PITTSBURGH - If the scoreboard reflecting the Steelers' 23-17 overtime loss to Jacksonville at Heinz Field Sunday didn't convey the team's frustration well enough, perhaps the overturned trash can near the locker room will do the trick.

In an ugly slugfest that both teams won't want to repeat any time soon, the Steelers found a way to take the game to overtime - and promptly found a way to lose.

When Quincy Morgan returned the kickoff in the extra period 74 yards to the Jaguars' 26-yard line, the Steelers looked to be on the road to victory. Three plays later, however, quarterback Tommy Maddox, who was filling in for the injured Ben Roethlisberger, mishandled the snap from center Jeff Hartings and lost the ball to Jacksonville's Reggie Hayward.

"I didn't get the snap clean," Maddox said. "As I was trying to hold on to it and turn around, I bumped into (fullback Dan Kreider) and it just came out."

The Steelers' defense, which was crucial to keeping the team in the game all day, forced the Jaguars to punt and Pittsburgh set up shop at its 35.

On second-and-10, Maddox threw his third interception of the game, this time to the Jaguars' Rashean Mathis at the 41, who returned it for the game-winning score.

"When I let it go, I felt pretty good about it. He made a good play, caught it and ended the game," said Maddox, who was 11 for 28 passing for 154 yards, one touchdown and a microscopic quarterback rating of 30.1 to go along with the fumble and three picks.

That aforementioned frustration was practically dripping from the ceiling of the locker room as the Steelers tried to absorb the reality of the loss.

"This is a tough one to swallow," said running back Jerome Bettis, who had four carries for 4 yards. "When you feel you have the game in hand and you couldn't get it done, it (makes you angry)."

You can add Steelers head coach Bill Cowher to the angry column as well.

"It was a very frustrating loss," Cowher said. "When you turn the ball over four times and are minus-3 in the giveaway-takeaway ratio, you aren't going to win many football games.

"We had the opportunity (to win), even in overtime. It's very frustrating at this point, walking away with a defeat," he added.

Maddox, who was playing for the first time since the 2004 regular-season finale in Buffalo, wasn't about to blame the long layoff for his woes Sunday.

"As the game went on I felt better and better," he said. "I felt really good in the second half. We made some drives in the second half, and we didn't capitalize on them."

But he did put some of it on the wind that swirled through Heinz Field throughout the game.

"It was the worst wind I ever tried to throw into," Maddox said. "Sometimes the ball would sail and some times it wouldn't."

Hartings also noted the difficulty the wind caused the Steelers.

"The wind definitely put a lot of pressure on the passing game," he said. "It was hard to pass the ball out there. And we weren't running the ball very good, so we weren't helping him out."

The Steelers, who are now 3-2 and head into the jungle of the improved Cincinnati Bengals, will try to shake off the bitter taste of this loss.

But it was still eating at receiver Antwaan Randle-El, who had a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter.

"The thing that bugs us is the way we played," he said. "Our defense kept us in it. We had opportunities to win, and we just didn't."