Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Jacksonville's Paul Spicer leaps for the ball after Tommy Maddox fumbles an exchange from center to kill a drive with the Steelers in field goal range during overtime. Click photo for larger image. More football Steelers' defense, special teams can't bail out awful offense Steelers Notebook: Tight end Miller a bright spot on lousy day More pictures: Game Five photo journal NFL Notebook: Patriots' doctors clear Bruschi's return More news from around the NFL plus scores and statistics from Sports Forecaster.

It took them overtime to do so, but the Steelers finally convinced the reluctant Jacksonville Jaguars to accept their gift of victory yesterday.

No one tried harder than quarterback Tommy Maddox, who eventually succeeded. He fumbled away the Steelers' chance to win in overtime, then threw the touchdown pass that won it -- when Jacksonville cornerback Rashean Mathis intercepted his offering and returned it 41 yards for the score with 11:24 left in overtime. That sent the Jaguars home from angry Heinz Field 23-17 winners.

Maddox, unhappy that he was booed at home several times, replaced injured starter Ben Roethlisberger, who pleaded before the game with coach Bill Cowher to play him.

"Coach's decision," said Roethlisberger, who watched the horror show from the sideline as the emergency No. 3 quarterback.

Cowher admitted he thought of changing quarterbacks at one point yesterday, but would not elaborate. Neither Charlie Batch, backup for a day, nor Roethlisberger, who could have entered the game in the fourth quarter, were told to get ready, although Cowher said it was "obvious" that Maddox had a bad game.

Roethlisberger, though, said he will be ready to resume his duties Sunday in Cincinnati after recovering from a hyperextended knee.

"Oh, yeah," he emphasized.

It could not come soon enough for many in the crowd of 63,891. Maddox completed 11 of 28 passes for 154 yards and a poor 30.1 passer rating. He threw one 16-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Heath Miller, but he lost four turnovers. Three were interceptions, and two led to touchdowns.

Before Mathis ended the game by stepping in front of a pass intended for Quincy Morgan, Maddox lost it.

Morgan's 74-yard kickoff return to open overtime gave the Steelers a first down at the Jacksonville 26, and it appeared to be over.

"I thought I gave us a chance to win," Morgan said.

With Jerome Bettis surprisingly kept on the sideline, Willie Parker lost 3 yards around left end, then gained 2 back. It was third down with the ball on the 27. From there, it would have been a 45-yard field goal to win it. But Cowher decided to get closer.

The call was a pitch to the right to Parker. Maddox took the snap from center Jeff Hartings and dropped the ball. He reached for it, seemed to kick it, and defensive end Reggie Hayward recovered at the 36.

"Everything felt good," Hartings said of his snap.

"I didn't get it clean," Maddox said, "and I don't know for what reason. I thought I had it, but I kind of bobbled it. When I was turning around, I thought I was about to control it and kind of bumped into [fullback Dan Kreider] and lost it. I was just trying to pick it up so I could just throw it away."

The Steelers' defense stopped Jacksonville on four downs to give him another chance, but it would be the best thing to happen to the Jaguars. On second down from the 35, Mathis jumped on the out-pass toward Morgan and ended the contest.

The victory raised the Jaguars' record to 4-2 and left the Steelers in disbelief at 3-2.

"I'm certainly in shock," Hartings said. "We didn't handle the ball very well there at the end and didn't even give ourselves a chance to kick a field goal. That's definitely bad football."

"It hurts you," said receiver Antwaan Randle El. "These types of losses really hurt."

They thought they had it won a few times. Jeff Reed, whose only miss in his previous 26 field-goal tries came from 52 yards, missed just to the right on a 46-yard attempt in a swirling wind with 3:28 left in a tie game.

The Jaguars seemed poised for a victory with a first down at the Steelers' 34, but, on third down from the 32, rookie cornerback Bryant McFadden intercepted a Byron Leftwich pass in the end zone. It was the only turnover for the Steelers' defense.

"When you turn the football over four times and are minus-3 in the giveaway-takeaway ratio, you aren't going to win many football games," Cowher said.

Jacksonville used Maddox's first interception to erect a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Linebacker Mike Peterson picked him off and returned it 14 yards to the Steelers' 7. Greg Jones, who replaced injured tailback Fred Taylor and rushed for 77 yards, scored off right guard on first down.

Miller, who led the Steelers with four receptions for 72 yards, tied the score when he took a short pass over the middle and broke three tackles to bull his way to a 16-yard touchdown early in the second period.

Randle El returned a punt 72 yards to put the Steelers on top, 14-7. Following a deflected punt -- the first in Chris Gardocki's career -- Jacksonville's Josh Scobee kicked a 23-yard field goal after the Jaguars failed to score on three tries from the 1.

Jacksonville took a 17-14 lead on Leftwich's 10-yard pass to rookie wide receiver Matt Jones, and the Steelers tied it on Reed's 29-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

That's when both teams played a game of "you take it, no I don't want it" until the Jaguars stepped up and put an end to matters.

"We made some bad decisions and we gave the football away. You can't do that," said Bettis, who carried only four times for 4 yards as the Steelers stayed most of the way with Parker (55 yards, 21 carries).

"We had our opportunities," defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen said. "We didn't play smart football, both sides of the ball. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you."