Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has pulled games out of the fire so often, people forget he fails on occasion.
Count him among those who did not forget. He thought about it as he guided his offense 64 yards to allow Shaun Suisham's 34-yard field goal with no time left Sunday to beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 16-14, at Heinz Field.
"Don't go 0 for 3 on fourth-quarter drives," Roethlisberger said about his inability to win in two similar circumstances this season. "It's frustrating because I like to have the ball in my hands. As an offense we want to control it. We got it [Sunday]. We went backwards first but we ended up in the right spot."
The winning drive actually covered 74 yards because Willie Colon's fourth holding penalty (one was declined) put them back to the 10. But Roethlisberger completed a third-and-12 pass of 20 yards to Antonio Brown over the middle and hit another third-down pass to Emmanuel Sanders to the Philadelphia 31. Five consecutive runs put Suisham in business in the rain from the 16, his third field goal of the game.
"It's fun when you come out and kick the field goal and the game's over," said Suisham, perfect on eight kicks this season.
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The Steelers season might have been over not long after it started had Roethlisberger not pulled off his 28th winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime. Baltimore won to go 4-1 and a 1-3 start would have put the Steelers in a deep hole in the AFC North Division.
For the second game in a row, they lost a 10-point second-half lead. Philadelphia, which bungled one precious scoring chance when quarterback Michael Vick lost a fumble into the end zone from the Steelers 3, scored on Vick's 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brent Celek with 6:33 left to take a 14-13 lead.
"We just have to find a way to force teams to three points," defensive end Brett Keisel said. "We haven't really been able to do that this year."
Or as linebacker Larry Foote put it, "We're 2-2 four games in; it's about time we get this thing rolling."
They have a chance to do that by rolling into Nashville Thursday night for a
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