Roethlisberger Hobbles, Lights go out on Steelers Top Seed Hopes in loss to Niners
Heading into week 15, The San Francisco 49ers and The Pittsburgh Steelers were two teams heading in the right direction. Both of these former benefactors of 'decades of excellence' had already clinched playoff berths for the season, it was just a matter of when and whom they'd be playing. The 49ers were still in contention for the top seed in the NFC, clashing with the Packers for home-field advantage. Meanwhile, everything had seemingly fallen into place for the Steelers, as the AFC's top seeds (the Texans and division rival Ravens) had lost, and left the Steelers in control of their own destiny. The match-ups in question were the teams' two QB's (the Niners untested Alex Smith and the Steelers very injured Ben Roethlisberger) against two of the NFL's truly elite defenses. Let's get it on. Wait, just as we approach kickoff, the power generators in Candlestick Park (irony much?) go out and we are left in the dark for a half hour. Luckily, my reviews garner no such wait. On with the game...
The Steelers receive first and come out hot, as has been the norm for Pittsburgh all season. Pitt drives the ball 80 yards to open, in that bunch shotgun offense. Though the pace quickly changes as Big Ben is intercepted at the Niners' four yard line by grizzled veteran Carlos Rodgers, on a pass that clearly was affected by Ben's inability to put his weight on his injured ankle. Both the injury, and the INT's, would become a theme for the night. But for now, San Fran capitalizes on the turnover with a 69 yard drive, highlighted by short passes and standout protection schemes, and resulting in a David Akers 22 yard FG. The next Steeler drive was a lot like the first: showing signs of life and perspicacity, but ending in a Roethlisberger INT in an over-shot pass to Heath Miller. First quarter ends at 3-0 49ers.
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As the second quarter begins, we have another power outage in San Fran. I look at this as God's way (or Tim Tebow's way, if you listen to SportsCenter these days) of telling me to go to sleep, and as a Steeler fan, I may have been better off. Nonetheless, we resume rather quickly, and Vernon Davis catches a key third down pass, which ends with another short 49ers FG. Both offenses then strung out 10+ play drives, only to result in tons of penalties and no points. The Steelers make a decision not to go for a deep FG at the end of the half, and we sit at 6-0 49ers at the break. As we resume, the Steeler defense holds San Fran to a quick 3-and-out, but answers with only 10 yards themselves. At this point, both offensive lines had protected tremendously well, and the game had been decided on turnovers alone. Finally, on the backs of a drive from Mendenhall and Heath Miller, the Steelers crack the scoreboard on a Suisham 51 yard boot.
At 6-3, the Niners had an answer. The short pass game from Smith to last year’s highly-picked Michael Crabtree, and the clutch catches from all-star TE Vernon Davis worked wonders, as the Steeler front seven had no algorithm for pressuring the Niner backfield. Davis catches a 1 yard TD on a smooth, quick 49ers drive, to notch the game at 13-3. A missed Suisham FG attempt leaves the score at that, heading to the 4th. It was at this point that a quiet rookie, who nobody knows outside of San Francisco (but should), named Alden Smith took over. His unrelenting pressure of Roethlisberger is what broke this game wide open. He starts with a sack-fumble on Ben, which results in a Frank Gore (who had 65 yards on the ground) 5-yard TD. He followed up with another sack and a half (shared), not to mention countless hits that had Ben hobbling and throwing with jitters for the duration. Alden Smith's name might as well have been Mendenhall, because he was standing around Big Ben for much of the night. The scoring concluded at 20-3, although Ben did not leave the game. He finished with 330 passing, but 4 huge turnovers played the most significant part. That 'untested' Alex Smith went unsacked, and looked very efficient (187 passing), as his main target in Vernon Davis (6 catches, 72 yards and a TD) shined.
Now the Steelers look to end the season strong and get healthy as the Niners are still fighting for first place in the conference. Candlestick Park may need to get some stronger lighting though, because the Niners may be playing some playoff games there very soon.
By Jason Burke
Pro Football Fans Pittsburgh Steelers Correspondent