When It Seemed All Was Lost

Who saw this one coming. The Steelers are the defending Super Bowl champions and are fighting for a playoff spot and were at Heinz Field against the 3-8 Raiders. The opening kickoff was returned by the Steelers all the way to the Raiders 20. But a solid effort by the defense held the Steelers to no first downs and a field goal made it 3-0.  

  The Raiders drove to mid-field when 4th and 1 came up. Gradkowsi ran a play action and rolled out and hit Justin Fargas to move the chains. That drive tied the game 3-3.

  Then it looked like it would become the blow out that many people expected. Big Ben executed back to back huge plays with the last one being a strike to Santonio Holmes for the first touchdown, 10-3 Steelers lead. The Raiders didn't go down though, they fought back and got another Sebastian Janikowski field goal, 10-6. The Steelers were poised to get another TD when a Big Ben pass was intercepted by Hiram Eugene in the end zone and that took the game to halftime, still 10-6.

  Then in the last 7 minutes of the 4th quarter this game went from a defensive battle to a display of offensive firepower. First, Bruce Gradkowski hit Chaz Schilens caught an 11 yard TD pass. The Raiders went up 13-10. On 2 plays, Roethlisberger put the Steelers on the Oakland 3. Rashard Mendenhall pounded the ball in on the left side to go back on top 17-13.

  Then the Raiders struck like lightning on a 3rd and 1 when Gradkowski fired a bomb down the field to a wide open Louis Murphy who snuck inside the pylon for a 75 yard TD reception that gave the Raiders a 20-17 lead.

  That was followed by a 7 play drive that went 80 yards and ended on a pass from Big Ben to Hines Ward for an 11 yard TD, Steelers go up 24-20.

  Then to put the nail in the coffin the Raiders went 88 yards on 10 plays in the game's last 2 minutes and on that drive Louis Murphy and Bruce Gradkowski looked like Kenny Stabler and Fred Biletnikoff. Louis Murphy caught a jump ball on the sideline to get the ball deep into Steelers territory. The drive ended on a pass from Gradkowski to Murphy that went 11 yards leaving 9 seconds on the clock. A Roethlisberger pass as time expired fell incomplete and the Raiders pulled another game out the magic hat joining the Eagles and Bengals.

Here are some quick notes from this game:

  3rd Times A Charm: This was Bruce Gradkowski's 3rd career start at Pittsburgh and the first 2 were just awful. All week there have been stories about his terrible past against the terrible towel but this time Bruce would not go down to the Steelers. He completed 20 of 33 for 308 yards and 3TDs with no turnovers, he had the highest fantasy value of all QBs in the early games.

  Murphy Redeems Himself: Murphy has been dropping a lot of passes lately and today he had no catches going into the 4th quarter, then he had 4 catches for 128 yards and 2 TD's plus a great "Sea of Hands" style catch on the last drive before he caught the winning TD.

  The First is The Hardest: Chaz Schilens caught his first TD of the year, it's been a long time coming since his injury kept him out half the season.

  O-Line Steps Up: The Raiders kept the Steelers #2 sack defense off Gradkowski until the second half. 0 sacks in the first half. Also, Fargas rushed for 63 yards on 15 carries against the #1 run defense. McFadden had 9 for 25 and Gradkowski had 2 nice runs only to be called back by penalties on the other side of the field.

  Seymour No Factor: Seymour's name was never called except for an illegal use of hands penalty.

  DHB Inactive, Higgins Shines: With Heyward-Bey sidelined from a minor injury, Johnie Lee made his first start all year and he had 4 catches for 63 yards. That is half of what DHB has done all year.

  Cable May Have Saved Job: Al Davis hates many people, but none more than the Steelers. Going back to the rivalry's intensity of the 1970s it has been a Raider tradition to hate the Steelers. On the the Raiders 1976 Super Bowl rings Al Davis put 24-7 (the score of the AFC championship game vs. the Steelers) on the side of the ring. This will give Tom Cable some help in stating his case to stay on board for next year. Depending on how the Raiders finish the season, 8-8or 7-9 could get Cable some consideration to keep his job and a win over Pittsburgh could be the determining factor.