EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- By way of explaining why his team performed as if it, too, was distracted by news of Mario Lemieux's comeback, Bill Cowher noted that the Steelers had dodged a bullet in the first half against the New York Giants. This is a trite way of saying the Steelers were really, really, really lucky to be trailing only 13-3 when they went to the locker room yesterday at Giants Stadium.
"We knew that at halftime," Cowher said. "That's why I thought the first series of the second would be very important."
Cowher has been many things this season. He has been part circus performer, juggling quarterbacks Kent Graham and Kordell Stewart. He has been part magician, taking an 0-3 team and turning it into a quasi-playoff contender. He has even been part self-critic, chastising his decision to leave Tennessee's Derrick Mason in soft one-on-one coverage on the one play that might have turned the Steelers' season -- the fourth-and-7 conversion by the Titans that led to a last-second 9-7 defeat Nov. 5 in Nashville, Tenn.
Prophet, though, was not among them.
The first series of the second half was very important.
But, so, too, was the second series.
The first series featured the Steelers taking the opening kickoff and quickly moving from their 32-yard line to the Giants' 18, thanks mainly to a 36-yard pass from Stewart to wide receiver Bobby Shaw. But, not only did the Steelers fail to score a touchdown, but kicker Kris Brown also was wide left on a 36-yard field goal attempt.
When that happened, the Giants wasted little time making the second series a pivotal sequence in their 30-10 victory against the Steelers. They turned right around after the missed field goal, moved 74 yards in 10 plays, and scored a touchdown that gave them a 20-3 lead. And they did it with two big third-down plays -- a 23-yard shovel pass from quarterback Kerry Collins to running back Tiki Barber that moved the ball to the Steelers' 13; and Collins' 9-yard touchdown pass to Ike Hilliard.
"A gutsy call on third-and-10," Collins said of the shovel pass. "That thing opened like the Red Sea."
Just like that, any notion the Steelers entertained of coming back in the second half against the Giants, the way they did the week before against the Oakland Raiders, was quickly put to sleep.
Instead of cutting the Giants lead to three points, or even seven, to start the second half, the Steelers quickly found themselves sinking even deeper in the New Jersey swamplands.
"We moved the ball down the field, we had a field-goal try; it's going to be 13-6, with a touchdown maybe, 13-10, and we miss," Cowher said. "It's deflating when that happens."
"Then you have to change your whole [offensive] approach," tight end Mark Bruener said. "When you're down 17 instead of 10, it's tough."
"The whole momentum shifted ... everything," said defensive end Kevin Henry. "They made the play when they had to. We didn't get off [the field] on third down. Those third downs killed us."
Barber's shovel play was a shining example. On a day when the Giants converted 9 of 14 (64 percent) third-down opportunities, it was symptomatic of what ailed the Steelers. Now, instead of heading to their final game at Three Rivers Stadium with a three-game winning streak and something other than nostalgia as the focal point, the Steelers need a Supreme Court decision to make the playoffs.
All because of the ill-fated first series.
And, uh, second.
"We put ourselves in position to get a touchdown and we weren't able to do that," Cowher said. "Then they hit two or three big pass plays on the next series."
The biggest, of course, was the shovel pass to Barber, a cleverly disguised play in which the Giants found one more way to get the ball in the hands of their versatile running back.
"We've used it a couple times," Collins said. "Those things are hit or miss."
It came on third-and-9 at the Steelers' 36, after Collins had moved the ball there with the help of 15- and 24-yard passes to wide receiver Amani Toomer, two of nine catches he had against the Steelers. Collins took the snap, moved a step to his right, then flicked the ball with his left hand to Barber, who was cutting in front of him toward the middle of the Steelers' defensive line.
Barber sliced through a big hole and was into the Steelers' secondary before safety Brent Alexander dragged him down, 23 yards later, at the 13. Three plays later, Hilliard caught a quick pass over the middle, broke tackles by Alexander and rookie safety Ainsley Battles at the 3 and scored a 9-yard touchdown.
"They just executed the play very well," defensive coordinator Tim Lewis said. "We blitzed and they had a good play called."
Barber, the NFC's 11th leading rusher with 826 yards, had just 22 yards on 12 carries against a Steelers defense that held the Giants to 68 yards on 26 carries. But he caught six passes for 75 yards, often finding himself in speed mismatches against the Steelers' linebackers.
"He's fast, he's quick, very crafty in how he runs his routes," Lewis said. "He's almost like a wide receiver."
He's something else, too.
A season-killer.
Play of the game: Giants respond after missed field goal 
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