Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre, and Vikings were not perfect.

Minnesota wasn’t able to get half a yard at a time when it could have turned things around. Then they watched the big play defense of the Steelers end the Vikings undefeated season with their two long returns for touchdowns during the last 6 ½ minutes of the game.

The fumble return of 77 yards by LaMarr Woodley and the 82 interception return by Keyaron Fox on Favre turnovers allowed Pittsburgh to turn the Vikings repeated comeback attempts back, as the Steelers were able to ride three critical defensive stands on Sunday to give them a very important 27-17 win.

What had been a highly anticipated showdown between quarterbacks Favre and Roethlisberger, the NFL’s passing leader, turned into a defensive duel. The Super Bowl champ Steelers (5-2) team, the No. 1 rated defense during the past two seasons, is very hard to defeat in games that are decided by the defense.

During the third quarter, Minnesota (6-1) conceded as much. After they failed to score in three plays from only half a yard out, and where Peterson only got the football once, they had to settle for just a field goal which meant that the Steelers still had the lead in the game at 13-10.

The critical goal line stand for Pittsburgh was just as decisive as their ensuing two defensive touchdowns.

Ryan Clark, Steelers safety said, that was the biggest point in the entire game. You have the world’s best running back and you don’t give him the ball. They are saying that they cannot beat us running. That is a major statement considering they have that guy back there.

The return of Woodley, with lots of huffing and puffing coming from the linebacker over the last thirty yards following Brett Keisel’s strip of Favre for the football, was very similar to the interception return of 100 yards by James Harrison during the Super Bowl versus Arizona. Mike Tomlin, Steelers coach said, that was one of those moments in slow motion that are one of the joys of this business.

Woodley’s touchdown gave Pittsburgh a 20-10 lead with 6:23 left to play, after Minnesota drove down to Pittsburgh’s 8 yard line and had positioned themselves to take the lead for the first time in the game since the 2 yard run for a touchdown by Peterson had put them ahead during the second quarter 7-3.

Woodley said, I got down to the 40 yard line and didn’t think that I would make it.

Minnesota wasn’t finished, not during this season full of surprises at the last minute. Percy Harvin answered Pittsburgh with a kickoff return of 88 yards for a touchdown. However, Favre wasn’t able to pull this game out after he had rallied the Vikings twice previously during the closing minutes of the game.

Favre said, there were lots of ifs, lots of reasons why we didn’t win. One of them was the red zone. They are very physical. We thought they would be good and they were. When I got here and saw the Steelers game on our schedule I went, ohhh.

Favre connected on a pass play of 29 yards with Peterson. With a little over one minute to play, Minnesota drove to Pittsburgh’s 18 yard line. The biggest victory in their improbable good season was awaiting them.

However, Favre’s intended pass to Chester Taylor was intercepted by Fox and returned nearly the entire length of the football field, with almost every Viking in pursuit except Favre. Previous to that, Favre had only two interceptions.

Fox said, Brett tried forcing the ball in there. Their running back bobbled the ball. It slipped from his hand. It fell right in my lap. I had just got done running across the field chasing Peterson. I was winded. It felt like 100 plus yards.

The most significant of the missed opportunities for the Vikings came midway third quarter when they were only about a foot from their goal line. Peterson, who had just 69 yards rushing in 18 attempts, after he had averaged 161.5 yards during the first two games playing AFC North teams, didn’t get inside the goal line on first down.

Favre wasn’t able to get the football into the end zone to covered receivers on their next two downs. On fourth down Brad Childress, Vikings coach, settled for a field goal of 18 yards from Ryan Longwell instead of going for it. The 65,597 record breaking crowd at Heinz Field cheered loudly on the decisive defensive stand.

Favre said, we got three chances. It’s easy looking back now to say we should have done this, we shouldn’t have done that. Handing the ball off to Adrian, I would think he would get it in. He will say I am sure that he should have went in.

Peterson said, playing Pittsburgh and their defense, it’s the very best defense we will face. You need to get seven points there. I was very upset about settling for three points.

Brett Favre went 34 for 51 for a total of 334 yards. He was statistically better than Roethlisberger, who went 14 for 26 for a total of 175 yards, with one exception- turnovers. Minnesota out gained the Steelers 386 to 259, but was unable to out score the defense of the Steelers.

No matter how it’s measured, Cleveland can not beat Pittsburgh.

Ben Roethlisberger passed for two touchdowns in a Steelers offense that is increasingly wide open, as Pittsburgh got the benefit from a questionable first down measurement and defeated their rival Cleveland on Sunday 27-14. It was their 12th win in a row against the Browns, their oldest rival in the league.

Roethlisberger, who is the league’s second rated passer and is on pace to have his best season statistically, went 23 for 35 for a total of 417 yards for the second 400 yard game of his career. Hines Ward caught eight passes for a total of 159 yards and scored a touchdown, receiver Santonio Holmes caught five passes for 104 yards, and Heath Miller, tight end, had his fourth touchdown catch in three games.

Mike Tomlin, Steelers coach said about Roethlisberger, he has total command of our offense. In six games, Roethlisberger has thrown 10 touchdowns and a total of 1,887 yards. It’s very fun to watch.

The turnovers weren’t so great to watch. Each team had four, including two each late third quarter within a 1:25 span.

The Steelers out gained the Browns 543 to 197 yards, but by the third quarter Pittsburgh only had a 17-14 lead. They may not have even had the lead were it not for the first down they were given after it appeared that Roethlisberger, on a quarterback sneak on fourth down, had been stopped a few inches short from the 14 yard line of Cleveland during the second quarter.

On tv replays it appeared that the football was short of the yard stick on the play where Roethlisberger attempted to lure the Browns defense offside before he slammed headfirst into the center of the defense. The Cleveland players began yelling and started to run off the field. However Walt Anderson, referee, surprised the teams when he signaled the first down.

Roethlisberger said, the play was close and we just got lucky.

Max Starks, tackle, said, I saw the Cleveland players all arguing and yelling. But the referee definitely knows the rules a lot better than me. If he says it was a a first down, then it was a first down.

Obviously the Browns didn’t think so.

David Bowens, linebacker said, he made that call. We have to just live with it. I’m not sure if he gave an explanation. All I know is he said first down. That was it.

The angle on TV may have been deceptive, according to Anderson. He said, if the angle had been shot from the opposite side, it may have looked like the ball was further advanced from the stake. He was certain it was the correct call.

Two plays later an apparent touchdown pass of 13 yards from Roethlisberger to Ward got overturned after the replay. As Ward tumbled out of bounds the football came loose from his hand. The Steelers had to settle for a field goal.

Due to the questionable first down ruling, Cleveland trailed in the game 17-14 instead of a tie after they had scored just their fourth offensive touchdown in 12 games, 11 which they have lost, on a one yard pass from Derek Anderson over to Lawrence Vickers early third quarter.

Anderson went 9 for 24 for a total of 122 yards.

Anderson said, we try not to lose each time we go play here, referring to the 1-9 record of the Browns playing at Heinz Field. We’ve put in tons of hours. It’s frustrating. Every week is frustrating.

Pittsburgh, who won their third consecutive game, made it a 24-14 game when Roethlisberger connected with Ward on a 45 yard pass and a 21 yard pass to Mike Wallace before Rashard Mendenhall had a touchdown run of 2 yards.

Miller said, I don’t think we have played our best football yet. That is pretty comforting. We have a few wins without playing at our best.

The other score of Cleveland’s came on a kickoff return of 98 yards by Joshua Cribbs late second quarter, following touchdown passes of Roethlisberger to Miller from 8 yards and Ward from 52 yards. Cribbs went untouched as he ran down the sideline of the Steelers to score his eighth rick return, a club record, with six of them being off of kickoff returns. It was his third one versus Pittsburgh.

Cribbs said, I heard from 1,000 Cleveland fans back home saying, return it for me. I got up to play this game.

After a flurry of turnovers, a field goal of 39 yards was kicked by Reed. Cleveland than gave up the ball again when Ryan Clark intercepted an Anderson pass. It was the fourth turnover of the game and their 32nd turnover in 12 games.

In the first half from the wildcat formation Troy Polamalu intercepted a pass from Cribbs.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were able to avoid losing yet another game during the fourth quarter, with help from their fans on the road.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had three passes for touchdowns, his season high, in the first three quarters, and the Steelers defense was good enough during the fourth quarter to hold the Detroit Lions off on Sunday to win 28-20.

Detroit had the football on their 29 yard line with three minutes to play and two timeouts with a chance for sending the game to overtime versus the Super Bowl champs.

Thousands of Steeler fans dressed in black and gold twirled Terrible Towels and chanted DE-FENSE, helping to keep Detroit from crossing the goal line.

LaMarr Woodley, Steelers linebacker, who got his first sack of the season with 1 1/2 on the last drive for Detroit said, that worked for us. Their offensive linemen weren’t able to hear their snap count, so they were just watching the ball like us.

James Harrison, Steelers linebacker, had three sacks which matched his season total. He also forced a fumble, delighting the Steeler fans at Ford Field. Pittsburgh ended up with seven sacks for the game. The crowd of 59,333 sounded and looked like at least half were rooting for the visiting team.

Mike Tomlin, head coach for Pittsburgh said, it was awesome how they traveled. It is just spectacular standing on the visitors sideline and to see all of the fan support we got today here.

The Steelers have sold out 283 games in a row at home, which led scores of their fans to make the 4 1/2 hour drive up to Detroit where they could take advantage of lots of available seats in the stadium where Pittsburgh won the 2006 Super Bowl.

Hines Ward, who had a touchdown reception said, it brought a lot of memories back. We had as many fans here today as we did then.

The Steelers (3-2) for the very first time all season won a road game, after blowing leads in the fourth quarter in Chicago and Cincinnati, and won back to back games.

Woodley say, we will get rolling. Next week Cleveland is coming to town.

Mid first quarter the rushing touchdown from Rashard Mendenhall gave the Steelers the lead in the game. The third touchdown pass from Roethlisberger gave them a 15 point lead with six minutes to go in the third quarter.

Detroit (1-4) was able to rally on the 25 yard touchdown pass from Daunte Culpepper to Dennis Northcutt, pulling the Lions to within eight points with 4:57 minutes left to play. They drove to Pittsburgh’s 21 yard line, but then were pushed back to midfield with three sacks. Culpepper was then forced to heave a pass up which Ike Taylor, cornerback, knocked down at the goal line.

Jim Schwartz, Detroit’s head coach said, we didn’t play smart always in the game. We didn’t play well always, but I am proud of how we battled the entire game. We could have given in in a couple places but didn’t.

Roethlisberger went 23 for 30 for a total of 277 yards and had touchdown passes to Heath Miller, Mike Wallace and Ward. He had one interception during the second quarter to William James who returned the ball 38 yards and scored.

On the Steeler’s next drive, Roethlisberger made up for it, connecting on a 17 yard pass with Ward, giving the Steelers a lead of 21-13.

Roethlisberger said, I don’t feel that I am playing well. I am disappointed with how I have performed.

Culpepper, who was filling in for Matthew Stafford, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, who was out with an injured right knee went 23 for 37 for a total of 282 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Culpepper said, I still think this is a good ball club, but a good ball club looks at situations like this and uses it to find ways to start winning these types of games. That’s what we need to do.

Notes
Calvin Johnson, Lions wide receiver left during the first quarter with an injured right knee. Pittsburgh Safety Troy Polamalu (injured left knee) and running back Willie Parker (injured left toe) were not active for the game. Lions linebacker Larry Foote, who was a Steeler during his first seven years, chatted and hugged his former teammates after the game in the locker room. Ward said, we still do love Foote. He is still a part of us. Roethlisberger said that he was excited about his upcoming appearance on The Jay Leno Show from home via satellite.

Up to this point the Steelers had not be able to get Rashard Mendenhall up and running. The Chargers were not able to stop him Mendenhall helped Pittsburgh build a big lead. He then made sure they didn’t blow the lead with another bad fourth quarter. With his two touchdowns and 165 yards rushing, Mendenhall set new career highs in both departments. Ben Roethlisberger’s throwing helped get the Steelers get off to a fast fast and Pittsburgh was able to open up a lead of 28 points, and then held on to defeat the San Diego Chargers on Sunday night 38-28.

Mewelde Moore, running back, had a touchdown catch and on a goal line play threw for a touchdown pass as well to Heath Miller. The Steelers (2-2) who in the last two weeks were beaten during the closing second of the game by Chicago and Cincinnati, were able to build such a big lead this time that the bad fourth quarter did not really matter. In the final minute Jeff Reed hit a field goal from 46 yards.

Roethlisberger said, we’ve been unable to finish it off. This week we did. The San Diego Chargers (2-2) who were out gained by almost 4 to 1 until deep into the third quarter and 497 to 251 yards overall, were able to turn the game from a blowout to make it close. Philip Rivers had a 30 yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gates and then another one to Chris Chambers for 13 yards Jacob Hester returned a fumble for another 41 yard score. All of these scores took place in the fourth quarter.

Mendenhall, who was a first round pick for the Steelers in 2008, came into the game with no touchdown and 103 career yards rushing. He was able to finally run out of the doghouse of Mike Tomlin while he was filling in for Willie Parker who was out with an injured toe. The week before Mendenhall didn’t get even a single carry in the 23-20 loss to Cincinnati due to the fact that Tomlin didn’t think he knew the plays.

Mendenhall said he didn’t have a chip on his shoulder. I was challenged and learned from it. I have always had the confidence in myself and knew sooner or later I would get a chance.

All it took was the first three plays in the game to show how the rematch of last year’s AFC playoff would end up playing out. Roethlisberger connected on 15 yard passes to Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward and Mike Wallace, the rookie for 35 yards. Mendenhall covered the last 14 yards in three carries to score the first touchdown of his career three minutes into the game.

Max Starks, tackle said, Rashard was able to really prove himself.

San Diego then went three and out, and the Steelers went on a 75 yard drive. The drive began with three runs from Mendenhall and was capped with Roethlisberger hitting Ward on a 15 yard pass, Holmes on one for 11 yards and two passes for twenty three yards to Moore. Moore caught the final pass on a 19 yard play for the touchdown.

Norv Turner, Chargers head coach said, they came out in the first half and were able to play about as well as you can play. From our point of view we obviously want to think that we could do things to be able to handle that. We just were not able to respond how I wanted us to.

Roethlisberger went 26 for 33 for a total of 333 yards. Ward had 113 yards on eight catches. Early in the game Roethlisberger had Pittsburgh moving so well that Tomlin let him go on a quarterback sneak for first down from the 30 yard line of the Steelers on fourth down and one. The Steelers scored their third touchdown of the game on a two yard run from Mendenhall.

Clinton Hart, Chargers safety said, in all phases they had it. It is hard stopping your opponent when they are going like that. They are the World Champions and they definitely cam out to play.

Mendenhall, whose rookie year last season came to an end during the fourth week due to a fractured shoulder, entered the game with a total of 103 rushing yards in his seven career games. By late third quarter he had over 100 yards and in the fourth quarter was able to add a run of thirty two yards versus the 26th ranked rushing defense in the NFL.

Mendenhall said he wanted people to know who he was. I was able to this time. It was the first time I played a full game in my career.

Tomlin said he wasn’t taking any credit since he didn’t rush for even a single yard.

Some NBC viewer may have been tempted to switch channels to CBS to watch “Three Rivers”, the medical drama based in Pittsburgh, after the Steelers took a 14-0 lead with about four minutes to go in the fourth quarter over the struggling Chargers.

It wasn’t Rivers’ fault. He basically had no running game supporting him. LaDainian Tomlin rushed for only 15 yards on 7 carries. Rivers, who threw for a total 739 yards in the previous two Chargers games, went 21 of 36 for 254 total yards and had three touchdowns. However he didn’t really have much of a chance to get the Chargers offense in gear until after it was too late. During the first half, Pittsburgh had the ball for almost 23 minutes while San Diego only had it for seven minutes.

Rivers said, we played a 1-2 team that was very hungry and were firing on all their cylinders. We had an off night. At least at the end we made it uncomfortable.

In was the third time playing at Heinz Field for the Chargers in eleven months, as many times as the University of Pittsburgh has played there, and lost for the third straight time. For the regular season, San Diego has a 0-14 record playing in Pittsburgh, although in the post season they have had two wins.

Before San Diego could have a possession that didn’t end in a punt they were down on the scoreboard 28-0. The Chargers were not able to get inside the 20 yard line until the third quarter when Gates had a three yard catch for a touchdown.

Early fourth quarter San Diego was able to cut the lead to 28-14. On a punt return Pittsburgh though that Stefan Logan was down before fumbling. He wasn’t though and Hester was able to run into the end zone uncontested. Pittsburgh challenged the call but were unsuccessful.

Notes
Counting the postseason, Pittsburgh has won eight home games in a row. For the time since 2002 and six games, San Diego lost to the previous year’s Super Bowl winner. Since their loss on January 1995 in the AFC championship game, Pittsburgh is 8-1 versus San Diego.