The game began with McCoy looking good and picking on the Steeler secondary, taking the Browns to the 7 yard line. After a review and call reversal of what would have been Colt's first rushing TD of the season, they faced a 3rd and goal from the 1 millimeter line. Cleveland had to settle for a field goal. Missed opportunity? Instead of allowing McCoy to sneak it, they decided to hand off to Hillis, who has had a rough rushing year. The Steelers went on down the field and scored a TD and the first quarter ended with the Steelers leading 7-3.....and then we played football.
The Steelers had the ball in the red zone sitting on the 15 yard line and Ward fumbled and the ball was recovered by the Browns. Two plays later McCoy is intercepted by Polamalu...2 plays later Pittsburgh's Miller fumbles and the Browns recover. Ok. 3 turnovers in 3 minutes. Things settled down for a few minutes and then for the Black and Gold.....the world stopped turning, time stood still, and Big Ben came crumbling down. With 5:59 left in the first half, he was high and low sacked and it was obvious he was in an immense amount of pain. Enter Charlie Batch. Big Ben was seen hobbling off the field and then later at the half, he was also seen riding around in a golf cart. Everyone, including me just knew he was out for a the least, the rest of this game with a high ankle sprain. The half ended with a score of 7-3.
WHAT THE HELL?! IS THAT ROETHELISBERGER WITH HIS HELMET ON! Yep. Adding the colors of purple and blue to the black and gold, Roethlisberger decided that he could play on one leg. Going to a "smash-mouth", "hard-nosed" power football gameplan, Pittsburgh hopped on the Mendenhall train and rode it a long way. After averaging 3.2 yards a carry for the year, he rumbled for 5.5 per carry, but unfortunately the Steelers couldn't find a score in the third quarter. Well, neither could Cleveland. Once again, 7-3 score at the end of the third.
The fourth quarter began as the third did for both teams, but Pittsburgh did make it to the 1 yard line and Big Ben was ready. Well so was Chris Gocong. Not only did he stop the mighty Mendenhall three times, he completely stoned him. I mean he didn't even allow the Steeler RB another 1/2 step. Have you ever seen a squirrel get confused and run into the trunk of a tree? If you haven't, close your eyes and try and picture it, cuz that's what it looked like. SMACK! Well, the Steeler coaching staff decided to go for it on 4th down instead of kicking the field goal. A field goal that would make it a 7 point game. A field goal that would pretty much guarantee at the least an overtime game if Cleveland scored and Pittsburgh was unable to answer. Guess what happened? They didn't make it. 14 plays-89 yard-0 points. Ok, so it's still a four point game and on their next possession, with 7:18 left, Big Ben, who can't step into his throws, is picked off on the Browns 15 yard line by Adams who returns it to his own 45. The Browns and McCoy take it down to the 25 yard line with 3:11 left in the game. Ok. 3:11 left. Ben is a great 2 minute drill QB, but he is very hurt. All of a sudden that field goal opportunity they chose not to go with is looking pretty good, but unfortunately for McCoy he really doesn't have a whole lot of support around him and he was picked off in the endzone on 3rd and 6. Deciding enough is enough, Ben took two plays and 19 seconds and 89 yards to bring the score to 14-3 with a 79 yard TD pass to Brown.
Now. Lets look at this game. Cleveland is struggling but McCoy did look pretty darn good. He made a couple mistakes, yes, but he moved around in the pocket very well, scrambled to try his best to extend plays and make things happen. He had a great presence of mind of where he was on the field and just what he needed to do. Maynard continued to drop punts inside the 10 yard line and WR Massaquoi ran pretty good routes and fought hard to break free. Pittsburgh just has a better team. They are not as young and lets face it, their defense can drive a QB crazy. The Steeler Offense had a rough go of it but as long a Roethlisburger is out on the field, they are in business. My hat goes off to Ben for his toughness and determination. My "game ball" goes to McCoy though. He ran and worked his butt off. Those 3 points just don't show how hard he worked. He was drilled late in the 4th quarter with a helmet to helmet hit... a hit he doesn't even remember. He got up, went out for one play to get his hand tapped and came right back in. Yeah, Yeah Steeler fans, I know. A tapped hand against a high ankle sprain. Well guess what? It's almost expected of Ben to enter the game hurt. He does it every game of every year. It would have been very easy for Colt to hit the bench and just stay there. The game ended with him scrambling to try and find an open receiver only to get planted by three defenders. He could have threw it away and avoided the hit, but he chose to munch grass just to see if it would open up a receiver. There was no time left on the clock. Kuddos Colt. Great game.
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