Someone bring LenDale a towel. I believe he would look to hide his head under one on his way out of Pittsburgh.
During a night where Troy Polamalu went down to a knee injury, Wille Parker and the rest of the Steelers RB unit could not manage to get the ball rolling, and Hines Ward managed something he rarely does - fumbled in a huge play scenario. Ben Roethlisberger was firm in the back field, took a small number of sacks, but in the end engineered yet another game winning drive to help Pittsburgh edge Tennessee 13-10 in the football season opener.
It didn't start off well for Roethlisberger and company; Tennessee brought their "A" game and basically locked the Steelers running game down.
Roethlisberger was calm under pressure, although. Yeah, he threw two interceptions (Brett Favre does this religiously, and there are people willing to kiss his feet when he comes into a room, so get over it).
However he also threw for 363 yards, which included 60 yards on his last series of the game.
Pittsburgh's defensive unit stepped up and executed when the chips were down, mainly when it came to special teams, where a blocked Rob Bironas FG led to their lone touchdown of the night.
Of course, that play cost them Troy Polamalu, although it only set them back for a moment or two.
If Hines Ward had either fallen down or shifted somewhat faster at the end of his run in the 4th quarter, the game might have concluded sooner.
But this was too nice a game to not go to overtime. Both franchises had fought their hearts out, both teams had athletes lost to injury, and overtime seemed the only just way to settle the game.
If, that is, you can deem pro football overtimes fair.
After Pittsburgh won the coin toss, Roethlisberger and the team made short work of a winded Titans defense, heading downfield for 63 yards to arrange the game-winning field goal.
During a night where Troy Polamalu went down to a knee injury, Wille Parker and the rest of the Steelers RB unit could not manage to get the ball rolling, and Hines Ward managed something he rarely does - fumbled in a huge play scenario. Ben Roethlisberger was firm in the back field, took a small number of sacks, but in the end engineered yet another game winning drive to help Pittsburgh edge Tennessee 13-10 in the football season opener.
It didn't start off well for Roethlisberger and company; Tennessee brought their "A" game and basically locked the Steelers running game down.
Roethlisberger was calm under pressure, although. Yeah, he threw two interceptions (Brett Favre does this religiously, and there are people willing to kiss his feet when he comes into a room, so get over it).
However he also threw for 363 yards, which included 60 yards on his last series of the game.
Pittsburgh's defensive unit stepped up and executed when the chips were down, mainly when it came to special teams, where a blocked Rob Bironas FG led to their lone touchdown of the night.
Of course, that play cost them Troy Polamalu, although it only set them back for a moment or two.
If Hines Ward had either fallen down or shifted somewhat faster at the end of his run in the 4th quarter, the game might have concluded sooner.
But this was too nice a game to not go to overtime. Both franchises had fought their hearts out, both teams had athletes lost to injury, and overtime seemed the only just way to settle the game.
If, that is, you can deem pro football overtimes fair.
After Pittsburgh won the coin toss, Roethlisberger and the team made short work of a winded Titans defense, heading downfield for 63 yards to arrange the game-winning field goal.
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