Another series to finish out a quiet Pittsburgh Steelers offseason. Today, we’re looking back on some of the best individual playoff performances throughout the team’s postseason history and focusing moreso on the forgotten and overlooked ones. Maybe it wasn’t a star player or maybe it was a playoff run that didn’t end in a Super Bowl, overshadowing the accolades. Whatever the reason, they’re players and performances that have been left on the cutting room floor, but ones worth remembering.
We’ll start with Cedrick Wilson’s 2005 playoff performance, when the Steelers became the first sixth-seeded team to win the Super Bowl.
Cedrick Wilson 2005 Playoff Performance: 9 Receptions, 216 yards, 2 TDs
The Steelers’ 2005 Super Bowl run was defined by several names. A young Ben Roethlisberger, an old Jerome Bettis, and virtually the entire defense. But Wilson, while hot and cold in the playoffs, came up large with key catch after key catch in two of Pittsburgh’s four victories.
It was Wilson who got the team off the ground in the Wild Card round over the Cincinnati Bengals. He led all receivers, Steelers or Bengals, with 104 yards on three receptions. Two of his catches went over 40 yards. The first came late in the second quarter. While Carson Palmer’s torn ACL is a headline of the game, it’s easy to forget Pittsburgh still trailed long after Kimo von Oelhoffen crashed into his knee.
Backup QB Jon Kitna helped put the Bengals up 17-7 late in the first half. Receiving the ball to start the third quarter, all Cincinnati had to do was get a stop, and they’d be in control the rest of the way.
Facing 2nd and 9, QB Ben Roethlisberger took a seven-step drop from under center. With a patented pump fake, he fired downfield to an open Wilson, beating Kevin Kaesviharn for a 54-yard gain.
It was the momentum-shifting play the Steelers desperately needed. It put them at the Bengals’ 21, and four plays later, Roethlisberger found WR Hines Ward for a 5-yard score. Game on.
Fast forward to late in the third quarter. Pittsburgh got back on top earlier in the quarter and was looking to put space between them and the Bengals. That’s when the offense, as a counted-out sixth seed can do when it’s playing with house money, went into its bag of tricks.
Wide receiver and college quarterback Antwaan Randle El took the direct snap and rolled to his right. The defense flowed with him as he threw back across the field to Roethlisberger. A pass on the money over a leaping defensive back, Roethlisberger caught it, hitched up once, and fired downfield to a wide-open Wilson.
Touchdown. 43 yards. Game over.
After a catch-less performance in the Divisional upset over the Indianapolis Colts, Cedrick Wilson again came up large in the championship game versus the Denver Broncos. This time, he had more volume, finishing with five catches, 92 yards, and one score.
His touchdown came at the start of the second quarter. On 3rd and 9, Roethlisberger pump faked – it was such a weapon – and found Wilson along the back right pylon. The catch was largely uncontested, but Wilson still did well in tapping both toes inbounds for the 12-yard score. Pittsburgh raced to a 10-0 lead.
Denver responded with a field goal. That’s when Wilson went back to work. On the ensuing drive, he hauled in receptions of 17 and 18 yards on back-to-back Roethlisberger attempts. The first off play-action found Wilson on an out route to the sideline. The second beating a John Lynch blitz on a Bang 8 that he adjusted well to secure.
Jerome Bettis finished the drive off with a 3-yard run. An Ike Taylor interception turned into another Steelers touchdown, and up 24-3 at the half, the rout was on. The Super Bowl was near.
Cedrick Wilson struck again late in the third quarter. Roethlisberger put it on him with a 30-yard pickup to the left sideline. Three plays later, Wilson made a sliding catch on 2nd and 17. It didn’t move the sticks but got the team into a very manageable situation, converting on 3rd and 2. Jeff Reed tacked on three more to quell the concern of a comeback, making it a three-possession game again.
In Super Bowl XL, Cedrick Wilson had just one catch. It was hard to put up big numbers on a day when QB Ben Roethlisberger had completed just nine of them. But his reception went for 20 yards on a scoring drive, another Bang 8, the same skinny posts Michael Irvin would run in Dallas for a first down.
Penalties and sacks backed the team up, and it took an improbable 3rd and 28 conversion for Pittsburgh to get back into scoring range. Still, Wilson’s reception came on another scoring drive, a theme of his postseason performance. There weren’t many empty receptions. Almost all contributed to getting points on the board.
Signed as a free agent prior to the year, he had only a bit-part in the regular season. In these four playoff games, and really three considering he didn’t catch a pass versus the Colts, he nearly registered half the yards he had all regular season. And he didn’t catch a single touchdown until the postseason, where he scored twice. It was one heck of a run.
In Steelers’ single-postseason run history, here’s where Wilson’s stats (9 receptions, 216 yards, 24.7-yard per catch average, and two touchdowns) rank.
Receptions: Tied-31st
Receiving Yards: Ninth
Yards Per Catch: 2nd (minimum five receptions)
Touchdowns: Tied-Sixth
He’s in the top ten in everything except receptions. I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that. I wouldn’t have either until I looked it up. There may have been bigger reasons why the Steelers won one for the thumb, but every time Cedrick Wilson caught the ball, he got the team a little closer to its fifth Lombardi.
