Nick Folk kicked a go-ahead field goal, Jason Taylor made a key tackle for a safety and the New York Jets ended a two-game losing streak with a 22-17 road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Brad Smith returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for New York (10-4), which ended a streak of 12 consecutive quarters without an offensive touchdown and picked up its first-ever win in Pittsburgh (10-4).
Ben Roethlisberger nearly drove the Steelers 92 yards for the win. He guided Pittsburgh, which was out of timeouts, to the Jets' 10-yard line but his final pass into the end zone hit off the hands of backup tight end Matt Spaeth.
The key play of the game came when the Steelers were backed up at their own 3-yard line with 2:45 left. On a draw play, Taylor burst through the line and dropped Mewelde Moore for a safety to make it 22-17.
That was crucial because it forced the Steelers to go for the touchdown instead of a game-tying field goal.
Pittsburgh, which was without star safety Troy Polamalu, had its four-game winning streak snapped and missed a chance to clinch a playoff berth.
Instead, the Steelers fell into a tie for the AFC North lead with Baltimore (10-4).
N.Y. Jets | Pittsburgh | |
LaDainian Tomlinson | Player | Rashard Mendenhall |
11 | Attempts | 17 |
49 | Yards | 99 |
4.4 | Avg Yards | 5.8 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
11 | Long | 21 |
N.Y. Jets | Pittsburgh | |
Braylon Edwards | Player | Mike Wallace |
8 | Receptions | 7 |
100 | Yards | 102 |
12.5 | Avg Yards | 14.6 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
38 | Long | 23 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
N.Y. Jets | 276 | 106 | 170 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3.0 | 2 |
Pittsburgh | 377 | 146 | 231 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 |