Next year? Who
cares?
Despite my forecast for a loss, in the days leading up to the game, I was thinking that
the Steelers had a chance to beat the Jaguars and how great it would be to get another shot at the Patriots. How close they
came.
The loss puts me in the kind of mood where I don't see how
I can get excited about sports ever again. March Madness seems like it's a decade away. And there's a long winter ahead before
baseball season starts. Yeah, there's always next year. But at this point you see how long and hard a road it is just to get
to the playoffs, and the Steelers have to start all over again next season. That's the kind of mood a Steelers' playoff loss
puts me in, especially one like this.
The Steelers came
into these playoffs with what might be the worst top-ranked defense in the history of the NFL. This defense couldn't get it
done when it mattered most this season. And never did it matter more than when the Jaguars faced a fourth-and-2 from the Steelers
43 with no timeouts and 1:56 left. The Steelers led 29-28 and had the Jaguars on the ropes. But quarterback David Garrard,
who looks like Seal without all those welts on his face, scrambled through that overrated defense for 32 yards to the Steelers'
11. This was no "Kiss from a Rose" for the Steelers. It was the kiss of death. Scobee's chip-shot field
goal was a mere formality.
How fitting it was that the Steelers'
2007 season ended with one more failure by the offensive line, which let the Steelers down all season. After Scobee's field
goal, the Steelers had the ball on their own 28 with no timeouts and 29 seconds left. They needed about 40 yards to get into
Jeff Reed's field-goal range. But on the first play, Roethlisberger was sacked for the sixth time and coughed up the ball.
Big, fat number 66 Derek Landri recovered the fumble to secure the win for the Jaguars, who deservedly get a shot at foiling
the Patriots' perfection on Saturday night.
That
70's show
The O-Line wasn't the only glaring Steelers' weakness that came into play against the
Jaguars. The Steelers opened the game with a smooth, 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Najeh
Davenport and a 7-0 lead. But any tone-setting was negated by the Steelers' shoddy kickoff coverage. Maurice Jones-Drew returned
the ensuing kickoff 96 yards to the Steelers' 1, and Fred Taylor punched it in from there to tie the score at 7-7.
It's maddening that the Steelers' real downfall Saturday night came right
after they had a brush with the glory days. On third-and-10 from their own 16, Roethlisberger threw a pass that Heath Miller
couldn't handle. The ball was deflected into the air. Hines Ward grabbed it and scampered to the Steelers' 49. Right on cue,
NBC showed a clip of The Immaculate Reception. Unfortunately, the taste of the 1970s was fleeting. We would soon
be served some vintage 2006 Roethlisberger. Yuck. And instead of Jack Tatum, the Steelers had to deal with the less menacing
but more deadly Rashean Mathis.
Roethlisberger reverted to his 2006 ways by throwing three interceptions in the
second quarter. The first two were thrown to that old tormentor Mathis. Just two plays after we were treated to the grainy
footage of Franco Harris chugging into the end zone, Mathis returned the first pick 63 yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 Jaguars
lead. Mathis intercepted another pass on the Steelers' next series to set up Garrard's 43-yard TD pass to Jones-Drew, which
increased the Jags' lead to 21-7.
Mathis, you may recall, intercepted two Roethlisberger passes last season in
a 9-0 win over the Steelers. In 2005, he beat the Steelers by intercepting a Tommy Maddox pass in overtime and returning it
for a touchdown. But at least it didn't stop the Steelers from winning the Super Bowl that year.
This year, Mathis did stop the Steelers from winning a championship. But he had plenty of
help, from his teammates and from the Steelers.
The good fight
Roethlisberger completed his interception hat trick late in the second quarter. The Steelers trailed 21-7 but were driving
and seemed poised to put some points on the board before halftime. But big, fat number 66 put an end to that. On second-and-4
from the Jaguars' 21, a Roethlisberger dink over the middle found the hands of Landri, a rookie defensive tackle from Notre
Dame.
The Steelers didn't get nearly as much help from their Notre Dame connection. With 10:25 left in the game,
Roethlisberger threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller to pull the Steelers to within 28-23 then threw to Hines Ward
for the two-point conversion. But it was negated by a holding call on ex-Fighting Irish Sean Mahan, a disappointment this
season at center.
After missing that two-point try, they
had no choice but to go for two when Najeh Davenport gave them the lead on a 1-yard touchdown run. They missed it, which kept
their lead at one point.
Then Bruce Arians' perplexing play-calling
became a factor. With 2:56 left, the Steelers were facing a third-and-6 at their own 27. Instead of throwing the ball to Ward
or Miller, who combined for 11 catches in the second half, Roethlisberger tried to run for the first down. He gained just
a yard, and Dan Sepulveda's 40-yard punt was returned to the Jaguars' 49, giving them a good start on their game-winning drive.
No one embodied the spirit of the Steelers' comeback more than Ward, who
caught 10 passes for 135 yards. There was a lot of pushing and shoving in the fourth quarter, and the normally affable receiver
was right in the middle of it. After Cedrick Wilson caught a pass, Jaguars' defensive back Brian Williams wouldn't let him
get up. They had words, and Ward rushed to his teammate's defense. Ward also did some jawing with rookie Reggie Nelson, who
got a little too mouthy. Like a true mentor, Steelers' coach Mike Tomlin, not even a full four years older than
Ward, put his arm around him on the sidelines to try to calm him down, a scene that demonstrated both the Steelers' unity
and Tomlin's firm grip on the reins of the team.
The Steelers fought
the good fight, and it went unrewarded. It makes the loss hurt that much more.
