Steelers Deserve Credit, Vanderjagt Deserves a Kick

Tags: Steelers | NFL | Football | Sports | Pittsburgh

They did it! What a helluva game. I had three heart attacks and a stroke—all in the last five-and-a-half minutes of the game.

The first was a really more of a heart murmur when, with 5:26 left in the game Troy Polamalu picked off a Peyton pass, rolled to the ground, kneed the ball out of his grip on the way back up, fumbled, and then recovered the ball. I cheered and danced and screamed and probably continued to piss off any hungover neighbours that may have been in the vicinity. And then there it came. Tony Dungy's red flag. The Coaches Challenge. The replay was shown 30 times. The call on the field was "interception". It was definitely, without a doubt a clean catch. An overturn was impossible. I would have bet everything I own on the initial ruling. And then referee "Payroll" Pete Morelli called it no good. WTF?! I yelled and stomped and screamed and probably continued to piss off any hungover neighbours that may have been in the vicinity.

The Colts-O got back on the field and two 20+ yard completions from Manning setup a 3-yard touchdown run by Edgerrin James, which was coverted for two. The Darkness came. It looked like it was going to be one of "those games". I was ready to break stuff. But all turned around—even after two forced Steelers punts.

Back to back sacks (numbers 4 and 5) on the Colts' 2 yard-line and I was pissing off my neighbours again— evidently somewhat prematurely along with sidelined Duce Staley. With The Steelers possession and all four downs on the Indy 2-yard line, the game was OVER.

Not so. The Colts still had all three of their timeouts left so a kneel-down wasn't an option. So, hmm? What should the Steelers do on first-down on an opponent's 2-yard line? Give it to Bettis? Unheard of! So I continued to dance my jig, knowing full well that the ever surehanded Jerome would slam his way into the end zone and get another well-deserved post-season TD. But shit! FUMBLE! I screamed in horror as I watched Colts DB Nick Harper snag the ball and start running into the expanse of a wide open field on his way to a season-ending touchdown. But thankfully there was still one Steeler down field—good ole Ben!

But alas, the game was far from over. The Colts had moved into Steelers territory and had one the best kickers in league history warming up. And then—on home turf—Vanderjagt kicked wide. And not just wide... but WIDE. It was like he was being paid by the enemies of whoever was paying Morelli.

After the game Vanderjagt made some comment like "I guess the Lord forgot about our football team." What?! Vanderjagt, I wish you weren't Canadian! Your team played five minutes of football. The Steelers played sixty. And it showed. And the better team won. Enjoy the 19th Hole, dumbass.

Most sports writers still didn't give the Steelers any credit for a great game (except for Vic Carucci) even after the win.

Joey Porter said it best: "I know they wanted Indy to win this game; the whole world loves Peyton Manning. But come on, man, don't take the game away from us like that."