It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win.
Right?
The Steelers won a game that maybe earlier this season they would have lost, as the Chiefs took them the distance, and more, taking Pittsburgh to OT before finally winning 16-13.
The OT didn’t last long, as on the 2nd play Chiefs QB Matt Cassel threw his only pick of the night, throwing a ball that was intercepted by Lawrence Timmons. He broke a tackle, taking it to the Chiefs five-yard line before getting knocked out of bounds.
Mike Tomlin didn’t waste time, sending in kicker Shaun Suisham, who nailed the 23-yard field goal for the win.
“We’ll take it, we won’t apologize for it either,” Tomlin said. “Such as is life in the NFL, the guys made the necessary plays to get out of the stadium with the win.”
The win puts the Steelers at 6-3 on the season, still a game behind the 7-2 Ravens, who they will play in two of the next three weeks, with a game at Cleveland in between.
The win came at a possible huge cause, as the Steelers lost QB Ben Roethlisberger to what is being called by many as a separated right shoulder.
The QB left the stadium and went to the hospital for an MRI. At the time of the injury, he was 9-for-18 for 84 yards with a score. He was replaced by Byron Leftwich, who frankly wasn’t very good.
He took over with the Steelers tied at 10, and was only able to get the team in position for one field goal, which gave the Steelers a 13-10 lead with 12:37 left.
It looked like the Steelers would get out at that score, but give credit to Matt Cassel and the Chiefs offense, as they converted a 4th-and-15 with a 27-yard gain to Dwayne Bowe to the Steelers 28 with three seconds left.
After Cassel spiked the ball, Ryan Succop kicked a 46-yard field goal to send the game into OT.
Leftwich in the game was 7-for-14 for 73 yards. The Steelers were outgained 290 to 243, as their run game was held to 95 yards on 23 carries, a 3.3 yards per carry average.
Bottom line, Leftwich hasn’t started a game since 2009 when he was with the Buccaneers, and now he may have to take on the Ravens twice in the next
three weeks.
Tomlin didn’t concede that Leftwich would start Sunday night vs the Ravens, but it sounds like he might not have a choice.
“I’ll wait to see what his status is like before we make any of those determinations,” Tomlin said.
It was a win, but not one that will make many Steeler fans feel all that warm and fuzzy about it.
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DrGeorge
November 13, 2012 at 10:14 am
The pre-game concerns George H. and I expressed proved prophetic, even before Ben R. left the game with his shoulder injury. The Steelers offense looked out of sync, and the KC running game ran over Ziggy Hood and the left side of our defense like it was a welcome mat. And with Ben and R. Clark both going down, we didn’t escape the game without significant injuries. We only won on the scoreboard.
Tomlin used Dwyer and Redman interchangably, favoring Dwyer after Redman’s uncharacteristic fumble. But once again, Redman showed he is the more effective RB of the two, and that neither of them can run well without blocking. As good as the O-line looked against the Giants, they looked that inept in run blocking against KC. Perhaps the Giants game took more out of the team than we thought. The O-line did pass protect (notwithstanding Ben’s injury) reasonably well, but then KC often rushed only three men.
Since Leftwich had no previous playing time to keep his skills sharp, it is no surprise that he looked rusty in replacing Ben R. He and Batch will have a short week to get ready for Baltimore; not a happy prospect, that. I lamented the failure of rookie QB Jerrod Johnson to make the squad on the final preseason cut. He seemed to be developing quickly and was more mobile than any of our QBs, a useful quality behind an inconsistent line. Perhaps Johnson had deficiencies as a QB that were not apparent to spectators, but I suspect the Steelers now regret not keeping him or not finding an even better developmental QB. Just as Tomlin was a year late in rebuilding the D, he is at least a year late in developing a young, talented QB. Leftwich and Batch are both competent backups, but their best years are long behind them.
Given the foregoing, this is not a good time to be facing Baltimore. My guess is that the Ravens can hardly wait.
Mark
November 13, 2012 at 10:35 am
Yaaaaaawn. That was aweful. I agree that Leftwich will be sharper with a week of prep with the 1st team, but they just have to be able to win without asking Lefty to win it for them like they have asked Ben to do in the past. The offense was horrid with and without Ben, so its time to start preparing for a long haul without him.
The Tony
November 13, 2012 at 11:05 am
Is it even certain Ben will miss this game? He has played through worse, and an even hurt Ben is more competent than lefty and batch
Mark
November 15, 2012 at 10:24 am
With the severity of the rib injury as well, dont expect to see BB for weeks if at all!