Steelers Notebook: Defense coaxes opportunity to knock
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Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden upends Atlanta's Jerious Norwood in the fourth quarter Sunday at Heinz Field.
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For a while there Sunday afternoon the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons was looking a lot like many games for the defense last season. The offense handed the defense a lead in the fourth quarter, and the defense allowed a tying score.
But when the game was on the line the defense created two opportunities for the offense to win the game.
The first came with 1:45 remaining in regulation when Troy Polamalu made a tremendous individual effort to intercept Matt Ryan at the Falcons' 30-yard line. But that opportunity went by the wayside when Jeff Reed missed a 40-yard field-goal attempt.
The second opportunity came when the defense forced Atlanta to punt from deep in its territory on its first possession of overtime. The Steelers took over at the 50, and scored on their first play when Rashard Mendenhall ran for the winning touchdown.
"I'm very happy with the way we finished the game, stopping them down there and having the big run at the end," defensive end Brett Keisel said.
"It's a great start for us. We like starting [the overtime] in those types of situations. We have a lot of veteran guys on defense that have been in situations like that before. We understand if we keep points off the board we'll give our team a chance to win."
Five times last season the Steelers held leads in the fourth quarter and lost games. It happened again Sunday when Atlanta drove 64 yards on 13 plays and kicked the tying field goal with 3:24 remaining after Reed had given the Steelers the lead with 8:54 left.
"The chips were against us there at the end," Keisel said. "Troy made a great play, and you think you just kick the field goal, and you win. Sometimes that doesn't happen, and you have to go back out there and make a stop. That was big."
Reed kicked the longest field goal in Heinz Field history when he booted a 52-yarder in the first quarter, but he was not in the mood to celebrate afterward because he missed the potential winning kick with 43 seconds remaining in regulation.
First Published September 13, 2010 12:00 am
