EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- One of Mike Tomlin's mantras since becoming head coach is never to worry about what the other team is doing and concentrate on executing what the Steelers do best.

For a change, he made an exception against the New York Jets, and for good reason:

Tomlin did not want to put the ball in the hands of return specialist Leon Washington, who leads the National Football League in kickoff return average and kickoff returns for touchdowns (3). Not after what he witnessed last week when the Steelers nearly lost to the Cleveland Browns because of two kick returns by Joshua Cribbs.

So he ordered Jeff Reed to kick high and short against the Jets, a tactic whose implicit message was, simply, keep the ball away from Washington, no matter what. For a change, Tomlin was more worried about what the other team does than what his special teams can do. And who can blame him?

"I don't really like playing afraid of anybody," Reed said. "But whatever I'm told to do, I do."

"It's not much fun covering those kicks," linebacker and special-teams co-captain Clint Kriewaldt said.

Perhaps, but it was effective.

Reed rarely kicked the ball past the 25-yard line and the Jets managed just 34 yards total on six returns -- an average of 5.7 yards per return. Washington touched the ball just once on a kickoff -- the final one, in overtime -- and gained just 12 yards, the longest of the game.

"Everything went according to plan," said linebacker Andre Frazier, a member of the coverage units. "He got us to eliminate [Washington] on kick returns."

Then Frazier paused.

"Until the end," he added.

Indeed, after finally managing a way to limit the amount of damage inflicted by the kick-coverage unit, the Steelers let up for only a millisecond and still managed to produce another special-teams gaffe at the wrong time. This time, though, the result was more penal.

After focusing solely on Washington, the kick returner, the Steelers forgot about Washington, the punt returner, a lapse that cost them in overtime and led to their distasteful 19-16 loss to the Jets.

It was Washington's 33-yard punt return to the Steelers' 26 -- after a poor 39-yard punt by Daniel Sepulveda -- that led to Mike Nugent's 38-yard field goal in overtime and ended the Steelers' three-game winning streak.

"I'm not going to try to frame the game based on that play," Tomlin said. "I don't try to look for defining moments."

To be sure, Washington's punt return was not the reason the Steelers were beaten by a 1-8 team with the NFL's worst defense. More likely, it was because the offensive line couldn't generate any running room against the league's worst rush defense and allowed quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to be sacked seven times by a team that had only nine sacks in the previous nine games.

What's more, the failure of the defense to stop the cutback runs of Thomas Jones, who became the first 100-yard rusher against the Steelers in 35 games, was another major contributing factor.

But right when they needed a big play from their special teams, the Steelers instead got another dose of all-too-familiar medicine. And it was provided by the player they were trying to avoid.

Talk about your defining moments.

"For the most part, we did our job," linebacker Arnold Harrison said. "But in the end, when it was important, we couldn't get him on the ground."

It all played out like this:

After three lackluster plays from their 18 on the Steelers' first possession in overtime, Sepulveda hit a low, tumbling punt that was sitting faster than one of Phil Mickelson's knockdown-wedge shots. Washington fielded the ball at his 41, darted past Najeh Davenport and sliced 33 yards through the middle of the field to the Steelers' 26.

Three harmless runs later, Nugent kicked his fourth field goal from 38 yards.

Just like that, it was a division race again. The Steelers, who have lost three of their past four road games, had their lead over the Cleveland Browns (6-4) reduced to one.

"It lets you know the importance of special teams," Harrison said. "It has to be a one-play-and-out mentality. As you see, special teams change field position. People don't understand that. People see offense and defense, but special teams can change the field."

They also change outcomes, as the Steelers discovered again.