2011 AFC Championship: New York Jets fight back, but unable to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers (Part 1)
New York Jets coach Rex Ryan said that the Jets played half of a good game on Sunday, 23 January at Heinz field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “We never played a good game, and that was the difference,” Ryan said in an interview
after the game. “You get to this point, you've got to play a great game against a great opponent, and we played a good half and that was it.”
Their ‘great opponents’ were of course the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers offence might not be the best in the league, but they proved to be good enough against the Jets. The pressure was on New York right from the onset.
The Steelers started the offence and set the tone for the rest of the game in that first drive. The Jets were stingy about yards. Pittsburgh were not able to get their first down until the fourth minute of the first quarter. New
York tried the same approach, which they used to great effect against the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. They sent their defensive backs after Ben Roethlisberger’s receivers. Antonio Cromartie and Darrelle Revis hogged Pittsburgh’s premier
receivers, Mike Wallace and Hines Ward.
While New York put pressure on the receivers, the Steelers shifted their energy into the rush. In the first drive, the Steelers ran the ball nine times. Rashard Mendenhall, Isaac Redman and Roethlisberger combined for 45 yards
rushing in those nine plays. Ward caught two passes for 14 yards and Wallace caught just one for six yards. The drive ended with a one-yard rush through the right by Mendenhall for touchdown.
The drive consumed nine minutes of the first quarter.
After the touchdown, New York’s offensive ended after just seven plays. On the eighth, Steve Weatherford punted the ball. The Steelers regained possession with just over a minute and a half remaining in the first quarter. Mendenhall
got the first down for Pittsburgh with an 11-yard rush on the first play of the drive. On the third play, Roethlisberger threw an 18-yard pass at Mendenhall and took the Steelers to the 44-yard line before the end of the quarter.
After the first play of the second quarter, New York gave up a 15-yard penalty and allowed the Steelers into their half. From New York’s 41, Mendenhall rushed seven yards on first and 10, and two yards on second and three. On fourth and
one, the Jets defence got their first turnover of the game. Linebacker Bryan Thomas intercepted a pass intended for Mendenhall.
New York’s offence came onto the field on the 35-yard line, but the Steelers defence pushed back and sent them packing from the 33-yard line.
Exactly two minutes after Roethlisberger was intercepted, the quarterback had the ball again. Big Ben let Pittsburgh’s running backs take charge of the offence. From Pittsburgh’s 38-yard line, on 2nd and 10, Mendenhall
pushed right through New York’s defence for 35 yards before being taken down by Revis. After the first down, Redman and Mendenhall rushed for a combined 25 yards to take the Steelers to New York’s two-yard line. Roethlisberger attempted to pass the ball to
Rookie Emanuel Sanders for touchdown on third and goal, but the pass could not be completed.
The Steelers took the field goal on fourth and two. The 20-yard attempt was good and extended Pittsburgh’s lead to 10 points.
New York’s quarterback Mark Sanchez had struggled in the first half of the game. Sanchez started on the 40-yard line after the Steelers field goal. The Jets advanced just three yards in equal number of plays and had to punt the
ball on fourth and seven from the 43-yard line. Sanchez had attempted eight passes thus far in the game and was able to complete only three for a total of 24 yards.
New York had the best rush of the four teams in the conference championships. Unfortunately, for the Jets, Pittsburgh had the best defence against the rush in the entire league. New York averaged 148 yards per game in the regular
season. They were able to rush 106 yards against the Steelers in the regular season, but in the championship, their rush produced just 70 yards.
The Jets were unable to score until almost the end of the second quarter.
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