Steelers escape with last second touchdown over Green Bay

An amazing finish to another embarrassing 4th quarter. Yeah I don't want to sound negative but I am a realist.

Oh don't get me wrong I am happy with the win and the fact that the boys didn't give up and say who cares. But we are technically the defending Super Bowl Champions. We are not the Titans or the Texans who should be thrilled to be fighting for mediocrity. Yes I want to finish 9 and 7 also but only to save further ridicule and embarrassment.

But before we do the finger pointing let's savor the highlights.

• The final TD to Mike Wallace was awesome

• Wallace had 2 TD's on the day

 

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• 537 Total yards of offense

• The 12 play 86 yard drive for the dramatic win was fun to watch.They got the ball with 2:06 on the clock and used every second.

• The lame parts of the afternoon:

• 65 rushing yards? That sucks. It was 24 to 14 heading into the 4th quarter. If you had the ability and the desire to run the football the opponent wouldn't have the chance to put 22 freakin' points on your sorry 4th quarter defense! Not to mention that early in the 4th quarter when Green Bay scored their first 7 you tried pounding Willie Parker when you did try and run. WHAT? The guy has not proven anything going back to last season.

• With a 24 to 21 leasdyou are 1st and 10 on the Green Bay 18. Again you go withWillie Parker for a pathetic 2 yards. And then you go with the tired and predictable shotgun for 2 more horrific plays. You settled for a field goal.

• With a 27 to 21 lead you let the Packers drive over your face in a minute and fifty three seconds. 4 plays 62 yards and now you are losing 28 to 27.

• Once again you are 1st and 10 at the door step on the Green Bay 23. After an incomplete pass they go with the SHOTGUN AGAIN! This has not worked all season and they stil continue to go to it. When you are that close the shotgun is pointless unless you can do creative plays from it. Like I don't know .......... maybe run from it? When a team knows your going to pass from that close it is very easy to play defense. And then a costly penalty set up another field goal.

• Speaking of penalties. 10 for 84 yards

• You let Green Bay march 39 yards in 1:52 because you stupidly try an onside kick . Your defense can't stop anything at this point and you risk giving the Packers a short field? Did Tomlin know he was winning 30 to 28? Hey Coach guess what now you're losing 36 to 30. Not only do they score an easy TD but they laugh in your face with a 2 point conversion.

• The Steelersput together a desperation 12 play 86 yard play with Green Bay doing the old bend but don't break. And the Steelers were helping by running the shotgun at nauseum. At this point it was do or die so what can you say.

• The 3rd and 10 from he Green Bay 19 from the shotgun had me livid but to Ben and Mike Wallace's credit they proved me wrong. They pulled one out of their butt and won the game! Which was part of lameness and HIGHLIGHTS!

• Allowed Green Bay to convert 10 of 16 3rd down attempts!

• Okay so I'm still smarting from the 5 game skid to skid row. This was an exciting game. It's just that the Steelers should be a better team than this. And the 46 pass with 19 runs is problematic. This leads to the Packers having the ball for 10 more minutes! No wonder the defense collapses in the 4th quarter. Thankfully the Packers did not help themselves by passing 48 times and running 12 times.

For me this was a microcosm of the Steelers season. But hey we won and I'll take that as a positive overall.

By: Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Pittsburgh Steelers Correspondent