Loading ...The Tennessee Titans (2-4) came back in the fourth quarter and took a hard-fought contest over the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-3) 26-23. The loss kept the Steelers winless on the road in 2012.
The big story for the Steelers in the loss was injuries, as the team lost two starting offensive linemen and two running backs to injury. Maurkice Pouncey and tackle Marcus Gilbert to leg injuries in the first half and did not return. They were joined in the second half by Rashard Mendenhall (Achilles) and Isaac Redman (Knee).
The Titans took the ball after the opening kick-off and drove 69-yards in nine plays to take an early 3-0 lead. Aided by a 25-yard pass interference call on Ike Taylor, the Titans drove inside the Steelers five-yard line, before settling on a 22-yard Rob Bironas field goal.
After a solid Chris Rainey kick-off return, the Steelers moved inside the Titans Red Zone before stalling. In the end, the settled for a 29-yard Shaun Suisham field goal to cap the seven-play 44-yard drive. After a Titans three-and-out, the Steelers wasted little time in taking the lead 10-3 at 5:25 in the first quarter. On the one-play drive, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger connected with Mike Wallace on an 82-yard touchdown pass for the score.
The Titans can back and again drove into the Red Zone for a second time. And, for the second time, they were held to a Bironas field goal. This time, the 38-yard field goal capped an eight-play 52-yard drive to make the score 10-6. After the Titans blocked a Drew Butler punt and recovered at the Steelers one-yard line, they did not take long to overtake the lead 13-10 on a Jamie Harper one-yard touchdown run on second-and-goal. The Titans completed scoring in the first half as time expired with a Bironas 47-yard field goal. The score concluded a 10-play 59-yard drive, which came after the Titans intercepted Roethlisberger in a two-minute scenario.
The Steelers came back to cut the Titans lead to 16-13 on the opening drive of the third quarter on a 28-yard Suisham field goal. The score capped an 11-play 67-yard drive, which took 5:47 off the clock. After a touchback, the Steelers embarked on a 15-play 80-yard drive to take the lead 20-16. On the drive, which was capped by a Baron Batch one-yard touchdown run, Roethlisberger passed Terry Bradshaw for the Steelers all-time passing mark. Batch, who is seeing extended action in the second half due to the injuries to Mendenhall and Redman scored his first career touchdown.
On the preceding Titans drive, linebacker Lawrence Timmons picked-off Matt Hasselbeck to set up the offense. While they could not move the ball deep into scoring position, they moved the ball enough to set up Suisham for a career-long 52-yard field goal. The score moved the Steelers in front 23-16 midway through the fourth quarter.
The Titans would not go down easy, eventually tying the game at 23-23 with 4:19 remaining on a Hasselbeck to Kenny Britt five-yard touchdown to cap an 11-play 80-yard drive. From there, the Steelers drove into Titans territory, but failed to convert, when Suisham came up short from 54-yards. Once the kick came up short, Tennessee drove into field goal range, and Bironas connected from 40-yards as time expired to give the Titans a 26-23 victory.
No phase of the Steelers franchise stood out this week, as all three struggled against the Titans. Offensively, Roethlisberger had a solid outing completing 24-of-40 passes for 363-yards one touchdown and one interception. The interception snuffed out a drive at the end of the first half when the Steelers were in scoring position. However, the passing game was the highlight as the running game managed only 56-yards on the ground, with Batch leading the charge with 22-yards on 10 carries.
Prior to his injury, Redman became the first Steelers running back to record 100-yards receiving in a game since 1970, when John William "Frenchy" Fuqua accomplished the feat. For the game, he caught four balls for 105 yards. Redman was followed by Wallace with 94-yards on two catches, and tight end Heath Miller six grabs for 67-yards. Miller also moved into third place on the Steelers all-time receptions list, passing wide receiver Louis Lipps.
Defensively, the Steelers struggled in all phases, allowing running back Chris Johnson to churn out 91 rushing yards on 19 carries on the ground and Hasselbeck to carve them up for 290-yards through the air (25-of-44) with one touchdown and one interception.
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