Steelers in great field position just shy of midfield. Ben wastes no time going for the kill shot, airing it out to Mike Wallace hanging out on Jimmy Buffet’s boat for the score.
17-9
The Steelers look poised for force another 3-and-out but Henne stands in and throws one to Hartline to move the sticks. The Dolphins pick up some momentum off the first down, hitting a few more passes to move down the field as the clock winds down to two minutes.
Two Minute Warning
Henne is able to just step out of a Polamalu blitz and hits Davone Bess in the flat who gets by Willie Gay and gets past Ryan Clark to get into the end zone. Poor tackling effort by the defense there.
17-16
Manny Sanders puts together another good return giving us good field position for the 2-minute offense. Hines Ward makes a hell of a catch leaping over a defender to reel one in and get the drive moving.
What a player.
Moore picks up a few more on a check down, then Arians shoots us in the foot by calling a reverse when we’re on the fringe of field goal range. Moore gets blown up in the backfield before he can even hand it off to Wallace, knocking us out of field goal range. Ben gets sacked on 3rd down and that’s the end of the half. Another game with poor clock management at the end of a half.
Third Quarter
Miami grinds out a first down before Larry Foote blows through the A gap and wrecks Chad Henne.
BOOM.
Jason Worlids makes two nice moves to get pressure on Henne, forcing two check-downs and forcing a punt. Worlids is looking great for a rookie.
Probably going to start calling Worlids “Powerman” from now on.
Manny Sanders steps up on 3rd down once again, pulling in a big catch across the middle to move the chains. That’s 3 third down conversions for Sanders in 2 games. Ben goes play-action and hits Hines for a big gain then goes back to Hines two plays later to move the chains again and get into the red zone. The offense sputters out and Reed nails it.
20-16
The next drive starts with CBS showing us Aaron Smith walking off the field with his arm wrapped in ice. Bad news for the defense. The refs finally call a holding call on someone blocking James Harrison to set the Dolphins back, but they are able to use the run game against our nickel defense and are able to grind out another first down. The Dolphins pick their way down the field and into the red zone, but the defense forces a bad throw on 3rd and 2, holding the Fins to another field goal in the red zone.
20-19
Mendenhall is able to get the Steelers into a 3rd and favorable on a swing pass as the quarter ends.
Fourth Quarter
Ben can’t find a receiver on 3rd down and it’s Sepulveda time.
The Dolphins dig their way into 3rd and short against a battered Steelers defense. Larry Foote comes from the backside gap and brings down Ronnie Brown in the backfield for a big defensive stand at midfield. Miami opts to punt it back to the Steelers.
The Steelers look like they’re going to crap on themselves again, but Ben is able to step away from pressure and zings one in to Heath over the middle to move the sticks on 3rd and 9. Ben gets sacked again on 3rd down and fumbles, but luckily Pouncey is there to grab the ball. Sepulveda.
Henne goes right to the air, hitting Brian Hartline for another big gain to get up to midfield. The Dolphins pick up an A-gap blitz and Henne is able to find his tight end for a big rumble down the sideline to get inside the 30. The defense is able to lock it down and Carpenter sneaks a field goal inside the right post to put the Fins back on top.
20-22
Manny Sanders makes another nice kickoff return getting out across the 50 yard line to start the drive with just over 5 minutes to play. Mendenhall picks up a few then Ben hits Hines to get us into 3rd and 5. The Fins bring the heat and Ben dumps it down to Moore who has the entire field in front of him and is able to scamper all the way down to the 14. A bonehead personal foul on the Dolphins gives the Steelers a first and goal at the 5. Moore and Redman get carries to get down to the 2. Ben keeps it on 3rd and goal and dives for the line. The initial ruling is a touchdown but Miami challenges.
Ball was clearly out before he broke the plane.
They rule the ball came out before Ben got to the goal line but there was not conclusive evidence of a recovery so the Steelers get the ball at the half yard line. Excellent by-the-book call by referee Gene Steratore. Fourth and goal. Tomlin elects to kick and Reed nails it.
23-22
Ronnie Brown gets 2 and Fasano drops one as the clock hits 2:00. Miami used up all their timeouts on the Steelers last drive, bringing up a huge 3rd down on the other side of the break.
Two Minute Warning
Willie Gay makes a great play to bring down Polite off the check-down to bring up 4th and 6.
JASON “POWERMAN” WORLIDS GETS TO HENNE and the ball flops to the turf.
VICTORY FORMATION.
GAME, BITCHES.
Players of the Game
Offensive Game Ball: Ben Roethlisberger
Defensive Game Ball: Jason Worlids
Honorable Mentions:
Mike Wallace
Hines Ward
Heath Miller
Larry Foote
Mewelde Moore
Ike Taylor
James Harrison
James Farrior
Hines Ward
Heath Miller
Larry Foote
Mewelde Moore
Ike Taylor
James Harrison
James Farrior
Mr. Yuck Sticker of the Game
Injuries
The Steelers faced a bit of adversity today when LaMarr Woodley tweaked his hamstring. They responded well, using Lawrence Timmons at OLB on 1st and 2nd downs and Jason Worlids as a pass rusher on 3rd downs. The more devastating injury is Aaron Smith’s torn triceps. Smith is out for the year. That’s just killer. It’s no coincidence that the Dolphins started running on us after Smith went out. We drafted Ziggy Hood in the first round last year and now it’s time for him to step up. He’s played well in a substitute role, but more weight is going to be put on his shoulders the rest of this season. Big opportunity for Ziggy.
Final Thoughts
- That was Ben Roethlisberger’s 18th career Fourth Quarter Comeback and 22nd career Game-Winning Drive.
- Early word is that Aaron Smith is out for the year with a torn triceps.
- Gotta hope that LaMarr Woodley, and Flozell Adams are okay.
- Have to throw out some props to my dad. Was watching the game with my family and my dad was all over that call at the end. During the review he said that there needed to be conclusive evidence of a recovery.
- People are going to whine and complain about the call on the review but guess what? It was the right call. Great explanation by Gene Steratore.
- Great tackle on Lusaka Polite by Willie Gay on the last drive on 3rd down. Held him to a short gain and kept him in bounds to keep the clock moving.
- How much can you say about Ike Taylor? He held Brandon Marshall to 5 catches and 57 yards. He also led the team in tackles today.
- Lawrence Timmons. Pro Bowl player. Period.
- Mewelde Moore had his best game of the year. Looked good running the ball and made some big catches on 3rd down to move the chains.
- Good to see Ben and Heath hooking up as well. Heath moved into second place on the all-time Steelers TE list for receiving yards.
- LeBron sucks.
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