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PART VII : PITTSBURGH |
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Sunday Part II After fighting our way out of Cleveland's stadium(s) traffic, our 130 mile drive to Pittsburgh was hampered by the monsoon like conditions! But we hit the Steel City just before sun down and made a mad dash for Heinz Field. |
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Parking alongside the Allegheny River we followed the river by foot towards Heinz, passing the Pirates new home (PNC Park) along the way. YOu get some great views of downtown, which is across the river. Then we knew we were getting closer when saw the tailgating on boats! You can even get Water taxis go to and from the stadium on Game Day. |
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And then we made the mad dash inside just in time for kickoff! Just like New England, we were sitting in the club section though it wasn't as plush! The red circle marks our seats. The picture was taken by FTP who were in the opposite corner. Heinz is obviously a much more picturesque and hi-tech stadium than Three Rivers (see our trip in 99) - but it doesn't have the same atmosphere just yet! |
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The spiral ramps as the two corners of the open stadium are pretty cool though. The fans just get there early and stand there all game long. They might as well sell the seats they don't use! We wondered if the Bus and the Steelers would get back on track after their poor showing in Foxboro in Week1. |
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The game was really a Rich Gannon pass-a-thon, who threw at will under little pressure most of the night. On their first drive #12 threw 10 straight passes ( completing 9 of them) before handing off. Two more passes later, and Sebastian Janikowski hit a 41 yard FG for the 1st points of the day. RAIDERS 3 STEELERS 0 |
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Steelers QB Kordell Stewart had an answer for the Gannon air on his first drive. He went 5 for 5 passing, hitting Hines Ward who got open and ran away from blown coverage for a 34 yard TD - his third in 2 weeks. STEELERS 7 RAIDERS 0 |
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But back came Gannon. After misfiring on 1st down he hit 5 straight passes (including Jerry Rice's 6 and 7th catches of the quarter) to move the ball to the Steelers 36. Then they fooled the Pittsburgh D by running a trick play - THEY RAN THE BALL! 36 yards later Charlie Garner had scooted into the end zone. RAIDERS 10 STEELERS 7 |
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After a Pittsburgh punt, Gannon went back to work and threw on 8 straight plays again - moving the ball to the Steelers 22. But on his 8th pass, he never spotted LB Joey Porter stepping in front of Terry Kirby, who picked it off and ran 30 yards back upfield. The Steelers had to punt but had the ball inside the Oakland 5 yard line on their next drive ... |
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But Kordell botched the exchange, and ex Steeler great S Rod Woodson was there to pounce on the loose ball in open field. A heads up tackle by Amos Zereoue prevented maybe a TD. |
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Gannon then led a 15 play 90 yard drive that included 12 more passes. The last one went 21 yards to WR Jerry Porter for a TD over the middle. The much vaunted Steeler D was getting shredded! RAIDERS 17 STEELERS 7 |
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Gannon's first half was incredible. He completed 29 of 41 passes for 257 yards and 1 TD. 41 passes!!! However the Steelers were still in this game, as they got a 46 yard FG from Todd Peterson as time expired following a blocked punt. RAIDERS 17 STEELERS 10 (HT) |
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Some familiar faces were helping Gannon out. Ex Claymore OT Barry Sims (#65) helped naturalize the Pittsburgh pass rush all night. Ex Admirals WR Marcus Knight (#83) meanwhile made his first NFL catch for 12 yards in the 3rd quarter. Another Janikowski FG stretched the lead. RAIDERS 20 STEELERS 10 |
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Another Kordell 3 and out and the boo birds were out at Heinz. More Gannon passes had the Raiders inside the 5 again, but Gannon threw straight to Joey Porter (#55) and off he went again. He ran 84 yards to the 15 yards before lateraling to Chad Scott who went into the end zone! Sadly though the Raiders challenged the play and the lateral was ruled forward but the Steelers still had the ball on the Oakland 20 yard line. |
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Three plays later Kordell silenced the boos when he rolled out right and found Hines Ward again in the end zone - this time from 5 yards! Could the Steelers pull out an inexplicable victory despite being outplayed all night? RAIDERS 20 RAIDERS 17 |
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In a word - no! Those lousy special teams that plagued them last year, came to the fore again as Raiders RB Terry Kirby took the ensuing kickoff and rambled 96 yards up the right sideline to restore the Raiders 10 point lead. RAIDERS 27 STEELERS 17 |
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All that was left - was for some comedy turnover time as the Steelers produced 4 in the 4th Q. The best was when Kordell finally found WR Plaxico Burress for his 1st catch of the night, only to see the ball squirt right out the hands of big #80 into the hands of guess who? Raiders S Rod Woodson, who recovered his 3rd fumble of the night tying an NFL record. Kordell couldn't stop Woodson and once again RB Zereoue saved a TD with his 2nd such tackle of the night. |
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FINAL RAIDERS 30 STEELERS 17 Game MVP: Steelers LB Joey Porter who had 3 sacks and 2 INT's. (An NFL first). Yeah his team lost, but they would lost by 30 if #55 hadn't played. Gannon did play fantastic, but his 2 costly throws to Porter made this an unnecessarily close game. |
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Monday Before heading off to Washington DC for our final game of the tour, we drove up Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh to get some pretty nice views of downtown. |
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And of course views of Heinz Field. Three Rivers is all but a memory now as it stood where the parking lot on the right ofd Heinz Field now lies! After admiring the views, we set out for our 8th and final game! |
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