Fans streamed out of Heinz Field like cheap, runny ketchup and boos cascaded from those who remained as the Steelers' defense gave up yet another touchdown, five minutes into the fourth quarter yesterday.
 |
 |
|
Steelers receiver Plaxico Burress celebrates with the Heinz Field fans after the win over Cleveland. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette photos) |
The Cleveland Browns, of all opponents, took a 12-point lead and were about to heap more playoff disappointment on the Steelers in their home.
"There were times," Steelers linebacker Joey Porter said, "you had to think in the back of your mind, here we go again."
But in a span of less than five minutes, the Steelers turned what would have been another devastating playoff loss into one of their most memorable playoff victories when they rallied for two touchdowns in the closing minutes to defeat the Browns, 36-33.
"This," tackle Wayne Gandy said, "is the kind of game that propels you somewhere. Our guys decided they weren't going home today."
Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala's 3-yard touchdown run with 54 seconds remaining in the game propels the Steelers to Tennessee, 4:30 p.m. Saturday, for a playoff game against the second-seeded Titans.
Many called it the game of their lives.
"I don't think anybody in here's been part of a game where it ended like this," said Hines Ward, who caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Maddox with 3:06 left to give the Steelers a chance. "I can't even describe the feeling right now. I've never in my whole life been part of a game like this."
Dan Rooney, who has seen a lot more games than Ward, ranked it second among exciting Steelers playoff games only to the Immaculate Reception victory against Oakland in 1972.
"This was a tremendous game," Rooney said.
The Cleveland Browns, who were 7 1/2-point underdogs, might disagree.
"I don't know that I've been as disappointed in a ballgame in an awful long time," Cleveland Coach Butch Davis said.
The Browns had a 33-21 lead late into the fourth quarter as backup quarterback Kelly Holcomb threw for 429 yards and three touchdowns.
Despite Maddox touchdown passes of 6 yards to Plaxico Burress late in the third quarter and 3 yards to Jerame Tuman in the fourth to cut the Browns' lead to 27-21, Cleveland increased its lead to 12 points when Andre Davis caught a 2-yard pass from Holcomb with 10:17 left in the game.
When the next Steelers series went nowhere, that's when many fans had seen enough. But the real drama was about to unfold.
The Steelers started another series with 5:30 left and, with Maddox running the no-huddle offense and the Browns contributing three penalties, they moved 77 yards on 10 plays in 2 1/2 minutes to make the score 33-28 on the touchdown pass to Ward.
"The guys kept believing," Porter said. "We never stopped fighting, never stopped fighting. The defense knew if we gave the ball back to the offense one more time, they'd get it done."
This was a defense that slammed the Browns on the ground, holding them to 38 yards rushing, but could stop nothing in the air. Yet, the defense stuffed the Browns on the next series.
William Green, who rushed for 178 yards last week against Atlanta, gained 3 yards on first down. Holcomb threw incomplete on second down and a delay-of-game penalty made it third-and-12 for the Browns from their 21. Holcomb put the ball right in the hands of Dennis Northcutt for a first down, but Northcutt dropped it.
Cleveland punted and with 2:38 left the Steelers began their winning drive on their 39 with 2:38 left.
Maddox -- 30 of 48 for a team playoff record 367 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions -- completed 4 of 5 passes, starting with one of 24 yards to Burress. After an incompletion, he completed passes of 10 to Ward, 17 to Burress and 7 more to Ward down to the Browns' 3.
No one was leaving or booing in Heinz Field at that point, but everyone on it was sucking wind.
"I was exhausted," Burress said. "I was down on two knees. Hines was down on two knees. We ran the two-minute offense for the whole second half. The coaches weren't calling plays. Tommy was making his own calls."
A coach would call the next play, after taking their final timeout with 58 seconds left. Dick Hoak, a Steelers assistant since the Immaculate Reception year, suggested it: 42 Base, a handoff on the right side to Fuamatu-Ma'afala.
"We ran it earlier in the game," offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey said. "Got stuffed, got booed for it. Same play. We got down there and scored earlier to Hines. Same people, same formation, same look."
Same end result from the four-wide receiver formation when Fuamatu-Ma'afala ran to the right and bounced left into a hole for a touchdown on his second carry of the game. Antwaan Randle El threw a 2-point conversion pass to Tuman for a three-point lead.
The Browns tried desperately to get into field-goal range in the final 54 seconds, but time ran out after Holcomb's pass to Andre King at the Steelers' 29.
The Browns were bitter.
"I'll tell you this, they'll be home next week," Cleveland cornerback Corey Fuller said. "They got one more week. We gave it to them today. Unbelievable."
It was all of that.
Only Doug Williams, with 430 yards passing in 1988 for Washington, threw for more against the Steelers in any game.
"[Holcomb] gave his team the best chance to win," Porter said. "He was just throwing balls everywhere and they kept coming down with the catches."
The Browns opened in the no-huddle and scored quickly. Holcomb hit Kevin Johnson, who beat Hank Poteat for an 83-yard reception to the 1. Green scored on the next play for a 7-0 Cleveland lead.
The Steelers were driving at Cleveland's 23 when Maddox threw the first of his two interceptions to cornerback Daylon McCutcheon at the 3. Then Randle El muffed a punt that Cleveland recovered at the Steelers' 32. On the next play, Holcomb found Northcutt, who beat Poteat in the right corner of the end zone for a 14-0 Cleveland lead.
 | |
Steelers running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala celebrates his decisive touchdown in the fourth quarter yesterday. | |
McCutcheon then picked off Maddox again, this time on a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage. But this time bad things happened for Cleveland on a punt.
Randle El returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown that breathed some life into the Steelers, 14-7.
"No one felt worse than he did," Coach Bill Cowher said of Randle El's early drop. "The guy is a playmaker. I can't say enough about him."
The Steelers, though, slipped behind, 17-7, at the half after Phil Dawson's 31-yard field goal and Jeff Reed's 47-yard missed attempt.
When Northcutt returned the first punt of the second half 59 yards and three plays later caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Holcomb, the Steelers chances seemed as gray as the skies, trailing, 24-7.
"You get nervous," said halfback Jerome Bettis, who gave way to Amos Zereoue as the starter, "but there was no fear. There's a difference. Everybody's going to get nervous at times, but you find a way and that's what it's all about."
The Steelers found a way to cut the deficit to 10 points when Burress caught a 6-yard pass from Maddox, but Cleveland came right back with Dawson's 24-yard field goal for a 27-14 lead.
The Steelers cut it back to six on Maddox's 3-yard pass to Tuman but the Browns scored again to go up by 12. That set up the final, furious, successful Steelers comeback.
"What a game," Cowher said.
Fuamatu-Ma'afala's touchdown caps Steelers' comeback win over Browns 
E-mail this story 
