Oakland Defence Takes Advantage of Rookie Quarterback in Win over Steelers
Pittsburgh (4-3) 13 - Oakland (6-2) 27
Oakland, CA (Week 8, 2006) – Things had started off so well for the Pittsburgh Steelers. A 4-2 team coming into the game against the Raiders, the Steelers came out strong as their defence forced two punts by Oakland on their first two possessions of the game. On the Steelers second possession, QB Ben Roethlisberger took the ball from the Steelers’ own 3-yard line, and proceeded to pick the Oakland defence apart. However, as the first quarter wound down, the Steelers were dealt a terrible blow. Near the tail end of the drive, which would go for 93 yards and burn off seven and a half minutes from the clock, Roethlisberger collapsed as he completed a 12-yard pass to TE Heath Miller. Blitzing on the play were Raiders’ cornerbacks Denard Walker and Quinn Foley. Both hit Roethlisberger as he released the ball, forcing the Steelers’ starting quarterback out of the game with a strained calf muscle.
Due to the injury, the Steelers were forced to bring in their current back-up quarterback, Wade Bronson, signed as an undrafted rookie in the off-season. Bronson, getting his first action in the NFL of his career, was able to continue the drive, mainly with the help of the Steelers’ running game, to allow them to open the scoring with a 21-yard field goal by K Jeff Reed. The Raiders, seeing the potential of a momentum shift, rode the legs of RB Lamont Jordan, as the Raiders ran the ball on seven straight plays. Jordan collected 59 yards on the drive, setting up a 12-yard touchdown pass from QB Kerry Collins to RB Erik Kuehler.
With Oakland now leading, Raiders’ fans were ecstatic as the unproven rookie Bronson stepped back onto the field to try and take the game back for the Steelers. The Raiders’ defence, expecting Pittsburgh to rely mainly on the run, were shocked as Bronson led the Steelers down the field on a drive spanning 80 yards, with 8 completions by Bronson, including a 2-yard toss to RB Duce Staley for a touchdown and to regain the Steelers’ lead. The Raiders’ Special Teams stepped up on the ensuing kickoff, though, as CB Fabian Washington returned the kickoff 40 yards, giving the Raiders good field position, allowing a short drive on which the Raiders tied the game thanks to a 40-yard field goal by K Herb Mallory.
Pittsburgh came out for the second half with a lot of confidence due to Bronson’s first half performance, but things would only go downhill from there as Bronson’s inexperience began to show. On the second play of the second half, Bronson was hit by a blitzing LB Marquis Cooper, who collected the sack and forced the ball out of Bronson’s hands. Cooper also picked up the fumble and ran it to the Steelers’ 10-yard line. The Pittsburgh defence did all they could to stop the Raiders, forcing them to settle for a 20-yard field goal, but that allowed Oakland to once again regain the lead.
Bronson came back out for the Steelers and looked to get his confidence, and the team’s, back for good. He threw for four straight completions, totalling 45 yards, before disaster struck again. Raiders’ Defensive Coordinator Mel Porter, seeing that Bronson had too much time in the pocket, again sent a blitz. This time it was LB Tyler Brayton who found his way to the rookie quarterback, and again Bronson fumbled the ball as he was being sacked. DT Jerry DeLoach scooped the ball up and ran it to the Steelers’ 32-yard line for the Raiders’ offence to take over from. Six plays later, and Collins found the end-zone, throwing a 3-yard touchdown pass to rookie TE Deon Rackers.
The Steelers came out with a different philosophy on the next drive, as Steelers’ Head Coach Ricardo Mussatti relieved some pressure off Bronson by re-establishing the ground game, as the Steelers mixed up the run and the pass and put together a 12-play drive that ate 6:08 out of the third quarter, and shortened the lead with a 30-yard field goal. The Pittsburgh defence also stepped up there game as they were able to hold Oakland’s offence off on the next series, forcing a punt and keeping the Steelers in the game.
The Steelers’ momentum was short-lived, however, as Bronson promptly threw an interception to S Stuart Schweigert, which Schweigert returned to the Pittsburgh 15-yard line. This time it took the Raiders only four plays to pick up the touchdown, on a 2-yard pass from Collins to WR Jerry Porter. With two minutes left in the game, the Raiders’ sealed the victory as they forced Bronson to throw another interception, this one to S Damien Robinson, with LB Andra Davis and Quinn Foley blitzing.
“Bronson did a good job when he first came in,” said Raiders’ Defensive Coordinator Mel Porter. “We were not pressuring him a whole lot, so he was having time to make his reads and his arm is good enough when he can set up. We decided that we needed to get after him and see if he could make the quick decisions, and that was when he started to turn the ball over. We just overloaded him, sending a number of blitzers at once, from all over the field.”
Because of the turnovers, the Raiders did not need to generate a lot of offence, as evidenced by Kerry Collins’ final statistics for the game, going 14 for 22 with 107 yards, but throwing three touchdowns. RB Lamont Jordan was the workhorse for the Raiders, picking up 136 yards rushing, as well as 23 yards receiving. The Oakland Offensive Line had a fantastic night, as they did not give up a sack during the game, and were credited with thirteen ‘key run blocks’. Defensively, the entire Oakland unit contributed, as three different players collected sacks (including the two forced fumbles), and three more players collected interceptions.
The Raiders, now winners of five straight, head into a pivotal rematch against the San Diego Chargers, who are currently second in the division with a 5-2 record. The Chargers won their first match-up over the Raiders, 24-6. A win for the Chargers would give them the lead in the division, as well as the tie-breakers over the Raiders.
Box Score
Attendance: 56,700 (62,500).
Weather: 76 degrees, fair.
2Q: 13:27 PIT - Jeff Reed 21 field goal.
2Q: 09:10 OAK - Erik Kuehler 12 pass from Kerry Collins.
2Q: 09:10 OAK - Herb Mallory extra point.
2Q: 02:21 PIT - Duce Staley 2 pass from Wade Bronson.
2Q: 02:21 PIT - Jeff Reed extra point.
2Q: 00:19 OAK - Herb Mallory 40 field goal.
3Q: 12:35 OAK - Herb Mallory 20 field goal.
3Q: 06:45 OAK - Deon Rackers 3 pass from Kerry Collins.
3Q: 06:45 OAK - Herb Mallory extra point.
3Q: 00:37 PIT - Jeff Reed 30 field goal.
4Q: 10:10 OAK - Jerry Porter 2 pass from Kerry Collins.
4Q: 10:10 OAK - Herb Mallory extra point.
Game MVP: OAK 34 LaMont Jordan
Pittsburgh 0 10 3 0 - 13
Oakland 0 10 10 7 - 27
Team Statistics PIT OAK
First Downs 19 20
Total Rushes 20 39
Rushing Yards 55 159
Yards Per Carry 2.7 4.0
Pass Attempts 42 22
Completions 27 14
Passing Yards 260 107
Yards Per Attempt 6.1 4.8
Sacked 3 0
Yards Lost 19 0
Interceptions 2 0
Fumbles/Lost 2/2 0/0
Total Plays 65 61
Total Yards 296 266
Yards Per Play 4.5 4.3
3rd Down Plays 5/12 6/13
Avg. YTG on 3rd 5.6 5.5
4th Down Plays 1/1 0/0
Penalties 5 6
Penalty Yards 47 38
Avg. Drive Start OWN 23 OWN 43
Time Of Possession 28:24 31:36
Pittsburgh Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
22 Staley 13 40 3.0 7 0
25 Bettis 6 14 2.3 5 0
4 Bronson 1 1 1.0 1 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
4 Bronson 32 19 179 5.5 22 1 2 3
7 Roethlisberger 9 7 74 8.2 24 0 0 0
1 Margraff 1 1 7 7.0 7 0 0 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
22 Staley 7 63 9.0 16 24 1
83 Miller 7 84 12.0 21 22 0
82 Hakim 6 52 8.6 3 19 0
86 Ward 3 23 7.6 4 9 0
35 Kreider 3 23 7.6 15 13 0
25 Bettis 1 15 15.0 15 15 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
81 Hall 2 15 7.5 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
81 Hall 3 75 25.0 0
21 Colclough 1 21 21.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
1 Margraff 3 133 44.3 50 1
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
3 Reed 2 2 30 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
51 Farrior 12 1 0.0 0 0 0
73 Kampman 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
55 Porter 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
21 Colclough 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
75 Beam 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
98 Hampton 3 3 0.0 0 0 0
91 Smith 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
52 Nece 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
43 Polamalu 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
24 Taylor 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
23 Carter 2 3 0.0 0 0 0
81 Hall 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
29 Spahr 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
25 Bettis 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
64 Hartings 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
66 Faneca 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
65 Spikes 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
35 Kreider 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
83 Miller 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
4 Bronson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
30 Doss 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
40 Hanson 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
4 Bronson 2 0 0 0 0 0
79 Essex 0 0 0 0 0 1
65 Spikes 0 0 0 0 2 1
66 Faneca 0 0 0 0 0 1
77 Smith 0 0 0 0 1 0
Oakland Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
34 Jordan 30 136 4.5 23 0
22 Kuehler 4 9 2.2 4 0
5 Collins 3 0 0.0 2 0
81 Curry 1 7 7.0 7 0
44 Grier 1 7 7.0 7 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
5 Collins 22 14 107 4.8 16 3 0 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
22 Kuehler 4 40 10.0 14 13 1
34 Jordan 3 23 7.6 6 14 0
84 Porter 2 18 9.0 3 16 1
83 Anderson 2 15 7.5 6 8 0
85 Gabriel 1 5 5.0 4 5 0
44 Grier 1 3 3.0 0 3 0
89 Rackers 1 3 3.0 2 3 1
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
34 Jordan 3 10 3.3 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
85 Gabriel 1 23 23.0 0
27 Washington 1 40 40.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
9 Lechler 5 229 45.8 55 3
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
2 Mallory 2 2 40 3 3
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
55 Clark 8 3 0.0 0 0 0
30 Schweigert 6 2 0.0 1 8 0
53 Adams 6 1 0.0 0 0 0
95 DeLoach 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
35 Williams 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
27 Washington 4 0 0.0 0 0 0
51 Brayton 3 1 1.0 0 0 0
57 Cooper 3 0 1.0 0 0 0
21 Asomugha 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
24 Foley 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
56 Davis 2 2 0.0 0 0 0
85 Gabriel 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
90 Denney 1 0 1.0 0 0 0
45 Robinson 1 0 0.0 1 21 0
91 Burgess 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
70 Badger 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
25 Walker 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
44 Grier 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
59 Grant 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
67 Stone 0 0 0 0 5 0
76 Gallery 0 0 0 0 4 0
62 Treu 0 0 0 0 2 0
57 Cooper 0 1 1 0 0 0
70 Badger 0 0 0 0 1 0
95 DeLoach 0 0 1 0 0 0
68 Williams 0 0 0 0 1 0
51 Brayton 0 1 0 0 0 0
83 Anderson 0 0 0 0 1 0
89 Rackers 0 0 0 0 1 0