Two times this season the Steelers defense couldn’t get things done in the fourth quarter of games they were leading in. Sunday vs the undefeated Vikings, they not only got the job done, but put up two huge scores to cement a 27-17 win over Brett Favre and a Minnesota team was was 6-0 coming into Heinz Field.
LaMarr Woodley returned a fumble caused by Brett Keisel 77 yards for a score to give the Steelers a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter, then after the special teams gave it right back allowing an 88-yard kickoff return to Percy Harvin to make it 20-17, the D closed out the win as Keyaron Fox took back a pick 82 yards to close out the win.
The Steelers (5-2) didn’t have a big day on offense, scoring just one touchdown and having to settle for two Jeff Reed field goals. They wasted a huge scoring chance in the 4th quarter up 13-10 when Rashard Mendenhall went airborne and lost the ball on the Minnesota three-yard line. That score was followed up by the Vikings drive that eventually saw Keisel come around and strip Favre, allowing Woodley to pick up the ball and go the distance.
After Harvin stunned the Steelers with a kick return to make it 20-17, the Steelers offense gained one first down before having to punt, giving the Vikings one last shot. They marched to the Steelers 18, but Favre’s screen intended for Chester Taylor bounced off his hands, and right into Fox’s, who took it the rest of the way to seal the win.
Pittsburgh’s offense was able to give them the lead before halftime 10-7, as after an Adrian Peterson TD gave Minnesota the lead, Ben Roethlisberger put a drive together, hitting Mike Wallace with a pretty 40-yard score late in the half to give Pittsburgh the three-point lead. Roethlisberger had his most quiet day of the year, going 14 of 26 for 175 yards with the one score.
The Steelers offense, which put up over 500 yards vs Cleveland last week, was held to 259 against the Vikings, but in the end, as Mike Tomlin would always say – style points don’t matter, as long as you get the win. Favre was 34 of 51 for 334 yards, but the Steelers put pressure on him all day, getting to him for four sacks.
Peterson had 69 yards on the ground on 18 carries for Minnesota, and had four catches for 60 yards. Sydney Rice had 11 grabs for 136 yards for the Vikings. The Steelers did little in the pass game, and were led by Wallace with 72 yards, and Santonio Holmes who had two grabs for 59 yards. Hines Ward had just one catch for three yards.
In the end though, it was the big plays of the Steelers D that pulled it out. They can take a breath now and relax during the bye before they play in Denver against the undefeated Broncos on Monday November 9th.
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Mike
October 25, 2009 at 6:49 pm
i still don’t understand Arians obvious disdain for running the ball. First possesion of the 2nd half, stillers have it goal to go at the 8. Medenhall has nice runs to get us down the field and we throw it on 3 straight plays. It is difficult to argue with our success in the red zone this year but i feel like they need to run the ball more goal to go. Although if 34 doesn’t start holding on to the ball consistently he won’t touch the field let alone the ball.
mark
October 25, 2009 at 7:03 pm
terrible special teams….. again!
Mike
October 25, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Logan is showing nothing. Not as fast as people thought. Looked like he was out of position on Harvin’s run back too.
mark
October 25, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Logan certainly has not given the Steelers that HUGE return we thought we might see, but he (Logan) has had a decent return season so far. He is quick but I think the problem is with the blocking. As far as the rest of the special teams, they leave a lot to be desired. 2 weeks in a row now,the Steelers have kicked off to basically the only weapon that can hurt them and guess what happened? They got hurt! Cribbs last week, Harvin this week. That has to stop. Tell Reed to kick line drives or something else other than letting these type of return men get that crippling head start. Offense was a bit sluggish today but they played against a top defense. I didnt like replacing Mendy with Moore late in the game. I want to see Mendy close out a game but if Tomlin lost faith in his ability to hold on to the ball, that might be a serious problem in the future.
George H
October 25, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Why doesnt Sepulveda do the kickoffs… im sure he has the leg and he would of drilled Harvin on that kickoff unlike Reed’s pathetic attempt.
DrGeorge
October 26, 2009 at 9:15 am
All of the preceding comments are valid. No need to beat a dead horse: Arians does indeed disdain the run, and he doesn’t have the stud to move the pile on obvious short yardage — which tells you more than a little about Mendenhall. I’d like to see them use Harrison on short yardage and goal line runs; he is a stud and can move the pile. Surely, he is better than Mendy or Parker in that role.
Even Tomlin is frustrated with special teams’ coverage, a weakness we’ve been lamenting for weeks. Either we aren’t using the right players or the players aren’t staying in their proper lanes. The fix is pretty simple, but it isn’t getting done.
The defense is receiving heavy media congrats for the game changing return of Favre’s fumble and Fox’s interception return. The effort by the entire defensive team was superb. But we must not lose sight of the obvious: the short zone passing scheme is killing us. Brett Favre’s 335 nearly doubled Ben’s 175 passing yards; the Vikings dominated in time of possession and in field position most of the game by exploiting our short zones; the Vikes were driving for winning TDs when both turnovers occurred, gaining big chunks of yardage against our short zone coverage, as prior opponents have done. QBs are consistently picking on Taylor and to a lesser extent the fiesty, but very short, Wm. Gay, both of whom are playing so deep that 7-8 yard completions are always available and easy to make. Then, when the CBs have to recover for the tackle, they are at a monstrous disadvantage against speedy receivers, leading to missed tackles in the open field and big YAC for opponents. The same zone scheme forces Farrior and Woodley, and occasionally Harrison into man-to-man mismatches on those same receivers on crossing routes and fifteen yard in routes. The scheme is the culprit in allowing the high 3rd and long converstion rate seen in every recent game.
Against weak and average teams, we can afford the marshmallow defense; but against good QBs, it places our defensive players in an untenable position. We cannot rely every week on heroic plays to pull our chestnuts out of the fire. During this off week, LeBeau needs to rethink his strategy and retool the short coverage schemes.
Bottom line: the Vikings beat the Steelers in every phase of the game, except turnovers and the final score. We are lucky to be 5-2. But we have the talent to be 7-0 — and should have been. Mr. Tomlin, you and your staff have got lots of work to do.
mark
October 26, 2009 at 1:05 pm
DrGeorge, Harrison in short yardage situations??? really? WOW!!! As for the defensive scheme, I agree. Short yard passing is certainly hurting, but watching the corners playing so far off receivers is mind boggling. Taylor is big and strong enough to man-up, Gay may need help but lets see what happens if they pull him in a bit tighter. It worked for Willie Williams when he was a CB in Pittsburgh. The next 3 games will tell a lot about where this team is going. I dont think we have seen the sum total of what this team can do.
weekly picks
October 26, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Favre and the vikings looked pretty good and would have pulled this one off it weren’t for that blown call…