My Hines Ward Blog

After watching the Steelers take the ball down and score on their opening drive I was sure we were going to win. The Steelers moved the ball into the red zone like a well-oiled machine and they actually scored a touch down and not a wimpy field goal. The only problem after scoring the td was that we had to kick the ball to the Jags and that meant our horrible kick coverage unit would be tasked with stopping Jones-Drew!

The team kicked the ball away and just as I had feared, Jones-Drew ran up the middle like an indy car on a straightaway. Got to give props to Madison who showed some speed when he ran down Jones-Drew at the 1-yard line. How about kicking the ball high enough to give the coverage unit enough time to get down field to be in position to make a tackle? The special teams has been killing us all year long and they killed us early in the playoff game.

By the end of the 1st half the team was down 21-7 and the deficit was the result of 3 Ben Roethlisberger interceptions. In my opinion, all 3 interceptions were bad throws, including the one thrown to the defensive lineman. It looked as though Ben was trying to do too much and he made some bad throws which were easy picks.

At the end of the half the Steeler's had 3 interceptions and 3 punts. The positives were we had an 80 yard scoring drive and our defense had held the Jags to only 118 total yards and they were containing Fred Taylor. Even though we were down by 14 points I felt good about our chances in the 2nd half.

I felt the offense needed to come out in the 2nd half and completely abandon the running game. Davenport was not effective and he obviously is not going to fill the shoes of Willie Parker. Davenport is a short-yardage brut but we can't use him in the role of an every down back. The defense had to keep playing the way they had in the 1st half and if we stopped throwing int's, we had a chance in the game.

During the 2nd half they showed a stat that said Big Ben was either #1 or #2 in the league in 4th quarter come back wins. I was just worried that Ben might have been rattled after throwing 3 awful picks. I was also concerned that our special teams could give up more big plays which would hurt our chances.

The Jags get the ball in the 3rd quarter and Harrison intercepts Garrard's pass at the Jag's 45 yard-line. That was just what the doctor ordered, a Jag's interception. The problem is that after the interception we drive to the 10 yard line where we have to kick a field goal. I'm tired of field goals! When we are on the 10 yard-line we need touch downs, not field goals. Now the score is 21-10 when it could have been 21-14 if we had scored a td.

The Steeler's kick the ball to the Jags who muff the catch at the 18 yard-line. We have the Jags deep in their own territory so now all we have to do is force them to punt and we will get good field position. On 2nd and 7 we sack Garrard for a 5-yard loss but Ike Taylor gets flagged for a bone head face mask penalty! That penalty was a killer. The Jags then drive down and score, making it 28-10.

With a little over 4-minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, the Steeler's start with the ball on their 31 yard-line. Big Ben engineers a solid 10-play 69 yard drive that results in a td pass to Santonio Holmes. The score is now 28-17 and I am feeling better. The Jags get the ball back but we hold them and they punt. Now were playing solid football. The offense is scoring and the defense is shutting down the opponents offense.

Big Ben engineers another solid drive where he throws a td to Heath Miller. The score is now 28-23. Tomlin elects to go for a 2-point conversion which is converted on a Hines Ward catch at the back of the end zone.

The 2-point conversions is negated because of offensive holding. What a waste of a nice 2-point conversion pass play because of a holding penalty. We try the 2-point conversion again and we fail! I thought we should have kicked the field goal after the holding penalty but I'm not the coach.

The Jags get the ball back and on 2nd down Garrard is intercepted again by Ike Taylor. I believe Garrard only threw 3 picks all year and he had thrown 2 in the game. Taylor showed some nice moves and speed as he returned the pick to the Jags 16 yard-line. Now we're in business!

Big Ben drives us down to the 1 yard-line and Davenport come through with a td run. Holy Cow! Now we are winning 29-28. All we have to do is convert a 2-point conversion and we will be up by 3. Ben throws incomplete to Washington and the score remains 29-28. I felt real good because we were up by 1 point and our defense was playing solid. This game was our's!

We kick the ball to the Jags with a little over 6-minutes left in the game and our defense comes through by holding the Jags to 1 first down. The key play here was on 3rd and 7, Garrard is sacked by Woodley as he drops back to pass. Nice defense! The Jags are forced to punt.

This is where I have a problem with the play calling by the Steelers. We get the ball back with just under 4 minutes remaining in the game and all we need is a couple 1st downs and we win. This is a playoff game and if we lose our season is done. We are up by a meager 1 point! A field goal by the Jags wins the game so we must ensure that they do not get the ball back at any more. We have been moving the ball rather well in the 2nd half so it should be no problem to get a couple of first downs or drive down and score again.

On 1st down we run Davenport to the right for 5 yards. On 2nd down we run Davenport to the left for -1 yards. I am ok with running the ball on 1st and 2nd downs because there is less of a chance for a turnover. It's 3rd and 6 and I feel our chances of converting are superb. Ben gets in the shotgun formation and when the ball snaps he runs to the left for 1 yard. Why on earth did we run Big Ben from the shotgun against the Jags defense that stuffs the run? Hines Ward is almost a guarantee to convert the ball for us on 3rd and 6.

The Steelers punt the ball and it goes 40 yards where it is fielded and returned to midfield. Great! 2 1/2 minutes left in the game and the Jags have the ball at midfield. Our defense had been playing good so I thought we had a good chance of stopping the Jags. Garrard killed us on this drive when he ran for 32 yards on 4th and 2. A 32 yard quarterback scramble on 4th and 2 is a punch in the face and I felt it sitting on my couch.

A couple of Jones-Drew runs and it was time for a game winning field goal with 40 seconds left in regulation. J.Scobee kicked a 25-yard field goal to make it 31-29. This sucks! We still have a slight chance because we get the ball back with 29 seconds and anything can happen. The Jags kick the ball to us and Navenport takes it to the 28 yard-line. A couple nice passes and we have a chance at our own game winning field goal.

Ben lines up in the shotgun and when he takes the snap he fumbles the ball when he is sacked. The game end on a sack and fumble! Horrible! I had visions of 2 deep passes and then a Jeff Reed game winning field goal attempt. I would have been ok if we had gotten Reed an attempt to kick the game winner and he had missed.

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