“We had to do what was required to win”.
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By comparison, LaDainian Tomlinson had six touchdowns and three 100-yard games through his first four career games. If Roethlisberger isn’t able to go, Monday night, and specifically that Bell touchdown to win the game, proves that the Steelers can continue to compete for however long it takes for him to get healthy.
The Steelers had a timeout in their pocket, and so with five seconds left they had hoped that time was on their side and that even if the play failed they could stop the clock and send it to overtime.
Philip Rivers, who picked apart the Steelers defense all night with short and mid-range passes to his tight ends, brought the Chargers into field-goal range for Josh Lambo, and he drilled a 54-yarder that gave San Diego a 20-17 lead – and set up Vick’s heroics.
Rivers has thrown 74 touchdown passes to Gates, the most from a QB to a tight end in National Football League history. The Steelers are 2-7 west of the Rockies in the Mike Tomlin era; the last time Pittsburgh won a game in the pacific time zone was ten years ago.
The Steelers are 9-2 on Monday Night Football under Mike Tomlin.
“Talk about a game of inches”, Rivers said. We had the Steelers fans quieted for a few of the time.
Pittsburgh turned to Bell – 36 rushing yards on the drive – midway through the second quarter to get on the scoreboard. Backup quarterback Michael Vick had his biggest comeback win in recent memory to get Pittsburgh to 3-2 on the season.
Rivers said his voice was hoarse from dealing with the noise of Steelers fans.
“He started off hot and kept it rolling”, Rivers said.
“We’ll mix it. We’ll be versatile and pick and choose how to use those guys”. We were in silent count and we had no chance. We were checking in and out of plays and it was about as tough as it gets.
This may as well have been the Chargers’ ninth road game. Rivers finished the game 35-of-48 for 365 yards and two touchdowns.
“I knew I wasn’t playing great but it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish”. In that span, the best that can be said is that he has not hurt the Steelers, hitting on 75 percent of his passes. In the fourth quarter, Gates’ 11-yard scoring reception gave San Diego a 17-10 lead with 5:50 left in the game and moved him into seventh-place all-time in touchdown receptions. The Chargers still got their field goal.
Consider: When Bell took a direct snap and went off left tackle for what eventually turned out to be the winning touchdown, the roar was huge. The Steelers’ Vick will attempt to find Antonio Brown more often in this game, as the second leader in terms of total receiving yards this season was held to just 42 yards last week. In the fourth quarter, Rivers and Gates hooked again for another touchdown, this one from 11-yards out on a handsome over the shoulder throw and catch in the back of the end zone.
Gates was suspended without pay for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug in the offseason. Receiver Malcom Floyd broke off a crossing route that led to the pickoff.
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The Steelers were facing a critical down on third and six from the 41-yard line when the Chargers defense failed to contain the pocket.
