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: SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU STEVIE JOHNSON
NO. 4: DENNIS NORTHCUTT’S BIG MOMENT GOES SOUTH
NO. 3: JIM HARBAUGH HEAVES A HAIL SCARY
No. 2: GOODBYE, LARRY (FITZGERALD)
No. 1: “OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!!”
Backdrop: January 15, 2006 AFC Divisional Playoff Game from the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The Pittsburgh Steelers, led by head coach Bill Cowher, squared off against the Indianapolis Colts, who were led by former Steelers player and coach Tony Dungy. Both teams had quarterbacks who would put together Hall of Fame careers in Ben Roethlisberger and Peyton Manning. Roethlisberger was the young gun at the time and Manning had already established himself as one of the best in the league.
Pittsburgh had a solid defense led by legendary defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. Indy had an explosive offense featuring Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, and Reggie Wayne. The Steelers finished the regular season at 11-5 but lost out on a division title by tiebreaker to the Cincinnati Bengals, who they ironically had beaten in the first round of the playoffs a week earlier, 31-17. The Colts ended the regular season with a league-best record of 14-2 and were coming off a first-round bye. This battle would be a rematch from Week 12 when the Colts handily defeated the Steelers 26-7 in Indy.
The Steelers began the game with an opening blow to the Colts to let them know they wouldn’t’ go down as easy as Week 12. Pittsburgh took their opening drive and marched 84 yards and Roethlisberger finished it off with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Antwaan Randle El. Later in the quarter, Roethlisberger struck again with 7-yard score to TE Heath Miller. The first quarter ended 14-0 Pittsburgh and the Colts fans were stunned.
The Steelers defense was putting on a clinic. LeBeau devised a game plan intended to confuse Manning by disguising their coverages until the snap. It was working. In the second quarter, the only score was a Colts field goal by the league’s most accurate kicker, Mike Vanderjagt. The half ended 14-3 Steelers.
In the third quarter, it remained a defensive struggle until late when Pittsburgh forced a Colts punt from their own 1-yard line and Randle El returned it to the Colts’ 30. After a short drive, Jerome Bettis bulldozed his way for a 1-yard score making it 21-3. Bettis, who was in the final season of his Hall of Fame career, seemingly put his team in a great position heading into the fourth quarter.
But this is when the game took several turns and turned into an all-time classic. Manning finally started to find chinks in the Steelers’ armor. He famously waved off the punt team on a fourth-and-two situation and completed a pass to Brandon Stokley for a first down. Then, the Colts QB hit TE Dallas Clark for a 50-yard bomb to make it 21-10. Big Ben and the Steelers chewed up a huge chunk of clock before punting and giving the Colts the ball with about six minutes remaining.
Then, a hugely controversial play unfolded. Steelers safety and superstar Troy Polamalu seemingly made a magnificent play and intercepted Manning. However, after a replay review, the officials overturned the call and called it an incomplete pass even though it clearly looked like a clean interception (the NFL would later admit it was the wrong call). Manning did not blow the second chance, surgically marching the Colts to the Steelers’ 3-yard line where Edgerrin James scored. A Manning to Reggie Wayne two-point play would made it 21-18.
The Pittsburgh offense failed to run out the clock and had to punt. But the defense held and brought the Colts to a four-and-16 situation and Joey Porter sacked Manning at the Colts’ 2-yard line with a little over one minute to play. The game was seemingly in the bag. The Colts had three timeouts remaining so Pittsburgh couldn’t just kneel on the ball and run the clock out. They could run three safe running plays with their battering ram, Bettis, and if they didn’t punch it in could still kick a field goal to go up six. No matter what, this game was pretty much over barring some catastrophic incident. Well, it was about to happen.
The play: On the first play, Roethlisberger handed the ball off to Bettis up the middle and what happened next would literally cause at least one real heart attack and countless figurative heart attacks. Colts LB Gary Brackett put his helmet on the ball and popped it out of Bettis’ hands. Indy DB Nick Harper scooped up the ball and started running the other way. Words can’t really the horror of that moment. Panic, shock, terror, disbelief, are words that we have in the English language, but they still fall short of accurately describing the feeling.
But once again, a hero was about to emerge. There was one man between Harper and the end zone. He was used to being a hero with his arm but this time he had to be a hero a do something he wasn’t paid to do: make a tackle. Big Ben did all he could to slow Harper down by turning side to side hoping that the cavalry would arrive to save the day. Finally, Ben made one more turn and lunged for Harper’s ankle and tripped up the defender for possibly the play of his career. The Colts had the ball at their 42-yard line but No. 7 had at least given the Steelers a chance.
Aftermath: Manning advance the Colts to the Steelers’ 28-yard line where Indy attempted a 45-yard field goal with the most accurate kicker in the league, one who hadn’t missed at home in a playoff game. But thankfully the kick sailed wide right and the Steelers advanced to play the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.
Could you imagine the pain if that was Bettis’ final carry of his career? How could he have lived with that? How could the fans have gotten over an ending like that? If the Steelers lost this game, Cowher doesn’t get his Super Bowl win. He probably doesn’t get into the Hall of Fame. Bettis wouldn’t have gotten his Super Bowl in his hometown of Detroit and his fairy tale ending never happens. Ben would only have one ring. It would have changed history for so many. When Big Ben dove for that ankle, he was not just saving a game. He was saving legacies.
And finally, as a side note, we have called these plays “heart attack” plays because they struck fear, terror, and shock into us as we watched them unfold. But this play actually induced a literal heart attack for one Steeler fan. Thankfully a couple of firefighters were there and administered first aid until an ambulance arrived. The fan survived and said he was more concerned with Bettis ending his career on that fumble than he was the Steelers losing the game. He recovered and watched his beloved Black and Gold win their fifth Super Bowl a few weeks later. This fan and Bettis got their fairy-tale ending.
