Pittsburgh 21, Indy 18 -- now there was a game. One of the greatest games I've ever seen. Ever.
"Uhhh-mayyyyyy-zing,''' Jerome Bettis told me on Sunday night. He was driving home from the airport in Pittsburgh, just off the charter home from Indianapolis. "Can you believe it?''
Not really. Can a game have more twists and turns? The Troy Polamalu interception with 5:26 to go and Pittsburgh up 21-10. Game over. No! Reversed by Peter Morelli, who probably should check in under an assumed name next fall on his first game trip into Pittsburgh. One minute later, the Colts convert the reversal to make it a 21-18 game. The Steelers can't mount a clock-killing drive and punt it away to Indy, which has one last chance.
The Steelers pile-drive Manning twice, on second and fourth downs, and the Steelers get the ball back ... at the Indy 2! Insurance points to come! Here comes Mr. Insurance, Bettis, to score the icing touchdown. He slams into the line, but the ball is knocked loose by linebacker Gary Brackett (go, you mighty Rutgers alum!), and picked up by the knifed one, Nick Harper (whose wife stabbed him 24 hours earlier, causing three stitches to be taken near his knee). From emergency room to all-time hero, in the span of one day! There goes Harper, racing downfield! On the Pittsburgh radio-cast, Steeler color man Tunch Ilkin is shrieking some word that sounds like "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!'' And here is rumblin', stumblin' Ben Roethlisberger, backpedaling and running, trying to get in position to stop Harper, who jukes this way and that. And then, as Big Ben is falling backward at the Indy 42, he gets his right hand on Harper's kneecap, just enough to make him fall!
"The Immaculate Tackle! That's how it's going down in Steeler history,'' my HBO boss, Brian Hyland, screams into the phone a few minutes later.
Bettis, moaning on the sidelines, has at least 10 people -- Bill Cowher, Hines Ward, James Farrior, Joey Porter among 'em -- say to him, That will not be your last carry in the NFL! We'll pick you up, just like you pick us up all the time!'
Too bad they didn't have a direct line to Gladys Bettis, Jerome's mother, in the stands at the RCA Dome. She was freaking out up there. Colts drive again, and with 25 seconds left, on second-and-two from the Pittsburgh 28, Manning throws for Reggie Wayne in the end zone. There is contact with cornerback Bryant McFadden, and for the 965th time this weekend, we all look for a flag and a horrendous pass interference call. But no, the flags stay in the pockets! Tony Dungy screams! But no. And now it's time for Mike Vanderjagt to try a 46-yard field goal.
"Idiot kicker,'' Manning once called him. Bad kicking karma. The idiot Kicker will never live this one down. Never. The Idiot Kicker just continued the Lousy Streak that is Peyton Manning's playoff career. The kick is so far right that I was sure Vanderjagt was aiming for the pylon at the right corner of the end zone. Choke!
Thank God for instant replay and CBS cameramen. "He missed,'' we see Dungy say. "He missed it!'' Cowher yells. "He missed it!''
Ladies and gentlemen, we have the greatest game of the season. Of many seasons, probably. And in the car on the way home, Bettis has begun to calm down. Until I tell him: "You are one game away from playing the Super Bowl in your hometown."
"Hey,'' he said with a caution, "don't get ahead of ourselves now. We've done it the right way the last few weeks, when every game's been like a playoff game for us. Go back to our home game with Chicago [in Week 14]: Ever since then, every week it's been win or go home. Same thing this [coming] week at Denver. No one on this team will look past that game, I can promise you.'' Then he chuckled and said, "But I like our chances. I can't wait for Sunday."
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