Titan Turnovers aid Steelers in 23-17 victory

QUARTER #1: The Steelers won their third in a row as coach Marcucci once again found a way to inspire his boys to victory. Pittsburgh got on the board first when Ben Roethlisberger hit Plaxico Burress for a 39 yard TD strike midway through the first quarter. After Steve McNair threw a pick to Larry Foote the Steelers took over on their own 15. Tennessee blitzed everyone and Pittsburgh burned them with a screen to Hines Ward that went for 31 yards. The Titans D flushed Ben out of the pocket and w/out an contain he ran 21 yards for a 1st down to the Titan 43. 2 plays later the Titans went into tight coverage and keyed Duce Staley for a run, but Ben hit Plax to open the scoring. With 2:03 left in the 1st quarter the Steelers were again driving. Facing a 3rd and 2 from Tennessee's 32 Ben hit Ward with a quick slant vs a run D that keyed Staley. That was enough to move the chains.

QUARTER #2: The Steeler drive stalled and Jeff Reed nailed a 37 yard FG to make it 10-0. On the ensuing kick off Derrick Mason got the bal on his own 22 and raced 25 yards to his 47 to give McNair great starting field position. The Steelers keyed Eddie George for the run and McNair hit Erron Kinney for a 20 yard strike. Two plays later McNair saw that PIT was looking run and hit Mason with a 6 yard pass that he turned into a 27 yard TD thanks to some nifty running on his behalf and some uncharacteristically bad Steeler tackling. Both teams settled into a field position type of game until 4:18 when Tennessee had a 2nd and 2 from their own 23. PIT was expecting a deep pass, but instead Carl Pickens brilliantly took a McNair screen 62 yards before Russell Stuvaints knocked him out of bounds. On the next play the Steelers put 8 in the box and dared McNair to beat them, which he did. This time he did it with his feet with a 15 yard TD run to make it 14-10 Titans. Just before the half the Steelers mounted a nice drive, but couldn't punch it in from the 2. Jevon Kearse sacked Ben for 7 yards on a big 3rd and goal. Jeff Reed hit the chip shot and it was 14-13 Titans at the half.

QUARTER #3: After going 3 and out the Titans were forced to punt. Antwaan Randle El took the punt back 45 yards to the Titan 30. After gaining 1 first down the Steelers were forced to attempt a 37 yard fg, which Jeff Reed hooked to the left. A few exchanges of possession occurred until the Steelers took over on their own 45 with 3:28 left in the quarter. Hines Ward caught a 10 yd pass, then Randle El was called for offensive PI on a quick out to move it back to the 49. Ben hit Ward with a 8 yard slant to make it 4th and 2 from the Titan 33. Gut check time...The Steelers decided to go for it and Ranle El caught a short pass for 12 yards while the Titans were keying Staley for the run.

QUARTER #4: Facing 4th and 7 from the 18 the Steelers elected to bring Jeff Reed on for a 35 yard FG attempt, which he nailed to make it 16-14 Pittsburgh. Derrick Mason received the kick off on his 14 and began flying up field until he got to the 40 when Chris Hope blind sided him and the ball popped out. The Steelers recovered on the Titan 40 and looked to be in business. Facing 3rd and 6 the Steelers elected to run a draw play to seldom used fullback Dan Kreider. George McCullough was able to bring Kreider down from behind, but not until after he gained 15 yards for a 1st down on the 21. On the next play the Titans loaded up to get Staley and were burned to the tune of 18 yards on a beautifully executed play fake from Ben to Plax. Bobby Myers saved the day, for the moment, by knocking the enigmatic flanker out at the 3. The Titans loaded up for the run again and keyed the heck out of Staley, and once again they went with a change of pace by handing it off to Kreider, who barrelled in from the 3 to make it 23-14 PIT with just under 12 minutes remaining in the game. Derrick Mason was able to hold on to this kickoff and redeemed himself by returning it to PIT's 45. Chris Sanders was able to get a drop over 8 yards on 3rd and 8 to move the chains to the 35. McNair hit Mason in stride for a 15 yard out pass and a 1st down, but it all came crashing down when Ricardo Colclough blind sided McNair on a sack. The ball came loose and Chris Hoke came up with it for the Steelers, who went 3 and out, but escaped from near danger. Tennessee put together a nice march, but had to settle for a 37 yarder by Al Del Greco to cut PIT's lead to 23-17 and make it a 1 score game again. Time was now a factor as the Steelers had the ball on their own 32 with 4:35 left to play. They went 3 and out thanks to some conservative play calling and some great Titan D. Tennessee had the ball with 3:30 to go on their own 26 and went 3 and out. A short punt gave the Steelers the ball on their own 42 and 3 plays later they returned the ball back to Tennessee, but this time with only 67 ticks left on the clock. Frank Wycheck caught a 10 yarder, but could not get out of bounds, so McNair had to burn his final time out with :58 seconds left to play. Facing a 4th and 3 Tennessee had to go for it and when Troy Palamalu knocked the ball out of Wycheck's hand the game was one knee from being over.

Staley had a fine day running for 150 yards. Two key turnovers killed Tennessee's chances of pulling off the upset in Heinz Field today.