PITTSBURGH - With each passing week, the Pittsburgh Steelers' inflated the balloon of their collective hopes.

The individual efforts of rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running backs Jerome Bettis and Duce Staley and linebacker James Farrior, to name only a few of the many worthy of mention, lifted that balloon to the lofty heights of a 15-1 record and the top seed in the AFC playoffs.

But in Saturday's AFC Divisional Playoff with the New York Jets, the Steelers made some huge mistakes that ripped seemingly irreparable gashes in their balloon that threatened to bring it crashing down onto Heinz Field.

The opportunistic Jets grabbed control of the game after they recorded a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter, an 86-yard interception return for a score in the third quarter and forced Bettis into his first fumble of the season on an early fourth-quarter drive deep into New York territory.

After all the uncommon blunders, the Steelers mustered their usual resolve and survived not one but two Jets field goal attempts to make one of their own for a 20-17 overtime win.

"We certainly didn't play our best game, and we're going to have to play a lot better, no question about it, " head coach Bill Cowher said. "But the fact is we are moving on.

"We were very fortunate, we recognize that, but we're a resilient bunch," he added. "You can throw out everything that took place, but … (the Steelers) were focusing on the next series, the next play, and doing what you have to do."

The Steelers appeared to have the edge when they held a 10-3 advantage with three minutes remaining in the second quarter that had Terrible Towels rotating throughout the stands.

They revolved a bit slower after the Jets' Santana Moss fielded a punt from Pittsburgh's Chris Gardocki at his own 25-yard line and blew past the Steelers for a 75-yard return for a touchdown – the first ever in Jets' playoff history – to tie the score at 10.

"It hurts," Steelers linebacker Larry Foote said. "I was on the punt return with a lot of the defensive guys. It was hard getting the momentum back after that play."

The Steelers' offense made every effort to build that momentum on its second possession of the second half when it drove from its own 20-yard line to the New York 33 late in the third quarter.

That momentum came to a screeching halt when Roethlisberger made what could be his biggest mistake in judgement of the season.

On second-and-10, the rookie quarterback rolled to his right and appeared to have room to run when he instead tossed an under-thrown pass toward Antwaan Randle-El that Jets safety Reggie Tongue snared at the 14.Tongue lashed his way through the stunned Steelers for an 86-yard touchdown return to put the Jets up 17-10 and to silence the crowd.Steelers cornerback Willie Williams, who led the team with 11 tackles and three pass defenses, searched for an answer to explain the breakdowns."Maybe it was because we were off for a while, but we just have to get back into it," he said. "We have to quit making mistakes because next week it's going to get even tougher."Things got tougher for the Steelers when a drive from their own 18 made its way to the Jets' 22 before defensive end Shaun Ellis forced Bettis to fumble. New York safety Erik Coleman recovered it to halt the drive."I got careless with the football," Bettis said about his first fumble of the season. "I can't do that to my football team."After the Pittsburgh defense forced a three-and-out from the Jets, the Steelers offense drove to create a touchdown on a shovel pass from Roethlisberger to Hines Ward that knotted the score at 17 with 6:06 left in regulation.Jets quarterback Chad Pennington and running back Curtis Martin did most of the work on the ensuing possession, moving New York to the Steelers' 28 to set up the potential game-winning field goal by kicker Doug Brien, whose 47-yard attempt hit the crossbar at the two-minute warning.The lift the Steelers got from that miss was extremely short lived, however, because Roethlisberger overthrew receiver Plaxico Burress on the next play and was picked off by Jets cornerback David Barrett at the New York 39 and returned to the Pittsburgh 37-yard line.Again, the Jets drove to set up Brien for the game-winner. Again, he missed, this time wide left from 43-yards out as regulation time expired.The Jets won the toss and received the kickoff, but the Steelers' defense stiffened and forced them to punt.Roethlisberger and Staley moved the Steelers in 14 plays from their 13 to the Jets' 15 before Jeff Reed booted the 33-yard game-winning field goal that ignited a jubilant celebration."We know we have to play better this week," said Ward, who caught 10 passes for 105 yards and the touchdown. "But it's still a great feeling to come back and win the game the way we won."The setbacks the team endured might have caused many in the Steelers nation to lose their faith, but center Jeff Hartings said that wasn't true in his case."I'm a veteran and I'm a man of faith," he said. "If it was (God's) will that we lose, then I'll live and learn from that experience."But He gave us a chance, and I'm glad that we were able to capitalize and give Him the glory," he added.Some might say it was good fortune that the Jets missed two field goals, but Williams wasn't having any of that, either."I don't believe in luck. It was meant to be," he said.