Troy Polamalu’s knee bent the wrong way and Hines Ward, who is normally sure handed, lost his grip. However, in the their NFL opening game on Thursday, the Steelers still did have options.

Pittsburgh still had a very poised Ben Roethlisberger and Jeff Reed’s foot.

Roethlisberger drove the Steelers down the field to get them into position and then Reed clinched Pittsburgh’s 13-10 win against the Tennessee Titans by kicking a 33 yard field goal in overtime with 10 minutes and 28 seconds left.

In a sloppy and bruising debut- a game in which the Steelers may have lost Polamalu, their star safety, for at least three weeks- Roethlisberger displayed a lot of composure, similar to what he showed during the Super Bowl last season.

With the Steelers not having much of a running game, Roethlisberger was able to complete 17 out of the last 19 passes that he threw against a great Titans defense and help bring the Steelers to victory.

Mike Tomlin, Steelers coach, said he was Ben. He’s at his best when the game is on the line. That is when he is able to see with a lot of clarity. Time and time again he provides us with quality plays.

It was Roethlisberger’s 18th time during the regular season that he has been able to overcome a deficit in the fourth quarter to lead the Steelers to a win.

Roethlisberger joked that he told the coach that he didn’t want to start the fourth quarter comebacks this early.

Roethlisberger’s performance wasn’t perfect. He went 33 for 43 with 363 passing yards and had four sacks- one of which was a loss for 19 yards- partly due to the fact that he was reluctant to give the ball up.

Some of the blame also goes to the Steelers offensive line, who struggled frequently with the 4-3 scheme of the Titans. Their problems with blocking were very apparent during the running game, which has traditionally been a strength for the Steelers. Pittsburgh had only 36 rushing yards for the game.

Willie Colon, tackle, said that they had lots of communication errors. At times our protection was sloppy. It was the first game and that can happen, he added.

The Steelers were certainly not anticipating losing Palamalu, their star safety. His leg bent in an awkward position from the weight of Alge Crumpler, Titans tight end. Polamalu suffered a left knee injury that may keep him sidelined for some time. Tomlin said that it was a sprained MCL, although scans still needed to be read. Recovery time for that can range from three up to six weeks.

At this point it’s all speculation, Tomlin added.

This isn’t the first time that Polamalu has had this problem. In 2006 he had a left knee injury causing him to miss three games in a row. The following season he missed another five games due to injuring his right knee.

During the first half on Thursday it seemed like Polamalu was in on every play, whether it was bad or good. He led Pittsburgh with six tackles and made an impressive one handed interception. However he also received two personal fouls and a pass interference as well on a questionable call.

Kerry Collins, the Titans quarterback, did concede that the landscape changed after Polamalu had left the game. He said that they definitely had been aware that he wasn’t in there.

However the Titans had worries of their own. They lost a pivotal player as well when Bo Scaife, tight end, injured his leg. Scaife caught five passes in the first half of the game. The Titans botched up two opportunities to score on two field goals attempts. One went wide and another attempt was blocked

Collins said it was a shame. We let that game get away. But when you are on the road playing a great football team, the kind of mistakes that we made will end up as a loss more times than a win.

It appeared that the Steelers would win the game in regulation after Roethlisberger connected with a wide open Ward on a pass up the middle for a 30 yard gain. However Ward, a Pro Bowl receiver, had the ball stripped from him just five yards away from the end zone and Tennessee recovered the ball at the four yard line with just 51 seconds left in regulation.

Ward said he prided himself on being a guy that doesn’t make mistakes, and especially at times when the game was on the line. He added that he saw the end zone and if he had made it then they wouldn’t have even had to have worried about a coin toss. But we started the year off with our quarterback leading us and then J-Reed saved the day.