Conversely, when Pittsburgh had the ball, it appeared that Baltimore had fifteen men on the field because, Ben had almost no time to throw the ball. To his credit, Ben tried to get rid of the ball quicker (e.g. two-step drops). Alas, to no avail. On one particular play, Ben noticed the blitzing defensive back... yet, when he attempted to throw to his "hot read" on the play (Hines Ward), the receiver did not turn around to look for the pass. In turn, Ben had to hold onto the ball, resulting in a sack. Even when Ben did have time to throw, it seemed that Murphy's Law would not allow anything positive to occur for him. For example, while making a pump fake, the ball slipped out of Ben's hand... right into the arms of a defensive tackle, for an easy interception. The only positive thing for Pittsburgh was the fact that Rashard Mendenhall was running the ball effectively: nine carries for thirty yard...(thirty is fifteen doubled, by the way). Alas, by the end of the night, Mendenhall would end up on injured reserve, with a broken shoulder bone. Similarly, his replacement, Carey Davis (who gained fifteen yards) would eventually sprain an ankle.
In a word, the Steelers were being thumped.
After a fifteen minute hiatus (i.e. half-time), Pittsburgh immediately went three-and-out. Conversely, on third-and-eleven, Joe Flacco eluded the Pittsburgh pass-rush for nearly fifteen seconds and, in turn, completed a twenty-six yard pass to Derrick Mason.
Just as all seemed lost for the Steelers, Ben took over calling the plays ("no-huddle").
The first play of that drive was a successful end-around by Nate Washington; the Steelers were showing signs of life. That said, it was actually a Raven who provided the real spark, which ignited the Steelers. On Washington's run, Jarrett Johnson was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty (fifteen yards). For those who missed it, Hines Ward blocked the snot out of Jarrett Johnson on the play. Johnson responded by shoving Ward. The flag was thrown, and Pittsburgh's offense woke up. Three plays later, Big Ben hit Santonio Holmes for a touchdown.
Furthermore, on the first play of the ensuing Baltimore possession, with the majority of the momentum in Pittsburgh's favor, James Harrison darted around a block, sacked Joe Flacco, dislodging the ball. LaMarr Woodley fell on the fumble, and when he noticed that no one was around him, he stood up and ran into the end-zone.
In other words, the Steelers scored two touchdowns in just fifteen seconds.
In order not to bore you with the details of the rest of the half, I shall paraphrase it as such: there were several offsetting personal foul penalties and a plethora of injuries. With that out of the way, we can fast-forward fifteen minutes, to overtime, where Jeff Reed kicks the game winning field goal for the Steelers.
In summation, on a night where the Steelers were one injury away from having Hines Ward lining up as the running back (Mewelde Moore was the fourth and final running back), and where Ben-Gay, ice, and hot tubs will be much needed by both teams, the Steelers did what they needed to do in order to eke out a win. While it might not have been pretty, a win is a win.
All in all, Pittsburgh was victorious at home on Monday Night Football for the fourteenth straight time...(number fifteen shall be coming soon).
Speaking of wins, I just hope that the Steelers will have enough healthy players left on their roster to be competitive in their next fifteen games (twelve regular season games, two play-off games, and the Super Bowl). Alas, the odds of that are about fifteen to one.
