A new series I’m starting to help pass the time until training camp starts in late July. Today and throughout these articles, we’ll look back on forgotten Pittsburgh Steelers plays and moments. Usually, they were overshadowed by other big plays or games but often played key roles in the team’s success. There will be a mixture of offense, defense, and special teams.
FORGOTTEN STEELERS PLAYS: Bobby Shaw’s 90-Yard Score
In the early days of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens rivalry, it was WR Bobby Shaw who made a defining play. A heavyweight matchup in Week 14 of the 2001 season, the 10-2 Steelers made the short trip to Baltimore to face the 8-4 Ravens.
A tight game throughout, the Steelers led 13-7 throughout the third quarter and midway through the fourth. Backed up after a Ravens punt and facing 3rd and 7, Baltimore dropped eight into coverage in a creative blitz with the ends dropping and the inside linebacker rushing.
With time in the pocket, QB Kordell Stewart fired over the middle and split a pair of Ravens DBs, hitting Shaw at the Steelers’ 35. He did the rest, sprinting the next 65 yards to pay dirt for a 90-yard score.
Though the two-point try failed, the Steelers took a 19-7 lead that gave them enough buffer the rest of the game, winning 26-21. Pittsburgh moved to 11-2 and went on to win the AFC Central while Baltimore took second place. They’d make the AFC Championship Game before their first of several heartbreaks against the New England Patriots.
For Shaw, it tied the Steelers’ record for longest touchdown reception in franchise history, matching, of all people, Mark Malone’s mark in 1981. The mark would be broken by Mike Wallace in 2015 and again by JuJu Smith-Schuster’s 97-yard scores in 2017 and 2018.
It was Shaw’s last great play as a Steeler. While he finished the season, that 90-yarder was the statement on his Pittsburgh career. A successful one often forgotten, a playmaker who averaged about 17 yards a catch in 2000 and 2001. Shaw signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars the following April before ending his career with the Buffalo Bills the next year.
On a personal level, I’ve had a Mandela Effect with this play. My memory always told me this was the play Shaw scored and unveiled a Superman shirt under his jersey. It wasn’t. That came at the end of a blowout loss to the Tennessee Titans in 1999 that made steam come out of Bill Cowher’s ears.
But Shaw atoned for that gaffe with this play against Baltimore to help win the game and secure the division. From there, the Steelers-Ravens rivalry took off.
