What a difference a kicker makes. After releasing the beleaguered Jeff Reed, who had missed all four of his kick attempts from between 40-49 yards this season (sports.yahoo.com), the Steelers picked up a replacement that would connect on four such kicks in a single game (nfl.com). Shaun Suisham, signed by the Steelers to replace the wayward Reed, booted field goals of 45, 46, 48, and 41 yards as the Steelers overcame penalties, miscues and mistakes to beat the upstart Buffalo Bills, 19-16 (scores.espn.go.com).
Suisham, despite his heroics, certainly wasn’t the only story of the game. Rashard Mendenhall and the Steeler offense started strong, capping a near 8-minute drive with a Mendenhall touchdown run. Two of Suisham’s field goals rounded out the first half’s scoring, and the Steelers held the ball for an astounding 24 minutes of the 30-minute first half.
Still, with less than two touchdowns’ advantage, the Steelers’ position was vulnerable to a Bills second-half comeback. Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison drew a flag for roughing the passer, and the Bills used that momentum to carry them to their first score, a 65-yard catch and run by Fred Jackson. After a Steelers drive netted no points, the Bills scored again, this time in the fourth quarter on Rian Lindell’s first field goal, a 29-yarder. The Steelers started their next possession hoping to grind out some clock, but on the very first play of the drive Mendenhall fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Bills. Lindell’s 32-yard kick moments later erased the deficit, and the score stood tied, 13-13.
The Steelers then embarked on a drive to gain the lead again, having squandered their first-half momentum in spectacular fashion. Despite penalties negating key plays, Ben Roethlisberger, injured leg and all, hobbled 18 yards to convert a key third down and send the Steelers into field-goal range. Suisham’s third kick hit home, and 16-13 was now the score.
Too much time remained, as the Bills managed to mount two different attempts to tie the game, the first ending on a Troy Polamalu interception. But with two seconds left in regulation, the Bills again had the ball and Rian Lindell knocked in a kick from 49 yards out to send the game to overtime.
Finally the game got interesting. The Bills elected to receive the football, an almost standard practice for the team winning the overtime coin toss since the receiving team wins 60% of the time (advancednflstats.com). In this game, though, the ploy may have backfired. The Bills had a good return on the kickoff and were set up at midfield, and drove to around the same area where Lindell had hit the game-tying kick minutes earlier.
But the Steelers, as losers of the coin toss, had decided to defend the windy end of the stadium, meaning that Lindell’s kick would have to battle a headwind to make it through the uprights. Instead of attempting a risky long-range kick, the Bills punted. And after stopping the Steelers and driving to the same area again, the Bills went for the win. Receiver Stevie Johnson, hero of last week’s Bills comeback win against Cincinnati, broke free from Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor and appeared to reel in a 40-yard touchdown grab to win the game. But Johnson couldn’t hang on, and a collective sigh was breathed by Steeler Nation.
Senior Sara Dinwiddie remembered, “I was pouring butter over someone’s popcorn bucket when suddenly a jolt shot through me, like a bolt of lightning from beyond… and I knew something monumental had just occurred. I ran all the way upstairs to my boss’ office, picked up his phone, called my house, and screamed ‘MOTHER, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?’ And that’s when it hit me.”
Given a new lease on life, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger noted, “Well, hopefully that’s new life for us” (nfl.com). It certainly was, as a punishing drive by Rashard Mendenhall and the Steeler ground game set up Suisham’s fourth kick, the game-winner. Carried off the field by his teammates, one can only imagine that Suisham made Coach Mike Tomlin the happiest of all on the Steelers sideline. “How about Shaun?” an ecstatic Tomlin asked during his press conference. “He is now a Steeler!”