Recently, I wrote a series about five specific plays that broke the hearts of Steeler Nation. One reader called the articles a “torture series.” Those words stuck with me. So, to prove I’m not a total black cloud over the Black and Gold fan base, I added a twist to a new series: Heart-stopping plays that did not prevent a happy ending for the Steelers and their fans.
No. 5: How Did He Not Catch That?
Backdrop: Week 12 in 2010, the Steelers were in Buffalo squaring off with the lowly Bills. Buffalo was a paltry 2-8 and had journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick as its quarterback. The Steelers were 7-3 and battling for playoff positioning and a division title. The Steelers were heavy favorites. They had a stingy defense and a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger. This game was viewed as a “gimme” for the Steelers.
However, as the Steelers have done far too frequently under Mike Tomlin, they played down to the Bills’ level. The offense sputtered. The defense kept them in the game. But they kept letting the pathetic Bills hang around. The kickers traded field goals, and the teams each managed one touchdown, Rashard Mendenhall for the Steelers and Fred Jackson for the Bills. And at the end of 60 minutes, the score was shockingly locked at 16-16. Although it may not have been known at that moment, losing this game would have cost the Steelers big time.
The play: In overtime, the Bills had the ball at the Steelers’ 40-yard line. Fitzpatrick dropped back and launched an absolute dime. Stevie Johnson had beaten Ike Taylor and blown past safety Ryan Clark and was all alone by at least three yards in the end zone. The ball could not have been more perfectly thrown. Gasps and shrieks of despair rang out throughout all of Steeler Nation as the ball hit his hands. A collective “NOOOOO!” Then, apparently by divine intervention, the ball bounced off Johnson’s hands — check out a Buffalo offensive lineman congratulating Fitpatrick, assuming Johnson had made the easy catch — and the Steelers’ hopes were resurrected. The Steelers would get the ball back and kick a field goal to win the game, 19-16.
The aftermath: In hindsight, losing this game to a terrible Bills team that finished 4-12 would have been catastrophic. The Steelers finished 12-4, tied in the division with the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers captured the division title on a tiebreaker and secured a crucial first-round bye in the playoffs, something that would not have happened had Johnson made a simple catch. Pittsburgh would go on to beat the Ravens and the New York Jets in the playoffs to earn a spot in the Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers. And as Forrest Gump would say, “That’s all I have to say about that.”
Poor Stevie Johnson would later “rage-tweet” one of the most infamous social media posts of all time, seemingly blaming God for making him drop that pass. Apparently, God was a Steelers fan that day. Where was the “Big Guy” when Mendenhall fumbl…ah, never mind.
