This time, there were no run-ins with Baltimore's Chris McAlister. There were no wicked jokes about more misses than a pageant. There were no nagging questions. Right? Right? Right?
This time, none of the Baltimore Ravens chatted him up. None of the media rushed to his locker for a debriefing, so to speak.
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Kris Brown celebrates with holder Josh Miller after making a 46-yard field goal in the second quarter yesterday. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) |
"That's good. That's the way I want it. That means they have more important people to talk to," Kris Brown said late yesterday afternoon, looping his tie and curling his lips into a smile. He made a 21-yard field goal, missed one from 35 (to the left) and made one from 46 (his longest in eight games and six attempts from beyond the 40). The Steelers won, 27-10. The fans at Heinz Field roared.
He's up. He's good. Once more.
The guy who opened the scoring of this AFC divisional playoff yesterday was the maligned place-kicker of the Steelers. Barely five minutes into the game, he thunked a low liner that went 21 yards. His extra point five minutes later, to cap off a touchdown on the Steelers' ensuing possession, followed much the same flight path. "It felt good to get out there early in the game and get one under my belt, get into a pretty good rhythm," he said.
Then, early in the second quarter, looking into the field's yawning south end that has troubled him this season, Brown attempted a 35-yarder. Hooked it. Sailed it wide left.
Which, to an optimist, was a good sign.
After all, when the Steelers lost, 13-10, to Baltimore Nov. 4 at Heinz Field, when Brown missed three field-goal tries and got another deflected by McAlister, his attempts went right, right, right. Each of them faded. In that game, too, he started with a field goal and an extra point. A Ravens curse forevermore?
"The field goal that I missed -- I hate saying that you feel good about the way you hit a miss, but ... -- I hit it pretty darn good. It just didn't go in," Brown said. "That's kind of the story with some of my kicking this year. I've hit good balls, they just haven't gone through."
Not only did Brown remain confident, but so did his coach.
Six and a half minutes after the miss, from a distance 11 yards longer, Bill Cowher sent in Brown. Many in the crowd of 63,976 cheered. ("It's nice to go out there and hear the applause," said Brown, who previously heard lusty boos.)
His 46-yarder split the uprights, a down-the-middle shot in every respect.
"That was a pretty long one. Into that breeze," Brown said.
"It was good to see him come back and get a big kick," Cowher said. "I think he's fine. I really do. I think this game should do nothing but enhance his confidence."
Cowher's conviction so soon after the miss buoyed Brown. "Exactly. Exactly," he said. "That's his decision. I tell him if I'm feeling pretty good or not. I felt good from about 48, 49 yards today. And I hit it really well."
"A confidence boost," receiver Hines Ward added. "That was great."
That was also Brown's longest field goal since a 48-yarder to open the scoring Nov. 18 against Jacksonville. That was 31 quarters ago. That was the beginning of a span including such long-range misses as 47, 40, 40, 44 and 48.
Granted, this second-quarter field goal was another low liner, similar to his first-quarter conversions.
"That's part of what you have to deal with when you get into the winter weather," said Brown, a Nebraska alumnus who missed just 5 of 30 field-goal tries last season and just 4 of 29 the year before. "The ball doesn't come off, you don't get the trajectory on it ... like when it was warmer. [The 46-yard attempt] came off pretty low, but fortunately it was high enough where they couldn't block it."
Baltimore didn't deflect any yesterday. After Brown made a 38-yarder and missed a 41-yarder in their Nov. 4 meeting, cornerback McAlister tipped a 33-yarder and undercut Brown, causing him to fall heels over helmet. Brown denied getting hurt at the time, but he was seen grimacing while dressing after that game. Whatever, the rest of that day he muffed tries from 48 and 35 yards, the last constituting the potential tying attempt with 14 seconds left.
That Baltimore debacle was the beginning of a 9-for-18 slump for Brown. He finished the regular season making 16 of 20 tries on the road and missing 10 of 24 at home.
In his first playoff game, kicking from the resodded middle of Heinz Field, he is 2 for 3. That's 66 percent in a city where all things 66 are revered.
"You just got to keep believing that what you're doing is the right thing, trust your technique, maintain confidence," Brown said. "I've been able to do that."
Miss left showed Brown he was right 
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