Steelers Sunday: 2010 AFC Championship
With the Pittsburgh Steelers 2014 season being over, why not take a look back to some of their greatest victories? With the Conference Championship games happening today, let’s look back at their 2010 AFC Championship victory win over the New York Jets, which is sadly also the last time the Pittsburgh Steelers have won a playoff game.
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Here is a 10-minute highlight video of the game via NFL Network. I’d suggest clicking on that link. This game was a wild one. If you do not remember this was the second straight year the New York Jets were in the AFC Championship with second year quarterback Mark Sanchez and second year head coach Rex Ryan.
The game started off about as well as you could ask for the Steelers. 29 minutes into the game the Steelers were winning 24-0. Rashard Mendenhall scored a touchdown on the game’s opening drive. I’ll say this Mendenhall actually had a very good game. He ran for 121 yards and almost scored a receiving touchdown but tripped at the two-yard line. The Steelers forced the Jets to punt the ball four times. With two minutes left in the half Ben Roethlisberger ran in a two yard touchdown to make the score 17-0.
A 17-point lead appeared pretty safe because the Jets offense had done very little all game. However, 24 points felt almost insurmountable when Ike Taylor’s blitz got to Sanchez and forced a fumble, which was recovered by William Gay and ran into the end zone. 24-0 Steelers. Game over right? Not so much.
The Steelers would not score another point in the game and the Jets will slowly fight their way back to make it a game. The Jets kicked a field goal to end the first half and then on the opening drive of the third quarter Sanchez found our old friend Santonio Holmes wide open for a 45-yard touchdown. Big Ben then threw a deep interception and the two teams traded punts.
On the next Jets possession they held the ball for 8:06 and killed half of the fourth quarter. The Jets had a fourth down and one on the Steelers one yard line. Down by 14 with just under eight minutes left they had to go for the touchdown. They decided to hand it off to LaDainian Tomlinson, who got stuffed running the ball right up the middle. Steelers ball. Game now officially over right? Nope.
On the first Steelers play Roethlisberger could not handle the snap from backup center Doug Legursky, who was filling in for the injured Maurkice Pouncey. Big Ben fell on the loose ball but since he was on the goal line the Jets touched him down for a safety. 24-12 Steelers.
The ensuing Jets possession went 58 yards on ten plays and was capped off by a 4-yard Jerricho Cotchery touchdown. The Steelers lead was now almost gone at 24-19 with 3:06 remaining. The Jets also had all three of their timeouts and the two-minute warning.
It was time for the Steelers offense to put this game away once and for all. Ben found Heath Miller for 14 yards to gain a first down. Mendenhall then had two carries each for two yards and the Jets were out of timeouts and the clock ran down to the two-minute warning. The Steelers had a decision to make. Either run the ball and if they don’t get the first down they would punt it to the Jets with about 1:15 to play, or throw it and end the game but possibly stop the clock and give the Jets even more time.
Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians went with the risky call of throwing the ball. Ben rolled out to his right and found a rookie who had only made 16 catches during the season. Antonio Brown caught his only pass of the game for 14 yards and the game clinching first down. The Steelers then kneeled the ball three times and were finally on their way to their third Super Bowl trip since 2005.
The Steelers sure know how to make a game exciting. Here is the box score and the game recap from ESPN.