It’s a testament to the players’ collective level of talent, determination, and desire to win that the Patriots-Steelers match yesterday managed to live up to hype. Heading into the meeting of the best of the best in the American Football Conference, just about all quarters employed hyperbole to describe the gravity of the situation; at stake was homefield advantage in the playoffs, to be disputed by perennial favorites featuring noted marquee names. And, as things turned out, a single possession was what separated the scores.
To be fair, both the Patriots and the Steelers displayed efforts that merited triumph. Uncharacteristically off for most of the game, Tom Brady came alive late in the fourth quarter, engineering a drive that starred fresh-off-suspension Rob Gronkowski and resulted in the decisive touchdown. Still, Ben Roethlisberger was five seconds from stamping his class, only to be felled by an ill-advised decision to go for the end zone instead of the goal post. The play he called absent a timeout had Eli Rogers running a slant route and receiving his pass at the end zone; unfortunately, his fake spike deceived no one, leading to a pick that sealed the outcome.
To be sure, the set-to provided other ingredients for a classic. There was Gronkowski’s sterling showing coming off a ban. There was Brady’s solid stand in the crunch. There was league-leading receiver Antonio Brown’s injury. There was official Tony Corrente’s overturn of a Jesse James TD catch upon review. Despite all these, though, Roethlisberger had the contest in his hands. He could have gone to overtime armed with the confidence of a superior outing and the support of an overflow crowd of 68,574 at Heinz Field. Instead, he went for the high-risk, high-reward option, to disastrous results.
In the aftermath, the Patriots were justifiably jubilant and the Steelers alternately disappointed and disgusted. “It was a tight game,” Brady pointed out in understated fashion. “We just made one more play than they did.” “We lost a game, and I threw a pick in the end zone to lose it,” Roethlisberger noted. “I guess I don’t know a lot of things about football,” James said. If it’s any consolation, countless others felt the same way about Corrente and the league office. Certainly, the “survive the ground” rule will be the subject of discussion in football circles for the foreseeable term.
In any case, the Patriots stand to claim the right to host their set-tos throughout the AFC postseason. Up next: Holiday Eve encounters against the eight-and-six Bills and the five-and-nine Jets. In the meantime, they get to celebrate snatching victory from the throes of defeat yet again.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
