The Steelers had to deal with obstacles provided by the weather, the officials and their own coach, but, in the end, they wound up winning anyway.
Isaac Redman ran in a touchdown from a yard out with four minutes to play and Eli Manning couldn’t shake off a bad day of work in time to save the day in the fourth quarter, leading to a 24-20 Giants loss. The Steelers leave New Jersey less than 24 hours after they arrived with a victory that seemed unlikely in the third quarter.
That was when the Steelers wasted great field position provided by kick returner Chris Rainey and watched Ben Roethlisberger throw an interception to help the Giants extend their lead to 20-10 by the time the quarter was out. After a first half that saw them get some bad turns from the officials, the Steelers offense hurt the team in the third and threatened to let the game get out of reach. It didn’t, thanks to a strong defensive effort and an uncharacteristically poor outing from Manning. The Giants quarterback completed just 10-of-24 passes for 125 yards and an interception on a day when he never really seemed comfortable against the Pittsburgh defense.
Roethlisberger got the team back on track in the fourth quarter, hitting Mike Wallace on a short pass that turned into a 51-yard touchdown thanks to a missed tackle by Giants safety Antrel Rolle and a big run by Wallace. The momentum continued when Emmanuel Sanders took a punt back to the 13, but the Steelers got no points on the possession when a fake field goal try on third-and-one failed miserably. The defense forced another three-and-out, though, and Sanders had another good return to set up the winning drive, which was helped by an offside penalty by Giants corner Jayron Hosley on third-and-eight from the Giants’ 14-yard line. Redman converted for a first and then scored a touchdown.
The Giants would go three-and-out one more time and Roethlisberger hit Sanders for a first down on third-and-nine to force the Giants to use their last timeout. Redman put the cherry on top of a 147-yard day -- the third straight game with a Steelers back cracking that threshold -- when he rumbled for 28 yards to send the game to the two minute warning and the Steelers had a close win in a game they probably could have won by more.
It’s the win that matters, though, and the Steelers are now 5-3 and a game back of the Ravens with two games against their division rivals still on the slate. The Giants, meanwhile, are now 6-3 (and 1-8 in their ninth game of the season in the Coughlin years) and, depending on the results for the Cowboys and Eagles, could give up some of their division lead heading into Week 10.