NFL – Game 8. Chicago at Pittsburgh
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Tag Archives: Pittsburgh Steelers
Game 199. Pittsburgh at Oakland
Game 184. Pittsburgh at Houston
1997 Game 242 – AFC Wildcard – Pittsburgh at Denver
Denver holds on to win a wild and crazy game!
The most anticipated Wildcard game of the weekend occurred in Mile High Stadium in Denver as the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Denver Broncos on Saturday. When you think of these two teams, you think of the stars like John Elway, Kordell Stewart, Terrell Davis, Jerome Bettis, Shannon Sharpe and Yancy Thigpen. Although the superstars showed out, but the stars of the game were two unheralded players… the Broncos Darian Gordon and the Steelers Will Blackwell.
Gordon made the biggest impact in the game as he gave the Broncos are near insurmountable lead. With the game tied at 7, Gordon caught a line-drive punt from Steeler punter Josh Miller and raced through the Steeler coverage team for a 53-yard touchdown to give the Broncos a 14-7 lead that they never relinquished. Then in the second quarter, Gordon picked off a Kordell Stewart pass and zig-zagged through Steeler offensive players for a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown. That gave the Broncos a 24-10 lead going into halftime.
On the Steeler side, Will Blackwell caught the kickoff 1-yd deep in his end zone. He blazed through the Bronco coverage unit and returned the kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown to start the second half. Blackwell cut the Bronco lead to 24-17 15 seconds into the second half.
With the Broncos leading 27-23, the Steelers went on a drive to possibly steal a win. Stewart hit Yancy Thigpen on a huge 3rd down for 30 yards to put the Steelers inside the Broncos’ 20-yd line. Then Stewart drilled a pass to Blackwell to set the Steelers up at the Bronco 11-yard line. On the next play, the Steelers handed off to Bettis. He plunged through the Bronco defense, but as he stretched for more yardage, he was drilled and fumbled. Bronco linebacker John Mobley secured the fumble and secured the Bronco victory!
Game 176. Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh
Game 164. Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
1997 Game 229 (Week 17) Pittsburgh at Tennessee
Steelers beat Oilers; wait on the Bengals
The Pittsburgh Steelers did their part Sunday afternoon. They defeated the Tennessee Oilers, 31-12, at the Liberty Bowl. Now the Steelers must wait on the Cincinnati Bengals to find out who the AFC Central Champion will be. The Bengals were playing the Baltimore Ravens and were losing at halftime 17-10. If the Bengals win, they are the division champions. If the Bengals lose, the Steelers are the champs.
The Steelers played Steeler football on Sunday. They pounded at the Oiler defense rushing the ball 41 times. RB Jerome Bettis rushed for 111 yards on 32 carries with a touchdown. “The Bus”, in his first year with the Steelers, rushed for 1,425 yards and five touchdowns.
QB Kordell Stewart continued to hit on the big play for the Steelers. He threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Yancy Thigpen in scramble mode, which put the Steelers up big 28-3 in the second quarter. Stewart, in his first year as a starting quarterback, threw for 3,425 yards and 24 touchdowns. He also rushed for 415 yards and four touchdowns on the year. Thigpen caught 89 passes this year for 1,761 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The Oilers (6-10) could not penetrate the Steelers defensive front. The Oilers managed only 79 yards on the ground (30 of it came on a Steve McNair scramble). The Steelers held Eddie George to just 46 yards on the day on 14 carries. George rushed for 1,270 yards on the season with seven TDs.
McNair did throw for 328 yards on the day, but most of it came as they were down big in the game. McNair threw for 3,273 yards on the season with 15 TDs and 10 INTs.
The Steelers will find out shortly if they are division champs, but they are going to have to wait until later in the day to see if they play on the road or at home. The Broncos play the Seahawks. If the Broncos lose, the Steelers just may sneak into the #4 seed in the AFC, which will give them a home game in the Wildcard round of the playoffs.
Game 145. Houston at Pittsburgh
Game 136. Miami at Pittsburgh
1997 Game 212 (Week 16) Pittsburgh at New England
Patriots secure AFC East!
The New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers hooked up Saturday afternoon at Foxboro Stadium in a game pitting divisional leaders against each other. The Patriots came away with a 10-6 hard-fought, hard-hitting victory and are now the AFC Champions.
The Patriots are still in contention for the #1 seed in the AFC and homefield advantage throughout. They trail the Chiefs by a ½ game. As for the Steelers, they had a chance to have their destiny in their own hands; however, with the loss, the Steelers need the Bengals to lose on Sunday against the Cowboys to keep ahold of the top spot in the AFC Central.
New England was without All-Pro running back Curtis Martin due to injury and his absence affected the Patriot offense. The Patriots could only rush for 21 yards on the day and had to rely on QB Drew Bledsoe’s right arm. Bledsoe did throw for 225 yards on 19 of 30 passing but could not come up with the play to separate themselves from the Steelers.
As for the Steelers, they got a poor performance from QB Kordell Stewart. He threw for 224 yards but tossed two costly interceptions to Patriot DB Lawyer Milloy that thwarted Steeler scoring opportunities.
The Patriots will end their regular season at Miami, while the Steelers will have one more opportunity to secure a playoff spot when they travel to Tennessee next Sunday.