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Play of the Game: Fumbled kick turns momentum
Joe Starkey can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7810.
It turned out to be a much-needed shot of momentum — and the play that propelled the Steelers toward a 34-31 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens had just crunched Steelers running back Amos Zereoue at the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt. Linebacker Ed Hartwell mocked Steelers linebacker Joey Porter after the stop, mimicking the kicking motion Porter makes after a big play. As Reed lined up for the ensuing kickoff, the scoreboard showed 7:58 left in the fourth quarter and the Ravens leading 31-26.
Reed, who’d been disgusted with his short kickoffs all day, ran up to the ball and nearly missed it. Imagine how many times that would have been replayed on SportsCenter.
Reed wasn’t much happier with what actually did happen. His kick popped high into the air and clearly wasn’t going to make it past the Ravens 20-yard line.
“I didn’t mean to do it,” Reed said. “It was a bad kick, but good things can happen when bad things happen.”
Yogi Berra couldn’t have said it better, but he probably could have caught the ball. Chester Taylor wasn’t so fortunate. He tried to catch it in stride at the 23 but couldn’t get a handle on it as Clark Haggans smacked him.
“I felt it go between my legs, and I tried to squeeze it,” Taylor said. “But someone tackled me.”
The ball squirted 7 yards downfield, leading to a mad scramble.
“I don’t know what happened,” Haggans said. “The guy was coming up to try to field it, and I just lowered by head. Next thing I know, I heard the crowd yell for the fumble. Mysteriously, somewhere, the Heinz Field gods put the ball in one of our player’s hands.”
That would be linebacker Larry Foote, who was fighting for his life at the bottom of the pile.
“There was a lot of pulling and tugging underneath there — people grabbing my facemask and my nose,” Foote said. “The refs weren’t blowing the whistle, and those guys were on me for a minute.”
The Steelers took possession at the 31 and scored the winning touchdown nine plays later when Tommy Maddox connected with Antwaan Randle El in the end zone. And, wouldn’t you know it, Reed recorded his first touchback of the season on the next kickoff, smacking a line drive that bounced through the end zone.
“That was adrenaline,” Reed said. “I was mad at my kickoffs all day. There were four kicks that totally screwed up our team. No excuse. I was like, if I can pin this one deep, our defense will step up. No matter how far they get down the field, our defense finds a way to stop teams at the end.”
The Ravens made it all the way to the Steelers 11 before Dewayne Washington intercepted a Jeff Blake pass in the end zone. That gave the Steelers a 10-5-1 record that might have been worse — and thus caused the team to miss the playoffs — if Reed hadn’t come aboard for the final six games of the season. He made field goals of 23 and 48 yards yesterday and has been nearly flawless since he replaced Todd Peterson.
“He continues to be a clutch kicker for us,” coach Bill Cowher said.
Reed finished the regular season 17 for 19 on field-goal attempts, including a perfect 10 for 10 inside 40 yards. His success rate of 89.5 percent was the second-best single-season mark in Steelers history. Gary Anderson made 93.3 percent of his attempts (28 of 30) in 1993.
“I’m really happy with it, but I have to keep it up,” Reed said. “What really counts is our next game.”
The next step in Reed’s progression is to prove he can kick under playoff pressure. He admits that he has thought about it. He thinks about his job 24 hours a day.
“I can’t even sleep at night, because I’m always thinking about kicking and doing everything I can to help our team win,” he said. “But there’s no extra pressure on me. I come ready.”
