Roethlisberger hit repeatedly; Errant long snap costs Steelers

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

October 27, 2008 Last Updated: October 28, 2008 04:35 PM Professional

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger grimaces afterbeing sacked by the New York Gaints’ Dave Tollefson inthe fourth quarter of Sunday’s 21-14 loss at Heinz Field.

PITTSBURGH — The New York Giants won the Super Bowl last season during an adventuresome trip in which they beat the Packers in snowy Green Bay and upset the previously unbeaten New England Patriots with a daring, all-or-nothing drive.

Add another how-did-they-do-it win to the NFL champions' ever-growing list of important road victories, 21-14 over Pittsburgh. This time, the Giants rallied to win in one of the toughest venues for a visiting club, mostly because the Steelers ran out of long snappers.

That's right, long snappers.

The Steelers got two touchdowns from backups and repeatedly stuffed the Giants near the goal line with big defensive plays for 3Z\x quarters. With one of their most resilient efforts in seasons, the depleted Steelers led the Giants 14-9 and looked ready to open a season 6-1 for only the second time in 30 years.

Until they were done in by an injury to a player who routinely gets on the field only a half-dozen times a game.

For all of their injured players — including Marvel Smith, Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, Kendall Simmons, Daniel Sepulveda, Bryant McFadden and, now, Ryan Clark — it turned out that snapper Greg Warren's torn anterior cruciate ligament proved the most significant.

With Warren unable to play in the fourth quarter, Pro Bowl linebacker James Harrison — who had snapped only a few times for fun in practice — centered the ball over punter Mitch Berger's head for a safety that made it 14-all with 6:48 to play.

The Giants, unable to get into Pittsburgh's end zone all day only to have the Steelers do the job for them, rode the momentum of that unlikely play during the ensuing 53-yard drive that ended with Eli Manning's decisive 2-yard TD pass to tight end Kevin Boss with 3:07 remaining.

"A lot of guys were going down," said Giants receiver Steve Smith, who made a key 25-yard catch during the drive. "Everybody just had to strap it up and find a way to make some plays."

The Steelers' defense did that most of the day, limiting the Giants to four field goals by John Carney despite constantly being in poor field condition — until Harrison's bad snap altered the game.

"You can't blame him," quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. "He's never done it out there. It happens."

Only it's not supposed to happen this way — a long afternoon's work by an entire team wiped out by what normally is the most routine of plays.

"Nobody has two long snappers on their team; what you have are emergency snappers," coach Mike Tomlin said. "James Harrison is regarded as the lead candidate. We got some snaps on the sideline and we felt comfortable."

Tomlin promised the Steelers (5-2) will sign another snapper before they play another NFC East team, Washington (6-2), next Monday night. Pittsburgh's only losses are to the Eagles and Giants.

The Giants dominated the time of possession in the first half, yet were held to two field goals during a stretch in which they began drives at Pittsburgh's 42-, 19- and 29-yard lines. Roethlisberger ended with four interceptions, two that created Giants scoring chances as New York led 9-7 at the half.

Neither Manning (19-of-32, 199 yards) nor Roethlisberger (13-of-29, 189 yards, five sacks) got much going in a physical game that was controlled by two of the NFL's best defenses. The Giants were the NFL's top rushing team coming in, but were held to 83 yards; the Steelers ran for 95 yards, with a third of that coming on Mewelde Moore's 32-yard TD run.

"It was disappointing offensively, from top to bottom," Roethlisberger said.