Pittsburgh still standing but hobbling
Roethlisberger, Brown shaken up during wild victory.
PITTSBURGH — There were parts of the Steelers’ playoff game that seemed surreal.
Their forced fumble that provided one last chance. Their drive in the rain that featured the franchise quarterback shot-putting passes he normally slings. The meltdown by the opponent.
The bandage on running back Fitzgerald Toussaint’s nose, the wrap around linebacker Ryan Shazier’s leg and the uncertain status of Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown going forward offered proof it was not.
Yes, the Steelers are still around, heading to Denver for next weekend’s AFC divisional playoff after a borderline ridiculous 18-16 wildcard win over Cincinnati on Saturday night. Yet it came at a heavy cost.
Roethlisberger’s right shoulder is aching and Brown is dealing with a concussion after absorbing a hit to the head from Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict that set off a bizarre chain of events that ended with Chris Boswell’s winning field goal with 14 seconds left.
The availability of the cornerstones of the NFL’s third-ranked offense for a rematch with the Broncos is unclear. Still, it beats the alternative.
“I wasn’t ready to go home yet,” said Shazier, who got the ball loose from Cincinnati’s Jeremy Hill with less than 90 seconds left to provide the offense just enough time. “I felt like nobody was.”
While the Bengals are left with months to think about how they let a game in which they had the lead and the ball in Pittsburgh territory with less than two minutes to go somehow slip away, Pittsburgh has a week to prepare for Peyton Manning and the AFC’s top seed.
The Steelers won 34-27 at Heinz Field on Dec. 20, but that was against Brock Osweiler and with Roethlisberger and Brown lighting up the league’s best secondary.
Osweiler has given way to the NFL’s all-time passing leader in the playoffs while the Steelers could be forced to give Landry Jones his third career start at a place that hasn’t always been kind to Pittsburgh. The Steelers have won just twice in their past eight trips to Denver.
Roethlisberger will be evaluated this week and Brown’s teammates insisted the All-Pro was “fine” after appearing to be briefly knocked out after getting drilled by Burfict with 22 seconds to play.
Jones, who played well at times while filling in for Roethlisberger during the regular season, but threw a seemingly season-ending pick in the fourth quarter Saturday night, said he’ll stick to his normal routine.
And the Steelers — whoever is in under center — will head to Denver with momentum. Pittsburgh’s defense played perhaps its best three quarters of the season before letting the Bengals put together 16 points in the fourth quarter, a rally fueled in part by Roethlisberger’s absence.
Still, when the Steelers needed a stop, Shazier got the ball free of Hill’s left arm, “When it popped out, at first I was trying to scoop and score,” Shazier said. “But I mishandled the ball. Then we just needed to get the ball back to the offense and let them do the scoring.”