Saved by Polamalu, once again
Share with others:
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- There was an active and even robust football buzz in Buffalo this weekend for the first time in forever, with the recent blizzard of Bills touchdowns earning quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick the nickname Ryan Fitzmagic, and getting spectacular wideout Stevie Johnson called Stevie Wonder.
Fitzpatrick, caught up in the heady atmosphere of the rare two-game winning streak, even called on his Harvard education to tell the Buffalo News, "In order to beat [the Steelers], we're going to have to score some points."
So at least that $135,000 in tuition wasn't wasted.
Curiously though, Fitzmagic failed to specify how many points would be necessary. Turned out it was more than 16 in regulation, which he'd apparently rectified in overtime by whipping the winning touchdown pass 40 yards to Stevie Wonder at the goal line.
But Stevie, floating free behind Ike Taylor, dropped it.
Poor Stevie Blunder. Don't know what Fitzmagic was thinking as he left the field, but it wasn't "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life."
Even at that, the Bills gave Mike Tomlin's team way more than it wanted on a cold northern Sunday, and the visitors held on due mostly to one inviolate fact: In most matchups, the Steelers simply have too many players who are capable of monstrous plays at the most urgent coordinates, and most of them play without the ball.
"Needless to say we made significant plays at critical moments in the game," Tomlin said. "Troy [Polamalu] made significant plays, timely plays, the kind of plays we've come to expect. There's a guy who didn't practice much this week and yet he's always ready to deliver for his teammates."
The Steelers are 8-3 this morning essentially due to four special deliveries, one each from Polamalu, James Farrior, Ryan Clark and punter Daniel Sepulveda, whose 55-yard punt with a short snap from directly beneath the goalpost gave the Steelers a new grip on an overtime that was sliding over a cliff.
Abandoned by an offense that generated a touchdown on the game's first possession and then took the next three hours off, caught in a tug-of-war by an unlikely saboteur named Chris Kemoeatu (four penalties, three enforced), the Steelers' defense delivered one monster moment after the next until Shaun Suisham's fourth field goal closed out a 19-16 victory.
This is a defense that has allowed exactly one touchdown in the past 137 minutes, 9 seconds of action, including Sunday's 12:46 of overtime, an overtime that looked like the Bills would not even require as Fitzpatrick drove them to the Steelers' 12 with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.
First Published November 29, 2010 12:00 am
