Jets 22 Steelers 17: Still Got the No. 2 Seed

Posted on December 19, 2010 by ryan

I don’t have much to add — we’ll certainly discuss it on the podcast (check back in a couple hours!) — but that was a weird game. Mark Sanchez remains wholly unimpressive, the Jets’ defense — save that fluky safety with just under three minutes to go in the game — looked nothing like a Rex Ryan defense, and if not for a Bob Ligashesky Special special teams play to start the game, the Steelers probably would have won.

(And, truth be told, I fully expected them to win after Ben got them deep in Jets’ territory with nine seconds to go.)

Upside: Pittsburgh still holds the No. 2 seed and if they beat the Panthers and Browns they’ll get a much-needed first-round bye. Also: Thanks … for nothing, New Orleans.

Related posts:

  1. Talking Jets-Steelers With TheJetsBlog.com’s Brian Bassett: Part II
  2. Talking Jets-Steelers With TheJetsBlog.com’s Brian Bassett: Part I
  3. Jets vs. Steelers: Game Thread
  4. Mike Tomlin Press Conference, Steelers-Jets: The Talking Points
  5. Steelers Lounge Podcast #25: Jets-Steelers Preview — Ryan Clark
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  • http://twitter.com/davesftballblog Dave’s Football Blog

    We missed Troy badly on defense today. That is all.

  • Anonymous

    There were some worthless punts that have to be addressed. I don’t know what the point was of punting from the Jets 34 early in the game. Ended up fourteen yards net and it was highly likely that would be the case.

    It’s 2:45 AM. Going to sleep.

    • RoB D

      Good call, Israel…

      We live to fight another day. Disappointed in the ST’s today..It’s like all the improvements on coverage have been for nothing and our two kickers seem to have come back to earth. Suisham with the short KO’s and the punter not exactly Robo in terms of power.

      The hardest losses to take are the ones you anticipate. I felt “wrong’ about this game all week..Oh well… The worst part is they probably won’t get to rest some of the vets unless they blow out Carolina in the first half or something.

  • CE

    I’d love to hear the proprietors’ thoughts on who blew it on the safety. Hard to understand how Kemo could’ve let Taylor into the backfield untouched, but maybe he was just executing a bad, bad play call.

    • http://www.steelerslounge.com/ ryan

      CE,

      Just finished recording the podcast and JJ and I talk about the play. Apparently, that was Jonathan Scott who whiffed on Jason Taylor for the safety. Not sure if he was injured, but Trai Essex played the final two minutes at LT.

      • Anonymous

        Injured injured? Or Limas-Sweed-in-the-AFC-Championship injured?

      • CE

        thx Ryan. that makes sense — Taylor became Scott’s man when Kemo pulled, and Scott just missed. Still don’t love the play call, but it sounds like BA wasn’t really the problem here.

  • KEITH21001

    one more game the steelers lose then my ravens are on top, GOOOOOOOOOOOOO RAVENS

  • Keith21001

    the ravens beat a very hard n.o saints and the steelers lost to a scrubby jets team ,the ravens beat both teams that pitt lost to, now all the ravens need is a lucky panthers or browns to beat pitt and the ravens are #1 ,either way the way the ravens has been playing we should be ok no matter where we end up in the playoffs,despite what other team fans say about the ravens they know the RAVENS strike fear in any team in a playoff, just ask the patriots about there last yr playoff fall to the ravens, my point is this yr we’re better and hungry for a SUPERBOWL

  • TO

    The Steelers really just aren’t that good. The Jets are a marginally above average team, and the Steelers lost to them, at home. They were out-coached, and didn’t play up to snuff in any aspect of the game – ST, D, or Offense.

    Relying on miracles plays every week to win games is not a winning strategy.

    With that said, even though the PS aren’t very good, they are easily a top 3-4 team in the league and have a good chance of making it to the AFC championship. Where they are likely to be badly embarrassed by the Patriots.

  • Colonel Queso

    I love seeing all these naysayers and Ravens fans making comments. This is a Steelers blog. Have you nothing better to do than make your rounds on opponent’s websites talking about how your team needs a very lucky break to steal the division away? Why can’t you be civil and talk with other fans of your own team instead of trolling websites of another team?

    As for the naysayers, the Steelers lost a close game (and almost pulled out a win) in poor weather against a desperate team without the two most important players on their defense (Troy Polamalu and Aaron Smith). Need I remind everyone that both of these men will be back for the playoffs? I tend to be very pessimistic, but I’m not too concerned by this loss.

    Anyway, I think that the loss to the Jets might turn out to be a good thing for the Steelers in the long run. The Steelers will still win the division and the 2nd seed if they win out (With games against a team widely considered the worst in the NFL, and a team that just lost to the team widely considered the second-worst in the NFL, you have to like those chances.) Now with the Jets win Sunday, they might be able to hold steady and grab one of the wildcard spots. With the Ravens securing the other, this may force a team like the Chargers or the Colts to miss the postseason depending on how their divisional races end up. Personally, I’d rather see the Steelers face the Jets than either of those two teams. For that matter, the Jags and Chiefs seem like better match-ups for the Steelers than the Colts and Chargers as well. If there is any Steelers loss I can accept, I can accept a loss that would prevent teams like the Colts and Chargers from making the postseason.

    • Anonymous

      Not to mention that if the Jets are #5, then B’more gets the Patriots in the second round.

  • Cols714

    That was a sucky loss. The ST played awful today. I wonder how many more yards the Jets ended up with on special teams. Our punter was miserable and giving up a long kickoff return to open the game sucked.

    On the bright side, the offensive line played pretty well except for the handoff in the endzone.

    I really thought they were going to win it, but nobody got open on that last play and Ben just ran out of time.

  • Cols714

    Jeez. Now fans all over Steelerdom are calling for the firing of Bruce Arians because Jon Scott completely missed a block on a play that had worked for the Steelers all day. What a bunch of clowns fans are.

    • http://www.steelerslounge.com/ ryan

      The great irony is that I thought BA called one of his best games of the season.

      • RoB D

        Me three.

        That’s the Jets team I expected. They really killed us on ST’s and played pretty well in most areas. STeelers have to be happy with the offensive game they had..I’m excited by the progress of Sanders in particular and Mendy ran hard and very well. Ben threw a couple of balls today that were just humming. He’s almost all the way back, IMO. Just in time for the playoff run. Get healthy, Steelers.

  • http://www.steelerslounge.com/ ryan

    Col Queso,

    Don’t feed the trolls. Oddly, Ravens fans weren’t leaving comments here after the Steelers win, or after last week’s embarrassing OT win in Texas. Lemme know when the Ravens score an offensive TD after halftime.

  • ktulu22

    What a horrendous call from a horrendous coach. A shotgun run with a pulling guard on your own goal line? Indefensible. He needs to go.

    I thought the oline definitely had its best game of the year, considering the opponent. Offense as a whole played a somewhat decent game.

    Defense was disappointing. Not enough pass rush – Woodley really seems to disappear from the game too often. Did anyone even notice him out there? Whole D was too soft in general, against that opponent we should have went blitz heavy and make Sanchez beat us with rushers in his face.

    Not the end of the world. Jets are 10-4 – that’s not a crap team, and we easily could have won the game. We should be able to handle Carolina but Cleveland is no gimme – nobody has blown them out all year. Hopefully the Browns can beat the Ravens next week which, coupled with a Steelers win, would clinch the #2 seed for us.

  • B Meekins

    jesus a pass interference call (or matt spaeth catching the ball) away from a win against a GOOD jets team (who plays better on the road) and now everyone wants to jump off board? thats fine. let the real fans ride the rest of this roller coaster of a season with OUR team. our defense without troy and still without aaron smith, held the jets offense to 13 points. We’re 10-4! Still first in the crazy divison that is the AFC north! We have a better division record than the ratbirds (i dont care who you guys have beat, we beat you in YOUR house, with our #1 QB, who owns your team by the way) and we control our destiny. We are no where near at full strength, and we are still finding ways to win, or take good teams down to the wire.

    We’ve clinched a playoff spot (according to nfl.com) and probably will still get a first round bye! I can’t wait to see this team with everyone healthy, put a few solid performances together on all 3 sides of the football.

  • B Meekins

    jesus a pass interference call (or matt spaeth catching the ball) away from a win against a GOOD jets team (who plays better on the road) and now everyone wants to jump off board? thats fine. let the real fans ride the rest of this roller coaster of a season with OUR team. our defense without troy and still without aaron smith, held the jets offense to 13 points. We’re 10-4! Still first in the crazy divison that is the AFC north! We have a better division record than the ratbirds (i dont care who you guys have beat, we beat you in YOUR house, with our #1 QB, who owns your team by the way) and we control our destiny. We are no where near at full strength, and we are still finding ways to win, or take good teams down to the wire.

    We’ve clinched a playoff spot (according to nfl.com) and probably will still get a first round bye! I can’t wait to see this team with everyone healthy, put a few solid performances together on all 3 sides of the football.

  • drinkingclub

    The Steelers have some corrections to make. Also, I think Spaeth would have been out of bounds even if he had caught the ball on the last play. I would have liked to see a moving pocket on that last play maybe. Anything to get Roethlisberger running around, and if the Jets have everybody in coverage maybe Roethlisberger could have run. Ah well, can’t win them all.

  • http://twitter.com/JasonArmes Jason Armes

    I havent gone back to re watch the game, but it seems I saw Wallace quit running on a route that could have possibly got us 6 points. Its as though he stopped because he was interfered with and hoped to get a flag.

    Oh well.

    Jason

  • countertorque

    I was fully confident of a Steeler win right up until that safety. I almost had to rewind the DVR on that play. I literally had trouble believing that play happened. And even after that, I think the Ben finds an open receiver for the TD on that last play 5 times out of 10.

  • countertorque

    I was fully confident of a Steeler win right up until that safety. I almost had to rewind the DVR on that play. I literally had trouble believing that play happened. And even after that, I think the Ben finds an open receiver for the TD on that last play 5 times out of 10.

  • countertorque

    I was fully confident of a Steeler win right up until that safety. I almost had to rewind the DVR on that play. I literally had trouble believing that play happened. And even after that, I think the Ben finds an open receiver for the TD on that last play 5 times out of 10.

  • Lou

    PLayed a tough game, but when will people begni to realilze that Tomlin is not a great coach. Way too much hype for this guy. When will he start stcking up for his guys and ride the officials . you know if he was smart enough he might get a call once in a while if he tries. He would be better off sitting in the stands, cause he looks like a spectator to me.