| |  Steelers stunned by own comeback
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
PITTSBURGH -- Forty-five minutes after a mind-numbing victory owner Dan Rooney ranked behind only "The Immaculate Reception" in terms of comebacks, Hines Ward leaned against his locker, shook his head and conceded he had "no earthly idea" of how the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied to defeat the archrival Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
"You know what?" said Ward, who spent the afternoon catching passes and exhorting some hang-dog teammates. "For once I really mean it when I say I'm going to have to look (at the videotape), because I can't tell you how we did it. A lot of character, I guess, and perseverance. But when it comes to X's and O's, man, I'm a blank. I just don't know."
Fact is, when it came to explaining the 36-33 victory, fashioned with a 22-point fourth quarter explosion and culminated by a 3-yard touchdown run from reserve tailback Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala with just 54 seconds left, the dearth of lucidity was epidemic in the Steelers' locker room.
|  | | Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala scores the winning touchdown for the Steelers with 54 seconds left. |
It was as if the entire Pittsburgh roster required a group pinch, just to assure the players that what had just transpired on the Heinz Field quagmire was for real, and not merely some playoff fantasy.
Most of the veterans echoed the incredulity Ward displayed and, while there were plenty of wide-eyed Pittsburgh players, there were lots of glassy stares as well. There did emerge, however, one buzz word from players and coach Bill Cowher. And in the absence of football explanations, that word will have to serve as the most essential element for why the Steelers were able to rally from a 17-point third-quarter deficit.
Resiliency.
To most Steelers, including Rooney, that was the primary reason the team survived to face another postseason engagement. Certainly the Steelers, who will play at Tennessee next Saturday in a divisional-round matchup, caught a few breaks in the late going. But led by veterans who at various points in their careers experienced adversity -- quarterback Tommy Maddox leaps to mind -- the Steelers also caught fire.
They kept faith alive on the sideline by emphasizing that, even down by 17 points, there was still sufficient time left on the clock. Then they validated that faith by making plays at critical junctures, scoring touchdowns on three of their last four possessions, and finally discovering just enough antidotes to a Cleveland offense that registered 447 yards.
The rally represented the largest playoff comeback victory in club history.
It marked the second consecutive week the Steelers had rebounded from a double-digit deficit. They dug out of an 11-point hole last week against Baltimore in the regular-season finale. Situations like that one have served as a crucible of sorts for a team that, at least Sunday afternoon, was as steely as the franchise nickname.
"The term for this football team is resiliency," Cowher said. "It's definitely the term that defines this team. Even if they are down, they are not out of it, and they believe that. They just figure it's a higher mountain that they have to climb, that's all."
For much of the first-round game Sunday, the Steelers must have felt as if they were at the foot of Mount Everest, looking up at a seemingly insurmountable summit. The Steelers trailed for exactly 57 minutes and 50 seconds, falling quickly behind when a miscommunication between safety Brent Alexander and dime cornerback Hank Poteat allowed Browns wide receiver Kevin Johnson to get deep up the right sideline for an 83-yard catch to the 1-yard line. Tailback William Green scored a play later, just 1:16 into the contest.
The Steelers didn't lead until Fuamatu-Ma'afala's game-winning run.
Pittsburgh was its own worst enemy, particularly in the first half, when the Steelers turned the ball over on three occasions and demonstrated all the stopping power of a sieve in the secondary. By halftime, the Browns had rung up 209 net yards and quarterback Kelly Holcomb, starting in place of the injured Tim Couch, had thrown for 232 yards.
Holcomb finished with 26 completions in 43 attempts, for 429 yards, with three touchdown passes, an interception and a 107.6 passer rating. His yardage was the second most in franchise playoff history and Holcomb's performance is certain to precipitate a quarterback controversy of sorts, at least among Browns fans, who have not exactly warmed to Couch.
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There is a lot of confidence on this team. Nobody quits. Guys are never ready to just pack it in, no matter the score, and that's a real strong point here. ” |
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— Steelers QB Tommy Maddox |
Credit the Browns for an aggressive offensive game plan, one from which coach Butch Davis and coordinator Bruce Arians never pulled back, one that kept forcing the attack every time the Steelers narrowed the gap. Holcomb kept his foot on the throttle, responding to Pittsburgh touchdowns early in the fourth quarter with big-play passes on the next series.
If there was a glaring deficiency for Cleveland, it was the lack of a running game, as Green carried 25 times for a puny 30 yards. Take away a 23-yard run in the fourth quarter and the Browns' first-round choice averaged just less than a foot per carry. Of his 25 attempts, 14 netted a yard or less and eight went for negative yardage.
"They talked about how their young back had emerged," said Pittsburgh weakside linebacker Joey Porter. "Emerged? We remembered how we shut him down the last time he played. This time, he got 25 carries, and it was the same result."
The other error for the Browns was an unwitting one. Several veterans in the Pittsburgh locker room touched on the irony of how the Browns' huge lead early in the game forced the Steelers to rely heavily on the "spread" offense. It was from that set, especially in the fourth quarter, that Maddox did most of his damage.
On the three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, he completed 14 of 20 passes for 175 yards. For the day, he completed 30 of 48 passes for 367 yards, with three touchdown passes and two interceptions.
Along with Ward and some of the offensive linemen, Maddox was a vocal leader in the huddle.
"There is never a sense on this team that it's over, and that's part of the fun of playing with these guys, really," said Maddox, who allowed that a triple-overtime victory in the XFL could not rival the Sunday comeback. "There is a lot of confidence on this team. Nobody quits. Guys are never ready to just pack it in, no matter the score, and that's a real strong point here."
There is some cockiness, too, Ward agreed. When it was pointed out to him that John Elway used to regularly dispatch the Browns with such derring-do comebacks, Ward noted: "Yeah, same (Browns) team, but just a different quarterback, that's all. I wouldn't want to be over in that locker room right now, that's for sure. They have to be miserable."
Actually the frantic Pittsburgh rally would have been rendered moot had Browns wide receiver Dennis Northcutt -- who, along with Johnson took turns torching the Pittsburgh secondary, the two combining for 11 catches and 232 yards -- been able to hold onto a third-down pass with 2:49 left in the game. Catch that ball and the Browns would have been able to run out the clock, and been on their way to a second-round game at Oakland.
But where the Steelers were able to make every big play when they so desperately needed to, Northcutt couldn't pull in the well-lofted pass, even though he had beaten Poteat. The drop was a matter of execution. To some Steelers, though, it was also an example of the lingering immaturity of the Browns, and an inability to close out a game that should have been posted in the win column.
"Big plays at big times, that's what it is all about, I'll tell you," said Ward, who had 11 receptions for 104 yards. "We made them and, to me, that's a sign of character. Or, I guess, maybe the resiliency everyone is talking about. I know this much: For as long as I've been playing football, I never thought I'd be in a game like this. And I sure as heck never allowed myself to dream that we'd play a game like this today.
"It's an emotional thing. I still can't describe it. But I know we won and, no matter how it happened, that's still the most important thing."
Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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