2008 Week 13 - Steelers @ Patriots

double hitter sunday here on cbs continues from foxboro welcome to gillette stadium everyone the pittsburgh steelers in the new england patriots the weather in a word ugly it is chilly it is raining it has done a little sleeting and is not likely to get much better greg gumbel dan dierdorf the pittsburgh steelers at eight and three the new england patriots 7-4 coming your way in high definition here on cbs we're glad to have you with us and not a game to be taken lightly dan no i'll say playoff implications on both sides the weather's ugly as you say but at least neither one of these two teams is a a dome team they're both used to playing and implement weather you saw number 33 gary russell deep the pittsburgh steelers won the toss and they're taking the opening kick and we are underway this one's short coming down at about the sixth to terry davis and davis goes down and about the 20-yard line looks like a loose football the big pile up at the 20 and as they unravel the players well davis at first was acting awfully nonchalant like the ball came out after he hit the ground and then it was kind of delayed reaction where he started to go back after it the officials are certainly acting like it matters who has it and as you can see pittsburgh retains all right let's take a look at it oh clearly a fumble no doubt about it and somebody for the steelers did some yeoman's work underneath there getting the ball away from some patriots and now a penalty marker is down ed hoculey is our referee today and here's his call after the play was over a personal foul unnecessary roughness by the offense number 57. after this is for the goal it's first down and 10. the penalty is on kieran fox and that will back the steelers up to their own 10-yard line or thereabouts well a little bit of both excellent special teams coverage by the patriots and a little dumbness by the steelers to put themselves in a hole early so first down for pittsburgh from their own 10-yard line ben roethlisberger calling the signals for the steelers and not much there for ward roethlisberger has been fighting the usual bumps and bruises an nfl quarterback collects 11 touchdown passes 11 interceptions ben is also rushed for a pair of tds this season well the big story here is going to be willie parker offensively for pittsburgh how effective is he going to be he's got a left knee that's troublesome bothered him 10 days ago in their game against cincinnati and a couple good days of practice but it is a question mark on second and eight this is parker running to a right side 20-yard line out to the 25 and a first down [Applause] take a quick look at the pittsburgh offensive line the centers today have their work cut out for them steelers center justin hartwig will be the man directly opposite big vince wilfork for the patriots and the steelers as dan said want to establish their running game and they will look to willie parker who has been battling a gimpy knee line of scrimmage the 24-yard line first down pittsburgh this is parker this time coming to near side and gets stacked up for a loss back at the 22-yard line the patriots 3-4 defense mike wright starts at left defensive end in place of tai warren who is not playing today the rookie linebacker out of tennessee draw mayo playing a bigger and bigger role in the defenses 98 tackles lead the pats and in the secondary new england has also battled injuries ellis hobbs bothered by a sore shoulder but he starts at right corner second and 12. roethlisberger throws intercepted picked off mike grebel that is the first time in his fourth career game against the new england patriots ben roethlisberger has thrown an interception well there had to be a moment there where mike frable said to himself my god he's actually going to throw it because mike frable is off to the right of your screen just standing there and ben throws it yes it was a little over his head and he made a nice catch i can only assume that ben thought he was going to somehow float that over frable's head but brabel never even had to move he just had to jump a little to make the catch first big turnover of the day goes in favor of the patriots the ball just inside the pittsburgh 15. castle from the shotgun throwing for the corner of the end zone and overthrows his tight end ben watson it'll be second and ten well that has been a problem for roethlisberger and it is uncharacteristic and especially what a terrible way to start a game on your first possession and deep in your own territory meanwhile look at the steelers red zone defense castle short pop over the middle of welfare inside the five to about the two so dangerous underneath any type of a crossing pattern an option route wes welker almost impossible to cover and again his favorite place underneath and for a guy only five nine when you catch the ball underneath you know you're going to get tackled by linebackers by safeties that's exactly what happened there with ferrier and polamalu it doesn't matter he is tough top tough mike frable is now in on offense for the patriots the give is to number 34 sammy morris touchdown that's 27 straight red zone possessions the patriots have scored and they grabbed the early lead off the turnover and a little bit of everything that time from josh mcdaniels the offensive coordinator for the patriots mixed it up running the ball throwing it underneath the welker out of the shotgun excellent looking short scoring drive kostowski's extra point attempt is good [Applause] off the left side sammy morris pulls his way to the end zone matt castle says we're on the board first 7-0 patriots impressive offensive outing last week against the miami dolphins the patriots continue on their first possession today a lot easier when they're 14-yard drive pittsburgh other side of the field ben roethlisberger with a little correctional work ahead of it how about the start they had they fumbled the kickoff got a kickoff return got a penalty and then an interception this is carrie davis who fumbled last time he returned this one out across the 25 and that's where the steelers will try to right the ship they trail 7-0 the nfl on cbs is sponsored by southwest airlines low fares no hidden fees nikon check out the ultra compact and easy to use nikon d60 and by the 2009 cadillac cts welcome back to foxboro everyone where the pittsburgh steelers will start from their own 27-yard line first and ten down seven nothing after the turnover and straight ahead is mildly more welcome back to gillette stadium greg gumbel along with dan dierdorf as you alluded to earlier on the nfl today dan this is a much more important game for the new england patriots than it is the pittsburgh steelers you're right greg the patriots have a really poor divisional record a bad conference record this of course would be another loss in the conference if they were to lose to pittsburgh today and i think the only chance they would have to make the playoffs would be to win the remaining games on their schedule now second and seven begins for more and more gets nowhere on the left side teddy brewski making the stop let's check out the afc north you see pittsburgh leading going into today at eight and three baltimore has moved up to eight and four so the steelers need to win to maintain their one game advantage but you notice they've got that 4-0 division record which when it comes to winning a division after the head-to-head is the first tiebreaker roethlisberger looking at a third and seven here come the patriots roethlisberger throwing and that's incomplete intended for his tight end heath miller covered by gary guyton the rookie linebacker out of georgia tech well they did a great job of protection you can see meriwether came on a corner blitz and it got picked up giving ben all the time than he needed there comes merriweather 31 coming in off the bottom but he gets handled and a good job there by moeldy moore so ben had all the time in the world but when your receiver slips and goes down that's it wes welker averaging 11.5 yards a return on punts takes this one from his own 31 and he won't get anything on this one we have a penalty marker down on the near side of the field heads back on the other side of the 50 back at the 45. and hockey lee talks it over and gonna tell us about it during the kick holding by the receiving team number 88 that 10-yard penalty is enforced from the dead ball spot new england keeps the ball first down penalty is on sam akin it'll be patriots ball when we continue from gillette stadium after this welcome back everyone first down at their own 20-yard line for the new england and matt castle short drop gonna throw up the sideline and that's caught by randy moss moss out of bounds across the 45 at about the 47-yard line well ike taylor number 24 is going to shadow randy moss most of this ball game and there's ike taylor starting out and again look at randy moss that deceptively you see he almost comes to a stop and then he just accelerates into that void between the corner and the safety in that case bola malu he lulls people to sleep first down from the 47 now and the give is to sammy morris and morris up to about midfield a pickup of three and it'll be second and seven as we mentioned watching the centers today six-year vet dan copeland will have to do his job with a sore elbow up against pittsburgh's three-man front the backs and the receivers randy moss comes off a spectacular eight catch 125 yard three touchdown outing at miami last week well we've got both of the pro bowl nose tackles in this game casey hampton and vince wilfork so you're right copen and hartwig they've got a full plate set up for him this afternoon on second and seven castle from the shotgun good protection throws incomplete patriots fans want a penalty flag and there is none forthcoming the pass intended for jabar gaffney and william gay made the defensive play well yes there is a lot of contact but keep in mind if the receiver runs into the defensive back and let's see what happens here well no that's really not the case that looks like william gay went right through gaffney on his way trying to make a play initially i thought gaffney initiated the contact i stand corrected that could have easily and should have drawn a flag third and seven and castle running out of time goes down at his own 43-yard line aaron smith and james ferrier in on the quarterback well as they do so well the steelers bring pressure from lots of different angles but this is a coverage sack matt castle had time you can see he sets up he doesn't have anywhere to go with the football the pressure came in but i think it came in late enough that could have been a completion if he had found someone open 38 sacks for the pittsburgh steelers second best total in the national football league now hanson's punt high homes by zone six looking for running room gets a block to the 20. another block to the 35 and out of bounds fine special teams play jarrod mayo finally making the stop but some pretty good operating room for ben roethlisberger and the pittsburgh offense when we come back the nfl on cbs is sponsored by chevy an american revolution and by red lobster taste the difference wood grilling makes now at red lobster welcome back everyone first down for the steelers now at their own 36-yard line after the fine punt return by san antonio holmes roethlisberger under center and parker in the back field behind him and pulls it down once right over the middle heath miller inside the new england 45 to the 43. while we have a moment got a sports fan on your gift list shop online at the cbs sports store and beat the crowds on officially licensed nfl team gear click on shop at cbsports.com and save big so now the steelers spread the field they are in patriots territory at the new england 43. and there are a hefty number of steeler fans in the house roethlisberger pulls it down and throws incomplete that looked like it might have been tipped at the line it did start to take off initially ben did a great job of stepping up to avoid pressure and then when he lets the ball go it takes off at a and it does you're exactly right mike frable mr everything for the patriots gets a hand on it that almost certainly would have been a completion after a really really good job of roethlisberger getting away from the rush instead it's second and ten that's twice brabel's got a hand on the football one he intercepted that one he tipped roethlisberger off the parker and parker to the 40. it'll be third and six there's mike tomlin a most impressive man i remember back the last year when he got hired dan rooney made the announcement i think a lot of us went gee whiz of mike tomlin what three minutes and you go well i know what dan rooney saw whatever it is it oozes out of mike thompson on third and six roethlisberger throwing and that one's complete inside the 30 to nate washington he's to the 25 and it's a first down for the steelers 15-yard pickup everyone knows that the strength of the new england defense is the front seven there can be some openings in this secondary rodney harrison is on injured reserve and that time a big cushion being given by delta o'neal signed as a free agent this year that was a really good route by washington turning o'neal all the way around pretty balanced play selection thus far now from the 25. brain continues to come down roethlisberger to throw troy outside has his manning right through the arms of san antonio holmes from a couple hundred yards away you could see san antonio holmes his head jerks up field before the ball gets there let's see if he looks it all the way into his hands before he looks back up field nope nope he didn't look it right into his hands wanted to look up field to see where he was going to go and it cost him the catch second and 10. on this drive 4 out of 5 plays have been through the air for the steelers on the ground here with willie parker he goes nowhere gary guyton made the stop and that has nothing to do with the condition of willie parker's knee that has everything to do with the blocking scheme up front where gary guyton is standing right at the line of scrimmage right in the hole dead play [Applause] so a loss of two third and 12. roethlisberger needs the 15-yard line for a first down with time throw it got his man close to the 10-yard line that's number 85 nate washington once again and that's a first down well you called it greg your first words were with time excellent work by the offensive line up front watch the vision that roethlisberger is afforded downfield a perfect pocket in front of him he can step up and after almost dropping the ball nate washington is able to hold on he almost lost possession on that football now you're looking at a new england sore spot red zone defense 31st in the nfl out of 32 teams they've allowed four straight touchdowns in red zone visits by the opposition this is willie parker parker to the six i asked bill belichick how troubled he was by that and he said well what do you think he said it's just flat terrible for a guy who who's prided you know he prides himself on on being a defensive coach first that has to really eat away at bill belichick because that is quite frankly i'm not sure i've ever seen a number approaching that on a patriots defense second and six ninth play of this drive rothberger rowley rowley gonna keep it inside the five diving to about the two and very close to a first down well not many style points being afforded that run by ben roethlisberger but it certainly was effective you know ben moves very very well in the pocket not really a real a guy that wants to get away and run down field but you saw he made a guy miss extended the play and almost converted and on third and one the steelers bring three tight ends gary russell the deep back in the backfield and russell with the handoff second effort did he get it that's going to be awfully close the steelers have never replaced jerome bettis in a short yardage situation like this their backs today are 209 209 215. davis at two and a quarter they miss the 260 pounds that jerome venice used to bring to a short yardage conversion and we're going to get a measurement here it would look to be short from here the second effort made it close and you are correct fourth in that much pittsburgh not very successful on fourth down attempts and that was a long one you can say fourth and one that's that's a that's a full yard to convert that so jeff reed comes onto the field with the rest of the field goal unit [Applause] and again i think the lack of a big heavy thundering type of back also figures into that decision and in this weather nothing is a gimme 23 straight field goals from inside the 20 for reed this is a 20 yard attempt down and up and good and with 251 to play in the first pittsburgh against the scoreboard 7-3 new england hey nfl play 60 is committed to fighting childhood obesity by getting kids active for 60 minutes a day on this day of giving donate now at nfl.com play60 to help kids get active and healthy in your community ellis hobbs deep to receive the kick from jeff reed there's hobbs number 27. back to the 25 and not much further well for you those of you just joining us uh let's keep an eye on a couple things the two offensive tackles for new england matt light and nick casher have their hands full today against james harrison and lamar woodley harrison with a dozen woodley with 10 and a half and then of course backing then up the great the fun to watch the incomparable troy polamalu he of the flowing locks and the unbelievable athleticism and he's been healthy all year playing in every game so key for pittsburgh on first down sandy morris with running rule out two about the 33 how about his work ethic wasn't it fun to hear mike tomlin talking about how it's tough to even keep him off the practice field and he is of course a lot of times right at the line this time he's playing off which means he's got to make the second level play and that's what he does right there on sammy morris such a sure tackler even coming in from the side you notice that morris had that was it he was going down in the polamalu tackle second in short yardage sammy morris and morris looks to have enough for a first down let's check in with james brown in new york city jb greg and dan that but thomas jones ran 59 yards to paydirt to tie the game at seven denver's jake cutler and eddie royal said hey we can do it through the air eddie royall 59 yards to pay dirt wow tied now broken 14-7 denver on top late in the first greg and dan all right jb and you know greg eddie royal the question mark as to whether he was going to play today without him denver really struggles offensively first down now new england their own 36-yard line castle out of the shotgun with time now running out of time on the move throws has randy moss and he dropped it all that wonderful work by the offensive line and by matt castle of moving around extending this play for two or three seconds a good job by randy moss of staying active again he settles in breaks away finds a clearing and then that so many good things negated by this play at the end this ball does it hit him in the face mask after he bobbles it it hits him right in the face dan even the great ones yes second and ten this time castle throwing out far side complete to kevin faulk and faulk brought down at about the 43 once again to hard work in mr dynamite in new york hey greg after harry douglas of atlanta muffed the punt lt and san diego made a pay three yards out lt takes it in san diego nursing a one point lead 7-6 over atlanta back to greg and dan oh jv san diego nursing their season right now denver leading the way at six and five san diego at four and seven third and three now for castle in the patriots if they lose that game the sound you hear will be a total collapse again is the fall kevin faulk tucked down at the 45-yard line and that will bring on a punting unit lamar woodley and james ferrier combining for the stop it is so hard to squeeze yardage out of this pittsburgh defense how many years how many years you've been saying that well for a long long time for a couple of decades and of course this unit number one's all the way down the board so it makes it all the more exasperating when you get a chance for a big big play like that pass to moss and you don't convert san antonio holmes back at his own 10 yard line for the kick from chris henson and holmes going to let this one fly bounces on the goal line and into the end zone for the touchback we have come to the end of the first quarter it's a 7-3 lead for the new england patriots you're watching the nfl on cbs welcome back to gillette stadium for the start of the second quarter the rain continues to fall the fans continue to watch first down from the 20-yard line roethlisberger from the welding moor a couple of yards [Applause] see where they've been starting it was interesting ben roethlisberger telling us last night dan about the increasing number of plays that he calls out there and here are the steelers going without the huddle yeah they love to use this no huddle in which case finn calls the plays and he said he's up to 40 or 50 percent of the plays during the course of the season he said i'm calling on my own some games up to as many as three quarters [Applause] i would call that false offense number 72 darnell stapleton right guard second mike tomlin clarified for us this doesn't mean that ben roethlisberger has the entire playbook in front of him to call he's working within the framework of what they would like to run in these given situations but ben said you know he'll go three four plays in a row without hearing bruce arians the offensive coordinator in his ear with a recommendation and let me tell you there's not a quarterback in the league who would not love that kind of freedom pittsburgh doubling up on the time of possession new england with the lead on the scoreboard second and 13. throws over the middle and has his man that's ward and ward out across the 25 to about the 26 or 27 yard line well heinz ward who for 11 years has been just doing it the hard way in this league settles in knows he's going to take a shot but he gets away from gerard mayo and it does from gary guyton rather 59 he gets away from guyton right there who looks like he's got him but heinz ward surprises people with his lower body strength from the waist down this guy is strong as we all know from the waist up he's tough and mean steelers spread the field on third and three under pressure crawfishberger throws and that is incomplete intended for heath miller oh man great work by ben of escaping and delivering a really catchable ball and heath miller just drops it teddy brewski one of the guys coming up the middle and brewski does he gets faked out by ben ben buys the time and heath miller more often than not yeah he had to slow down and come back for it but man he had it where he could have caught it mitch burger kicks it away west welker makes the fair catch at the 35 yard line 1304 to play in the first half of a 7-3 football game 1304 to play here in the second quarter as the rain continues to come down and dan you were just mentioning not an empty seat they're here kudos to the new england crowd it's bad bad weather and this place is jammed this pass for welcome out to the near side is incomplete it'll be second and ten that play was set up pretty well but that was just not a good throw from castle he dropped that in there all the way down at the shoelaces of wes welker matt castle coming off of back-to-back 400-yard game throwing the ball 400 against the jets 4-15 a week ago today at miami a lot of times a big yardage game comes in a losing effort like it was against the jets and had overtime loss but they just crushed miami with him guiding the offense of the patriots to over 500 total yards in the game running out of time and castle's not going to get the playoff so that'll be a delay of game they're going to back it off five yards case you're wondering castle today three out of seven for 46 yards [Applause] castle flips to sammy morris morris with running rule across the 40 to about the 41 yard line maybe the 42 before ryan clark brings him down well take a look at what quarterbacks over the years have done the following week after back-to-back 400-yard games and mourinho fell flat on his face didn't he yeah you can see that mr fouts mr mourinho and mr sims all converted to third week for a win billy volik ended up losing of course we'll know about mr castle a couple of hours from now on third and three and that one is almost intercepted ryan clark trying to pull it down the patriots will kick it away yeah ryan clark goes up for the interception and takes a pretty good hit from his own guy how'd you like playing in weather like this man not that you had a choice in the matter from an offensive line perspective the only thing you worried about was your traction you just didn't want to slip and and let a guy get a free run at the quarterback other than that are you kidding me what about the hands oh big guy well you're san antonio halls with the fair catch might have been why you didn't play in the nfl greg just one of a myriad of reasons 1208 to play in the first half dude 1208 to play in the first half as usual thousands of steeler fans find their way into an opponent's stadium first down roethlisberger play fake they'll go deep down the middle for washington incomplete delpha o'neal helped break it up oh ben just couldn't throw that football far enough because washington had two steps on the defender he has to slow down and really wait for the ball and that gave delta o'neal a chance to get back in on it and get his hand on the football nate washington was two yards behind delta o'neal yep you made the play at the end only because the ball was underthrown i don't and i'm not sure ben could have thrown it any farther in this weather second and 10. [Applause] well we have a moment a reminder tuesday on ncis the brutal world of underground fight clubs exposed an all-new ncis tuesday here on cbs america's most watched network greg we're seeing some dropped passes here today that i don't think a result of of wet hands or a wet football but they're they lack a concentration and looking away before you look the ball into your hands but they're clunker drops not slits third and ten roethlisberger running out of time and barely got the snap off ben throws over the middle and complete ellis hobbs got a hand on it four straight incompletions from roethlisberger that time hobbs looked like the intended receiver he's got the inside position san antonio holmes stops running his pattern ellis hobbs kept running this slant san antonio holmes for some reason when he got the inside position was taken away by hobbs he just stopped running his pattern that's sloppy football [Applause] west welcome back for the punt from mitch berger welker near midfield he loses a couple of tacklers and goes down at the pittsburgh 45-yard line there's a penalty marker on the field isn't wes welker always just one skosh away from a huge play when he's got the football under his arm less than a skosh about a half during the return illegal block in the back by the receiving team number 28. that 10-yard penalty is enforced from the spot of the foul new england keeps the ball first down so antoine spann guilty of the penalty that'll back the patriots often will take time out vince will fork behind all of that traffic there he is steaming away on the sideline i wonder if his hands are full he's taken away from his enjoyment of this game not mine here's sammy warren across the 40 to the 42-yard line the weather having an effect nan or no well no because let's check out some of the drops we've seen here so far that san antonio homes just looks upfield randy moss i don't know what happened there he was looking at it then you know it's just again these aren't mishandling a slippery football those are those are balls that just were bouncing off of people everybody kind of getting in on the act and uh both you know castle and uh and roethlisberger are delivering some good passes that are getting dumped here's castle going to the far side and that's complete to kevin's fault and faulk has a first down across midfield to the pittsburgh 47. well this is a a pretty good touch pass here by matt castle he's looking downfield and you see he puts it right onto the hands of kevin faulk who doesn't even have to break stride doesn't have to lean back for it you know it doesn't look like that complicated of a pass in many ways it's extremely difficult for a quarterback to put that in the right place to allow his player to make a play now on first down castle on the slant there's randy moss inside the 35 to the 30 and that's another patriot first down yeah we saw randy look that one in i asked you during the time out dan as to whether or not this kind of weather actually should make a player concentrate a little bit more than usual well you would think so you'd think that you'd worry less about the yards after the catch and worry more about the catch itself well this is focus right here randy moss looks that ball right in he snapped his head away but you know that was a pretty good job of getting it into the body and securing it he knew he was going to take a pretty good shot two catches for 44 yards for randy moss today and now on first down castle with time over the middle it is almost intercepted by polamalu troy almost turned those five interceptions into six this guy has phenomenal hands wonderful instincts and when he's not blitzing he is such a danger sitting like he is here back in the middle of the field now that ball was severely thrown behind david thomas look how far back behind that is if he'd put that out in front thomas would have been able to make a play on that matt castle got lucky with that one [Applause] now second and ten and the give is the fault you know you were saying dan polamalu authored one of the great interceptions that you have ever seen i could watch this thing every five minutes this is this is against the san diego chargers look at him dive to get that deflection look at him get that right hand the fingertips he gets underneath it and flips it back up to himself to keep it from hitting the ground that is one of the most spectacular ints i have ever since what you can do without cold hands third and seven castle with todd throwing and that is complete to falk did he get enough for the first down they say yes well that's right at the 30-yard line for the 20-yard line let's see if they give him they're going to measure that is the most generous spot i think that kevin faulk could have received if he was there he wasn't there for long well and where the football is sitting right now it may be an inch or two short of a first down [Applause] but we'll see when the chains come in they just had a malfunction with the chains on their way across from the near sideline they've got to go all the way across the field look like the marker fell off can't hear that ad hockey league getting a good look and it's that short belichick that i'd like to take a look at that myself offering his opinion well you can't say that ed hockey lee didn't get down there and scope it out and i'm not sure it's fourth in inches i think it's more like fourth in an inch no there's no s on the end of that the and the s are gone they had no way new england 10 for 15 on fourth down this season not all of them were from an inch away sammy morris and heath evans in the backfield [Applause] first down well give pittsburgh credit they had a lot of anticipation at the line of scrimmage but the patriots countered and they handled it boy there is a defensive team look at polamalu go over the top but a good job up front a good job up front casey hampton gets penetration he gets on the other side of the ball and gets a hand on the ball carrier but good work good surge by new england playing the role of the gazelle first down from the 19. [Applause] castle short pop over the middle default and that's close to the 15-yard line the pickup of four will make it second and six well so many gifted players on this pittsburgh defense and of course it's a collaborative effort they've got wonderful talent up front the four linebackers are astonishing and then polamalu in the back and josh mcdaniels you know he had an active week trying to figure out how to scheme and game plan dicklebeau's group over here on second and six quick pass out to the far side this is welter and welker is dragged down by william gay and there is 71 year old dick lebeau a tremendous player recently honored by the steelers for his 50th year of on-field service in the national football league as either a player an assistant or head football coach why do his players love to play for him well why not i you hear them talk repeatedly about sitting in their meetings at the beginning of the week when he lays out the game plan that they just get they just get so excited because it makes so much sense to them tenth play of this drive look at throws oh under pressure incomplete troy polamalu came through [Music] untouched he's going to come right in off left guard there he comes and they just let him go and matt castle turns and doesn't realize what's coming at him from the backside that castle was lucky to get that off gustowski now in to attempt a field goal that was a turnover waiting to happen this will be a 29-yard attempt we have 6 48 to play in the first half the patriots extend their lead to 10-3 rain continues to fall here in foxboro 6 48 to play in the first half greg gumbel dan dierdorff and the rest of our cbs sports crew 10-3 new england i think most of the east coast has been under water today the good news here in new england is that there's not much in the way of wind it's it's uncomfortable but the rain is coming straight down if if there was a pretty good 20 20 mile an hour wind going this would be a whole lot different scenario today is that the good news that is the good news i'm so glad you could see the bright side oh it could always be worse yes it can 25 breaking up the sideline and across the 35 to about the 37 yard line they want to remind you to play off race rocks next sunday with regional action the jaguars tangled with the bears brett favre and the jets play the niners or the patriots take on the seahawks we ask you to check your local listings beginning with jb dan coach shannon and boomer on the nfl today and matthew slater is down on the field back at about the 17 yard line while he's tended to we'll take a timeout with 6 41 to play in the second quarter only one steeler possession has gone more than four plays and that was a 62-yard drive which ended in a field goal by jeff reed meanwhile matthew slater was able to trot off the field under his own power first down for roethlisberger and the steelers at their own 37. they have registered only four first downs today this he is out of a tackle and has enough for a first down [Applause] well moeldy moore a free agent this year coming from the vikings has been such a wonderful addition to the steelers he was going to be their third down back but given the injuries to willie parker who's missed five games moeldy morris had a lot had to do a lot of the heavy lifting and as you can see he's more than just the threat coming out of the backfield on third down another first down now at the 47-yard line and this is more out of the backfield across midfield and into patriot territory at the 48. gary guyton again making the play guys had an active first half here so far rookie from georgia tech and a free agent there's something you always got to like about a free agent rookie who makes a football team especially a good football team like the patriots second and five and to the 45 is moeldy moore once again that'll be a third and two or good tough yards though by moore who was actually hit in his own backfield and again just able to bounce off somebody and pick up a couple of yards nothing spectacular but that could have been a negative and here goes big ben without a huddle play clock winding down roethlisberger gonna throw for it no he gives it to moore moore has the first down and then some inside the 40 to about the 37 maybe the 36-yard line of new england in a first down boy this delayed handoff really got everybody in new england thinking this is pass that handoff takes place about four yards in the backfield moore sat and wait for roethlisberger to come to him follows big mac starks on his way down field a well-designed play right there that caught new england completely off guard what a thrill that must be to see max starks coming at you yeah he's only 6-8 345. first down pittsburgh play fake and look out graphics burger goes down ellis hobbs hit him first richard seymour followed up boy the backside corner blitz is so treacherous for a quarterback no way can you account for it and no way can you see it ben appeared to sense it at the very last minute i don't know if he heard him coming or what but he kind of turned at the last second but nothing he could do about it great call great call by dean peace on the defensive side loss of seven second and 17. and we get a whistle uh ben was running out of time new england and a timeout that's their first pittsburgh uses its first time out with 337 to play it must be hard for them to know that i'm right and be too cool to admit it especially sarah who is now calling me by my first name so uh those strips that she's so into original recipe that's the taste that i always loved so i guess she's a lot like her mother i'm so not one great taste two ways to love it five pieces of original recipe chicken and four new original recipe boneless strips all freshly prepared with our famous 11 herbs and spices plus two sides and four biscuits just 14.99 let me correct what i said a few moments ago it was new england that called the timeout and used the first of their three to stop the clock with 3 37 to play and a curious call dan well ben roethlisberger was running out of time and looked to me like he was turning getting ready to call time-out and new england apparently beat him to the punch second and 17. richard seymour jumped says he was drawn off let's see what the officials say vince wilfork giving the procedure call we've got a bunch of active guys from new england offside defense leading their case three nothing to quarterback the call is on seymour second down the five-time pro bowler there he is at the top of your screen nobody flinched up front richard seymour could he was pointing and talking and pleading but apparently that never works no it doesn't nobody moved for pittsburgh good call roethlisberger throws near side of the field and that is pulled in by nate washington well delta o'neal was right there with nate washington and ben puts a football up high you can see he's looking for washington all the way i don't know if this ball floated on him a little bit nice job though by nate washington of going up and getting it [Music] you find it interesting dan that ben is wearing the glove on his left hand well he's old-fashioned he wants the feel of the football not many quarterbacks want to wear a glove on on their throwing hand kurt warner is in the minority there third and two in the field of spread quick pass and that's complete inside the 25 to heinz ward for a first down tell you one thing about heinz ward when he catches a pass he will draw a crowd because let's face it if you're a defensive player if you get a shot on heinz ward you want to take it and here they come let's all have a little piece of 86. and nobody knows that more than heinz ward and he could care less so now the steelers have moved to the new england 23 first down 2 15 to play in the first half mile dee moore in the back field behind roethlisberger and the flip is to moore moore slips out of one tackle at the 20 falls forward to the 19. and that'll bring us to two minutes to play two minutes to play here in new england in the first half 10-3 patriots from the 19-yard line roethlisberger it for the end zone did you catch it in bounds touchdown holmes looked it all the way in roethlisberger put it on the mark and the steelers with a chance to tie the game what a move by san antonio holmes as he's down in the end zone and that pump fake by ben roethlisberger and had put delta o'neal on the ground that was that was some move by holmes and look at the great job of dragging the foot he was in bounds by a mile but the move the pump fake perfection the new england patriots have now allowed points on 32 straight red zone trips including a field goal and a touchdown today and holmes with a 19 yard td catch simultaneously the break by holmes the pump fake by ben roethlisberger and delta o'neal was a in a real chase position yes every now and then it works out exactly the way you do it in practice and i think that was the case there hey here's our chance to remind you saturday the number two florida gators the top ranked alabama crimson tide the sec championship a game that could decide it all at saturday here on cbs sports alabama number one florida number two or what a game that is and there's the ap top ten those two sitting up there of course we're involved in a game dan where championships are decided on the field well the the bcs no question it generates a little controversy and no we got a ways to go how about usc that thumping they put on notre dame notre dame didn't get a first down until the last play of the third quarter 25 and forward to the 27-yard line anthony smith made the hit and here comes matt castle who has two timeouts in a minute 50 on the clock you know he mentioned the guys coming up in the studio that nfl today took on a little bit of a different look earlier they had some different people on the set earlier today they had you know i i always thought that those were a bunch of guys sitting there not always apparently i could have sworn i saw a very attractive woman on the set today that was very close to shannon sharp very close [Applause] sidearm out to west welker and welker out across the 30 to about the 33 clock continues to move a minute 40 to play and i think that the evolution of matt castle is such that the patriots are going to try to get points you know six eight weeks ago maybe you just try to go to the locker room and don't make a mistake the give is the kevin fault here and kevin faulk across the 40 45 midfield to the 30 and out of bounds close to the 25 yard line and folks that's why every now and then in a situation like that you hand the ball off because the other team is so overplaying the pass and their defenders are running off in man coverage they don't realize what's happening and what a move he puts on ryan clark kevin faulk who has never been confused for barry sanders smokes clark castle throws the ball into the turf because the screen wasn't there and here's a penalty flag well it's a flag that's downfield [Applause] and pittsburgh is getting gashed here on the little delay first by falcon now by sammy morris look at the hole take a look at that that is a good five yards wide and troy polamalu can't believe that he's that far back in coverage and here comes a back steam roll in his direction keep in mind this is the number one defense in the nfl in virtually every category and new england today has already in the first half exceeded the game average of what the pittsburgh steelers give up running the football 455 yards in the last two carries and new england has stopped the clock with their second timeout 35 seconds showing and the line of scrimmage is just inside the 10 yard line so the patriots with one timeout remaining fault in the backfield i know castle is going to see if he can get moss with man coverage [Applause] castle going end zone incomplete randy moss with ike taylor covering he'll be second goal and ike taylor was playing moss not the football that's what you want is man coverage now there was some safety help to the inside but ike taylor didn't know where the football was yeah matt castle realizes that he didn't give randy moths a chance to make a play on that ball second and goal stepping up same spot touchdown no he dropped it [Applause] man james ferrier the linebacker is coming in at the last minute all right ike taylor is not in man coverage zone all the way here comes ferrier and for the second time this half randy moss just drops a pass that was right on his hands you saw mike tomlin pleading for a holding call that didn't come third and goal new england oh for five on third downs today castle rolling throwing it is almost intercepted in the end zone taylor had it go through his hands man this is this has been a half of dropped footballs ike taylor again matched up with randy moss as if we've seen most of the day and this time ike taylor had it all the way again i just don't have an explanation as to why this is happening yeah i know it's raining but those those don't appear to be because of slippery hands or a ball kostowski missed it missed it to the right side he had made 26 in a row inside the 40-yard line and he misses the chance to put new england on top with 17 seconds to play in the half well that was some combination of events steven goskowski i don't know if he's playing for this the hook but he hits it pretty darn straight just wide right from the very beginning and how frustrating is this for the patriots after kevin faulk and a big run sammy morris with a big run they have a chance randy moss drops a shirt touchdown pittsburgh has a chance with an interception and as it turns out it works great for them because of the missed field goal for those of you big on numbers new england has a 39 game winning streak when they lead at the half that will not be the case today as the teams leave the field and the final seconds tick off sammy morris a two yard touchdown run san antonio homes a 19-yard touchdown catch field goals on each side and a 10-10 game well that this game is even greg not a surprise these are two afc heavyweights that is the end of the first half with our score pittsburgh 10 new england 10 we're coming back with a sprint halftime report in new york right after this message and a word from your local station you're watching the nfl on cbs the weather in a word ugly i do like playing in weather like this not that you had a choice in the matter but later on it got cold big guys don't get cold welcome back to foxborough massachusetts gillette stadium as we begin the second half new england and pittsburgh tied at 10 greg gumbel once again along with dan dierdorff you know i don't think that the weather has been the biggest factor as we thought it might be although the way things have gone it still could make a big turning point in this game somewhere along the line obviously the ball is a little slippery it's just most of the drop passes we have seen don't strike me as ones where the ball is just like squirting through someone's hand i would expect to see a second half that's played a little crisper a little a little sharper let's go ahead and check the halftime numbers here and you can see that one takeaway led to the fact that the patriots only had to go 14 yards for a touchdown after mike brabel had the interception on pittsburgh's first series and there's nothing that'll make an offense happier than having to only go 14 yards for a touchdown the new england patriots will get the second half kickoff and a reminder once again this game comes to you in high definition here on cbs 10 10 new england and pittsburgh ellis hobbs number 27 is deep to receive the kick from jeff reed it has been a steady cold rain heck from the time we woke up today yes it has temperatures in the 30s the good news is remember this used to be a grass field here at gillette stadium and not a very good one at that and since they've put the artificial surface in here you can play a game in bad weather like this and not have footing really be an issue but sure you were going to say the good news is the temperature's not in the low 30s oh yeah well you've been here for a few snowy games haven't you we all have it is that time of year the coaches bill belichick mike tomlin and jeffrey who has a 20-yard field goal to his credit we'll kick it away and get us started here in the second half this is hobbs from the seven [Applause] takes a couple of hits refuses to go down until he gets back close to the 25-yard line well let's check out the first half leaders of the new england patriots of course matt castle 11 of 21 he's had a couple drops but he has not had a turnover kevin faulk with the big run he had there at the very end of the first half of most of those yards and randy moss while he has a couple of catches for 44 yards he's also had a couple of very prominent drops one of them in the end zone for could have been a touchdown castle to throw down the far sideline it isn't complete and a penalty marker is down oh i don't think there's any doubt about that ike taylor was holding him up the whole way geez the last 10 yards of that pattern pass interference defense number 24. the ball is placed at the spot of the foul first down i sure thought it was late being thrown though dan well i it might have been late being thrown but okay you're past five yards you just can't hold i don't know why ike taylor thought that he could hold on to the left arm of randy moss that whole time the interference happened five six yards prior to that now taylor is a big corner at 6-2 195. he wants to be physical with moss but there's a line that's a 23-yard pickup and now sammy morris into new england territory to the 47-yard line aaron smith made the stop after a seven-yard gain it's second and three you know greg we had such an interesting conversation with ike taylor about what it's like covering randy moss and you know randy is so physical and he goes he he uses his hands so well and and you'll see him he'll you know the little subtle pushes they're not exaggerated which is why he does get away with a lot but that was pretty obvious by taylor mike taylor couldn't stop raving about randy moss's ball skills sammy morris another marker holding defense number 98 penalty and an automatic first down that's casey hampton who is not too pleased well a lot of times you see holding is called on a linebacker or a corner because they're in some way holding a receiver but a defensive lineman can get it too if an offensive lineman is on his way to make a block you can't grab him and right there he's holding on to dan copeland you know you okay your job is to occupy two guys and hampton i think would have got away with it if he wouldn't have been so exaggerated at the end and the way he held on to copenhagen he may still be holding it if he'd let him go i think he'd have gotten away with it at some point yeah castle throwing and that's complete out of the back field is kevin faulk and he's to the 32 maybe the 31. you know for those of you that at home trying to figure out what casey hampton was doing he's trying to keep dan cope in the center from coming off and going to that second level and getting a block on a linebacker well once he did that for two or three seconds well then you can let him go because you don't want to do just that run the risk of getting the flag if you love interior line play between hampton and wilfork we got two of the game's best on display here today casey is still talking about it on second and one castle pulls it down and then he goes down and kc hampton came right through for the sack well casey hampton is not known as a really good pass rusher and he's just going one on one on dan copen and by the time stephen neal the right guard wants to come back in hampton's already too far up field and that's hampton's first sack of the season that's not he's a run stuffer he's not a he's not a real pressure guy on the qb that's a that's a bonus for the steelers castle throwing incomplete intended for falk and that'll bring the punting unit on for new england a little confusion there between kevin faulk and matt castle as to the option route that clock was supposed to run so maweldy moore will drop back to take the kick for pittsburgh and let's see what chris hansen does with this punt well he can't just boom it because he's way too close to the end zone for that pops it up hair catch called for and moore dropped it did it get out of bounds oh yeah yeah luckily for mildy moore he was really close to the sidelines pittsburgh ball 12 32 to play third quarter 10-10 tie in the rain in foxborough that's willie parker on the sidelines has not seen much action since the first quarter miweldi moore in the backfield as roethlisberger brings the steelers up at their own 14. and this is moore finds running room 20 25 30. still on his feet to about the 33-yard line and a first down man what a good-looking hole off the right side this is really well done great block by willie colon number 74 the right tackle heath miller 83 the tight end and that was a no-brainer for moeldy moore who wasn't touched until he was at least 10 yards downfield weldy moore seven carries 48 yards on the day pittsburgh's running that cluster formation there they've been running that all game long rothberger throwing heath miller across the 40 across the 45 and another first down for the steelers well the first half leaders for the steelers ben roethlisberger of course he's got a touchdown but he also had the interception that led directly to a new england touchdown on the first series of the game with parker being ineffective the weldy moore is the primary guy out of the backfield he's had the big run here at the start of the second half and then nate washington has been the primary receiver with with three two plays 31 yards on this drive and here's more left side bounces off the tackler across midfield into new england territory at about the 47th well there's two stories here one is that moeldy moore is running the ball really well but this is clearly the situation where if willie parker was at the top of his game this is when he should be in there and it appears that mike tomlin has made a decision that willie parker's knee just isn't up to what it should be and it's curtailing his effectiveness on second and two roethlisberger from the shotgun quick in college football it's incomplete well that's why he didn't get up he knew he didn't catch it you're setting up a little bubble screen out here you got two blockers coming out in front you see you got both your tight ends oh well no wonder he didn't get up that one hopped well in front of nate washington so now third and a long two again there's that cluster formation to the right side roethlisberger rolling throws and that is complete and out of bounds to san antonio homes first down san antonio holmes was wide open as he settles down over here against the new the new england zone turned all loose over there and i'm trying to think why he just stepped out of bounds there's nobody close to him james sanders is still a couple yards away try to you're a very dangerous runner after the catch try to make something happen mr holmes first down just inside the 40-yard line here's moore not much there gary guyton coming up and making another stop well again we talked about miweldi moore and man he has been a real savior here for the pittsburgh steelers at the running back position they had to resign najee davenport this week after you know of course they lost their number one draft pick richard mendenhall who broke his scapula in the baltimore game back in week four he was really going to be the guy that did a lot of the heavy work to relieve willie parker but that fell on more shoulders and he's come through big time second and nine roethlisberger running out of time on the play clock got it off more well penalty marker is down on the near side and more powers inside the 30 close to the 25-yard line let's see what the flag is about well whatever the flag is it's not for delay of game it was thrown by the line judge on the sideline [Applause] offside defense number 50. that's brilliant his decline will play results in a first down well ben got that play off at the last nanosecond and mike brabel who's had a really active first half there's mike frable at the top of your screen and yeah you can see him take that half step trying to get the inside on max starks but he was well into the neutral zone but frable a big first half he had one tip to pass and an interception and willie parker is back on the field and he is in the backfield and he takes the handoff looking for running room up the middle to about the 20. you specifically asked mike tomlin dan about you know tomlin said he was going to work out willie parker and make a determination as to whether or not he could go and he made it clear that if he didn't think parker was at top speed he wouldn't go at all no and this is really good news for pittsburgh that that they've put parker back in there so obviously he's not tweaked it or if he has it's not enough to reduce his effectiveness to the point where he shouldn't play that was parker's first carry since the first quarter for the stretch run here the steelers desperately need a very healthy willie parker this is parker from second and four turning the corner left side and slipped and fell at about the 17. now keep in mind it's his left knee and there's a situation where instead of plant that left knee and make a hard cut he kind of goes to the ground watch let's see what he does with that left knee throwing it out there and he actually kind of overextended himself with his right leg throwing it out there but i don't know it looked like a guy that wasn't all that thrilled about really planning that thing and going right over the top of it third and one and more is backed into the backfield roethlisberger quick pass heath miller first down inside the 10 it'll be first and goal for pittsburgh i'm telling you the jackie smith's mike ditka's uh the great tight ends of a bygone era used to make a living off of that little pass right there it's one of the simplest plays in football and it's almost always good for some you know some decent yardage good hands by miller here almost lost the handle he almost almost lost it john mackeys of the world man they used to make a living off that little deal right there bruce arians the offensive coordinator likes to work from down on the field and roethlisberger calls timeout with the play clock already down to six we'll stop the clock with 6 41 to play in the third welcome back 6 41 to play the new england defense has had red zone problems including today they've allowed scores on 32 straight possessions in the red zone meanwhile the steelers are on the night's longest drive 11th play 77 yards has taken 5 51 off the clock now this is about as long a first and goal as you can possibly have they are barely inside the 10. roethlisberger fakes the pass gives to moore up the middle and he's stacked up at about the seven [Applause] you know it's one of those things that becomes a real albatross on a defensive team when when you struggle like that in the red zone and you know this is a team that's always oozed with confidence and you know you just say the two words red zone and you can just see every defensive guy for the patriots stiffen it is a subject of which they are tired of talking about it the problem is you have to do something about it second and goal roethlisberger with time running out of time scrambling scrambling throws it away ben roethlisberger since the day he came in this league buys himself more time he is able to just move around because he just can't find anybody good job there of ellis hobbs all over heinz ward looking at this side of the field there goes miller heath miller can't find anyways faith can't find anybody now santonio holmes looked like he was open in the back corner for a moment but at that time ben was running around trying to stay alive third and goal for pittsburgh play clock down to one got the snap crawfishberger running out of time on the move still on his feet looking throwing incomplete penalty marker down inside the five yard line well that he started to look like fran tarkenton there how many people could ben roethlisberger make him miss the initial signal is an ineligible man he knows we'll receive her downfield offense number 68. the penalty is declined brings up fourth down well i'm sure that chris kimoyatu thought what i thought at the last minute there and that was that ben roethlisberger was going to make a run for the goal line because when he came around the corner he had some real estate in front of him and i think he could have come awfully close to the goal line [Applause] now for a guy with a bad shoulder maybe that's not what you want him doing jeff reed's numbers 24 in a row from inside the 50. this one's a 25-yarder to give pittsburgh the lead on its way and good five minutes 39 seconds to play in the third quarter and mike tomlin watches his steelers take a 13-10 lead jeffrey who just kicked a 25-yard field goal to cap a 14-play 79-yard drive and give the steelers their first lead of the night at 13-10 will kick it away that's matthew slater at his own five yard line and slater from the four lost the handle bounced it away it's loose who's got it the steelers recover kieran fox and matthew slater who got banged up earlier in the game but i saw him back on that kickoff i'm going man good for you kid you're not injured seriously you're back in the game and wow what a mistake never had it could have had it and then unfortunately it bounces right off his left knee and carrum's away and what a nice job of covering up the ball by fox in this same area of the field in the first quarter a key turnover cost the steelers some points let's see now if they can turn this into points first and goal from the eight the pitch for more left side and is batted out of bounds by brandon merriweather man did you hear that hit check this out this is a cruncher here [Applause] that's the sound that the helmet on helmet makes backs them all the way up to the 11 yard line where it's second and goal there is matthew slater hoping his defense can put the clamps on the steelers burger throws at the goal line touchdown heinz ward how come year in year out when your team needs a big play number 86 steps up and makes it happen what a good job he did of shielding the defender and ben throws a strike right at his chest heinz ward not a really big receiver does a really great job look at that look how he squats down turns his back completely to the defender and delta o'neal is in no position to make a play on the ball [Applause] and all matthew slater can do now is try to block the extra point he does not the kick is good the steelers put 10 points on the board in 35 seconds and lead it by 10. new england's defense points allowed off turnovers since the patriots led 10-3 in the second quarter pittsburgh has scored 17 unanswered to lead 20 to 10 504 to play in the third matthew slater has moved up in the kick return unit and kevin faulk is deep inside his own five yard line there is matthew slater number 18. well both of these teams got the opportunity to do two really short drives for touchdowns so they've even dumped in everything [Applause] from the five [Applause] and out to about the 28 or 29 yard line while we have a moment wednesday here on cbs be the first to know who the nominees are when taylor swift and ll cool j hosts the grammy nomination concert live wednesday here on cbs america's most watched network special live guitar solo by dan gierdorf yes yes yeah with these fingers good luck hitting just one string at a time not possible first down for castle and the patriots at the 29. castle lost the ball it's on the ground who's got it pittsburgh james harrison with the sack and the strip harrison and woodley have been quiet all game long right up to that point coming in the backside matt castle did not see it coming there's harrison number 92 gets around matt light light tries to hold him matt castle doesn't see him coming and lamar woodley recovers the fumble they had a play earlier in the year against baltimore where harrison stripped the ball and woodley picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown they're quite a pair yesterday lamar woodley told us he tells james harrison every week this is his week to catch him in the sac department recovered a big fumble there roethlisberger with time over the middle caught inside the 10 by heath miller it'll be first and goal and what a job of holding on to the football because miller takes a huge huge shot pierre woods really dropped one on him and woods is the guy that's hurt watch this collision look at the spray come off of both of those guys heath miller holds on to the football bounces right up and pierre woods is still on one knee and we saw hines ward waving to the new england bench asking for help for pierre woods pierre woods interestingly enough a college teammate of lamar woodley who just recovered that fumble caused by james harrison they both were teammates at michigan and pierre woods is being forced into action for the patriots because of the injury to a dallas thomas he's got a broken forearm and pierre woods is having to play his spot there at outside linebacker you know everyone has their injury problems this time of year and the patriots have had their share and then so woods gonna walk off the field under his own power good for him that was that was some helmet the helmet shot those two exchanged i think the average fan is amazed when a guy like heath miller is able to hold on to the football after getting hit that hard first and goal from the seven that's a 20-yard pickup pittsburgh has scored on its last three drives two touchdowns and a field goal willie parker straight ahead inside the five to about the two boy and every time that willie parker is able to make a tough run like that nothing fancy but a real grinder they've got to feel a little bit better about his chances of being productive in december but that was good blocking up front from an offensive line that is completely revamped the only starter playing right now from a year ago as willie colon and right tackle second and goal parker straight ahead and not much there it has been a steady drizzle from the time we arrived at the stadium here today and two things jump out at you how many steelers fans want to infiltrate another team stadium and secondly how these folks in new england there's not an empty seat in this place third and goal gonna throw for it running out of time throws and complete heinz ward coming across the end zone and here comes jeff reed in the field goal unit man and that's the best thing that new england could have possibly hoped for barring a turnover or something like that unexpected but when you're down on the door like that to force a field goal that's that's a win defensively teddy brewski knows it and these guys it's i think they're a little shell shocked that they're facing the chance of going down by 13 points but it could have been worse for reed this will be a 20-yard attempt [Applause] kick is on the way and good 20 unanswered points pittsburgh lead 23-10 hey this week dave has president-elect barack obama plus bruce willis and paris hilton talk about running the gray matter spectrum from one end to the other tomorrow catch stupid human tricks and russell brand only here on cbs that is a little that is a little something for everybody 35 45 penalty marker flies as he brought down just shy of midfield good job by ellis and let's check the flag jeff reed is making a lot of gyrations out there saying that he's the guy that got held during the return holding by the receiving team number 88 that 10-yard penalty will be enforced from the spot of the foul new england keeps the ball first down of all the people that you need to hold on the kicking team wouldn't the kicker be the last one to hold although jeff reed's a pretty uh he's a pretty good he weighs 225 pounds yes he does he will throw himself around but no normally he's not the headhunter of the coverage team so the line of scrimmage the 35 of new england england just five total yards this third quarter and the give is to sammy morris morris to about the 38 let's get an update from james brown in new york jb hey greg and dan after muffin a punt earlier harry douglas makes amends here on the receiving end of this matt ryan toss that captain 11 plays 72-yard drive 22-13 fourth quarter 11 43 remaining in regulation greg and dan boy the clock is ticking on those san diego chargers second and seven castle throwing far side welker making the dive incomplete oh that ball from matt castle just seemed to die wes welker was wide open he found a hole back there in the pittsburgh zone take a look at how open he is and that football just noses into the ground and welker not able to get back to it you know let's make the point matt castle has done a terrific job subbing for tom brady this year but as mike tomlin pointed out there are people who are a little quick to anoint him but you really can't put him in tom brady's class until he's played some january february football well you don't put anybody in top he's class third and seven over the middle got a hand on it and ryan clark laid out wes welker when the football was blocked in between now clark's going to say no wait a minute i thought the ball was coming what a shot let's see how well we can hear this [Applause] is this helmet to helmet although he comes in with the shoulder defense number 25 unnecessary roughness an unnecessary hit on a defenseless receiver that was 15 yards from the previous spot first down he left his feet he looked like he hit him more with the shoulder than the helmet but he did realize that that football was nowhere near west welker and that was some shot by ryan clark you know this was a 34 to 13 win last year by new england in this game and neither ryan clark nor troy polamalu played in that game because of injury you know there's a little uh a little anticipation at getting a shot at this thing that's the kind of kit that'll get you an email from the commissioner that pass is complete to randy moss not an email that'll get you a fedex a little pushing and shoving on the field let's get another update from james brown jb hey greg and dan take a look denver on the march here in the red zone jay cutler back looking for his intended receiver as he scrambles and buys a little time tosses it and it is picked off by the jets dwight lowry to end the drive right there 27-14 still late in the third denver on top greg and dan well plenty of time there for a little brett favre of magic he's got the whole fourth quarter a little bit of interest in what the jets are doing from the locals here meanwhile castle the fall going nowhere brought down at about the 47-48-yard line the clock continues to run as we come down on a minute to play here in the third quarter troy polamalu on the left matt castle on the right and former roommates and matt castle said he was a wonderful roommate he was so clean as we all know what's worse than having a dirty roommate it leaves us stuff all over the place great friends to this day from southern cal dear friends castle under the gun lost the ball again harrison unbelievable james harrison does it again comes around the corner and matt castle doesn't feel him and he gets another strip sack and this time james ferrier picked up the loose ball man all you got to be do is you got to be doing is be on the other side he goes around matt light again who doesn't seem to have an answer matt light has got to strike harrison and get him up field how smart of a play is that by harrison that that almost looks too easy just go by and there's the ball swat i'll just knock it out and let one of my guys pick it up that is the fourth sack of the day for the pittsburgh steelers and james harrison who came in with a dozen sacks now has 14. two lost fumbles by castle and won by matthew slater on the kick first down as we approach the last half minute of play here in the third quarter this is willie parker no running room on the near side as he's brought down just shy of the 45. and let's see if that's the last play here in the third quarter third quarter has been owned by the pittsburgh steelers well it's pretty astonishing that uh in the third quarter they've only given up a total of nine points all season we've come to the end of three the score the steelers 23 the patriots ten we're back after this message award for local station this is the nfl on cbs welcome back for the start of the fourth quarter 13 unanswered points by pittsburgh in the third quarter 23-10 steelers in the lead hard to have a better third quarter than james harrison had roethlisberger looking now at a second and nine at the new england forty-six you could tell the momentum swing really began late in the first half dan yeah it really did they had a chance to score and randy moss can't hold on to a ball in the end zone matthew slater then on a kickoff he loses it pittsburgh recovers roethlisberger finds heinz ward for the touchdown to cap it off and then james harrison with back to back strip sacks and right now pittsburgh just exploded all over new england in the third quarter and again we showed you that number the steelers have only given up nine points in the third quarter so far this season got the snap off just in time roethlisberger pulls it down throws and that is complete at the 35-yard line to heinz ward [Applause] well if heinz ward actually did catch that ball he did one heck of a job of scooping that up off the ground or keeping it from hitting the ground let's check it out right here heinz ward breaking off his pattern after and boy he just slides right on in there nate washington going deep that is going down and getting two total yards for new england in the third quarter on first down this is willie parker diving forward close to the 30-yard line and right now you know bill cower is sitting back in our studios in new york because nobody was better when he was coaching the steelers of taking the air out of the football and milking a lead and just grinding away running the football trying to remember was the coach the only one who picked the steelers in this game earlier today uh i'm not sure if he was the only one he sir no i think somebody else did too there might have been another one was it female he clearly was all over it second and five parker in the backfield parker with the handoff and out of bounds and enough for the first down there are the afce standings right now the jets keep in mind are losing right now to denver at that game at the middle lands miami won buffalo lost and so new england they're looking at a loss if they don't have one heck of a fourth quarter here and again we talked about how very important this game is to the patriots roethlisberger looking for the first down and has it well the patriots it's so important for them greg because they've already lost twice in their division they've lost to miami they've lost to the jets and their four losses are all in the afc both of those come into play in different tie breaking scenarios and bill belichick is well aware of the fact that if the jets were to go on and win the division a wild card spot is what they're chasing and those kind of records within your division and conference can come back to really earth we are told pierre wood will not return to action today after the hit he took here's parker parker dances to the 27th or the 22 excuse me meanwhile the pittsburgh steelers trying to keep pace with baltimore in the afc north ravens one to move to eight and four and pittsburgh trying to win to stay ahead of the ravens and they could move to nine and three and pittsburgh plays baltimore in a couple of weeks in baltimore of course that's after they go home and play dallas well yeah there's that there's a matter of that remaining schedule for the pittsburgh steelers it's more than a little difficult it's a it's a man-sized bite new england tough to play catch-up when you don't have your hands on the ball roethlisberger threw it away nothing developing on the right side so he just stuffed it it'll be third and eight [Applause] well there's still a lot of time left in this football game two new england touchdowns gives them the lead but their margin of error is getting mighty close to the bone and not being allowed not allowing pittsburgh any more points is crucial now they're at a distance now where a field goal from here is who i think little dicey in this weather third and eighth roethlisberger needs the 15 for a first down gonna loft this one down feel he has his man open off the fingertips of nate washington can't throw it any better well we have seen this all game long where we've seen receivers in a position to make a big play that ball you see that just bounces off his fingertips you know when i look at that i i don't think that's a case of the rain or the wet hands or anything that that never even made it to his palms that just bounced off the ends of his finger so jeff reed gonna try one from 40 yards out he's been good from 20 twice and from 25 once kick is on the way and he pulled it left around new england they did the first part of what they have to do now can the offense follow suit would it be wrong of me to tell you how much i really like that show not at all i would be shocked if you didn't it was a little bit offended i would that's when his little nose glows like that i just can't hardly take it get all the glitter my own self first down here's kevin faulk fights his way to about the 35. a pickup of five in this half new england has managed seven total yards and trying to change it up a little bit they're going no huddle which i think is a good idea trying to do something to shake it up a little bit [Applause] second and five that pass is complete across the 45 to the 48 or 47 yard line ben watson on the receiving end and that's a new england first down something of a rarity here in the second half lawrence timmons really complaining that watson pushed off it is still drizzling here at gillette fault midfield still on his feet to the 40 and a first down well this is exactly what new england has to do plenty of time left here over 10 minutes this really worked for them at the end of the first half of course it ended up a drive that didn't produce any points but a big run by falk a big run on sammy moore by sammy morris off the same action the little delay that caught pittsburgh kind of unawares castle under the gun throws and complete and he got creamed by lawrence timmons oh and you can see matt castle grimacing as he got up that hurt that hurt kevin faulk releasing to get out into the pattern and castle gets driven to the ground now timmons did a good job of not landing on top of him and that's something that'll draw a penalty driving a guy into the ground i thought timmons did a good job of sliding off to the side and hitting the ground himself on second and ten the pass out to randy moss moss looking for a running rule and is going to lose some yardage on this play chris polk number 76 saw moss come right back to him well there are some defenses that it's tougher than others to come back across the formation to try to catch them off guard but not with the team speed the steelers have randy moss couldn't even get away from a defensive lineman new england has not converted a third down today castle stepping up down the middle of the field intercepted by palamalu kuala malu back to the 20 25 and out of bounds troy polamalu picks and the ball goes over to the steelers well matt castle trying to get the ball to bend watson and it looked like it went right off the hands of watson and hockey league trying to get everybody back onto the steelers sideline let's watch this it's going to be a post pattern right down the middle and he actually puts it right on the left hand of ben watson he can't pull it in he pops it right to polamalu [Applause] fourth turnover of the day by the new england patriots is the most they've committed this season on first down here's willie parker and parker inside the 40 or across the 40 rather to the 41 and the rain continues to fall here in foxborough well it has gone from light to dark but the the rainfall has been pretty consistent the entire game and the four turnovers wow what a uh what an obstacle to try to overcome against a really good pittsburgh football team the best defense in the national football league asking a lot statistically all the way down the board they're nothing but ones second and three parker again and parker with a first down and then some 40. 30 inside the 30 brought down by james sanders but not before he chalks up another steeler first down well this is steeler football this is the formula that they have been following all the way back to chuck noll strong defense intimidating defense a punishing ground game and when they get the lead they just suck the air out of the football and bill belichick cannot cannot be enjoying this experience nor is matt castle 7 50 to play in regulation a running play and parker scoots to the 20-yard line and here's a late flag coming from ed hockey lee holding offense number 62 10 yard penalty repeat first down that's the center justin hartwig guy we were talking to last night dan he says you know if you play the center position pittsburgh pennsylvania is the ultimate place to play the game has great respect for those that preceded him in that position of the great mike webster germany dawson he knows the caliber of the players that have come before of course the late mike webster and wow did he in many ways really redefine that position between he and jim langer of the dolphins they were a couple of horses on first down parker brought down at the 30-yard line gary gayton made the stop and of course justin hartwig added and wanted us to make sure to point out that he said the steeler fans are the best well justin hartwick had his 30th birthday last weekend in chicago the steelers had a little win trip to the windy city the offensive line went with the ben roethlisberger some of them all the starters went along with number seven [Applause] the tight end those of you expecting to see 60 minutes you're watching the nfl on cbs and our game between pittsburgh and new england greg gumbel dan dierdorff and the rest of our cbs sports crew pittsburgh leading at 23 to 10. we remind you 60 minutes will be seen in its entirety immediately following this game except on the west coast and they have an awesome interview with michael phelps catching up with what he's catching up with what he's been doing since he won every gold medal that they had in beijing he's he's had an active couple of months third and nine roethlisberger pumps throws down the middle and complete under through hinds ward that slipped off of ben's hands that was a wobbler from the beginning they're both laughing about it heinz ward realized what happened it happens you know in weather like this ben does not wear a glove which i think the vast majority of quarterbacks prefer to have the feel on the ball but every now and then one of them is going to slip that work gloves you'd wear battery socks too you'd look you'd look like the michelin man anytime that temperature dips below 60. 45 yards out jeff reed this one on its way looking good and it is good that's a killer 5 43 to play in regulation 26 10 steelers [Music] as far as staying warm that's what i'm talking about 5 43 to play here in regulation well that's the business end of the heater you see on the other end there's about nine steelers the payoff area trying to get in the way of all that hot air 2610 rothless burger and the steelers with the lead [Music] short short kick from the 30 and slater who fumbled the kick earlier and we'll take a timeout welcome back everyone matt castle stepping up throwing and wide open and he dropped it inside the 25 is jabar gaffney bill belichick must be wondering what else [Applause] we have a penalty marker down on the far side well gaffney finds that soft spot in the zone and the soft spot in his hands man i like taylor after the play was over unsportsmanlike conduct defense number 24. 15-yard penalty first down where you saw ike taylor run over and pick up the ball after gaffney dropped it he must have in some way taunted gaffney about dropping the ball he might have flipped it did he flip it back to him we're not a smart player no not a smart play taunting in this game is again something that's very much frowned upon especially when the opposition is still alive castle throws that's incomplete and because you got to keep in mind it still is a two-score football game yeah it's two touchdowns with two two-point conversions but it is still a two possession game it's at the very outer limit of that two possession game but it is what it is second and ten we are just a smidge under five and a half to play castle that's complete fault to the 35 outside the 25 in the first down now one of the things that's bothering matt castle right now is a i don't believe wes welker has been back on the field since he took that huge shot from ryan clark [Applause] and when you subtract your leading receiver from the uh from the mix there's welker over on the sidelines and took a terrific shot ryan clark was penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness and hitting a receiver in a defenseless position but welker has not returned since then on second and ten the give is to fall from fault inside the 20s inside the 15-yard line and great job by kevin faulco finishing that run not every day you see troy polamalu come bouncing out backwards at the end of a run he is just an all everything back he's been getting it done here for a long time 10th season out of lsu and castle sneaking for the first down and would like a little hurry up from the crew and we're going to measure ed hockey is calling for the chain game to come on out 4 23 to play here in the fourth quarter this is going to be really close if he's got it which he just might it's not going to be by more than an inch or two if he does have it it will be new england's first third down conversion of the day head hockey lead down with the microscopic inspection again and for the second time today we've seen one that is an inch or less from a first down a scoach a smidgen a microscope a tad a nano scope new england 0 for 10 on third down conversions and they're going to go for it here that is wow that that 0 for 10. that is just stifling from a defense [Applause] kevin faulk is in the backfield behind castle let's see if castle keeps it does i'm trying to find some running room and let's see where the ball will be spotted well matt castle kept driving kept those feet moving and he got it i think there's where the football is sitting right now yeah he's got it but it's end zone or bust for the patriots 3 51 on the clock new england with all three of its time-outs remaining [Applause] castle intercepted picked off by lawrence timmons timmons gets a block and he's going to take it down the sideline cuts it back to the five did he get in [Applause] no touchdown call yet [Applause] they're gonna they're gonna confer they are not going to give him the touchdown [Applause] but lawrence timmons the second year linebacker out of florida state with the big play here well he steps right in front of kevin faulk reading matt castle all the way now he gets a good block that takes care of castle and then he kind of slowed down at the very end benjamin watson is the player who comes in and yeah you could see the knee down the official determined that the knee came down on first and goal this is gary russell looking for the end zone and he doesn't find it was it benjamin watson the guy who chased down chant bailey in that playoff game out in out in denver number of years ago i don't think this is going to have as dramatic a consequences as that but not since november of 06 have the patriots turned the ball over five times in a game that was an 89-yard return by lawrence timmons [Applause] on second and goal this is russell straight ahead touchdown greg i'll say this tennessee and the jets have been garnering a lot of attention this year i think this game is a game that where the pittsburgh steelers are saying this is our time of year this is where we turn it on they know how to do it this is a very impressive win in new england we talked about them yesterday a little bit dan i don't know if under the radar would be quite it but they've been a very quiet 8-3 coming into this game today well they've struggled willie parker's missed five games roethlisberger with the bad shoulder that he says is much better now the they've been carried by their defense and but this this is a really really good win for the new england for the pittsburgh steelers to come into new england and win by this march 244 to play 33-10 steelers a reminder coming up tonight on 60 minutes michael phelps a rare inside look at his life since the olympics plus the great poker swindle cheaters who won 20 million dollars and got away with it followed by new episodes of the amazing race cold case and the unit that's all tonight here on cbs [Applause] i'm anxious to see that michael phelps interview on 60 minutes what a could there be anyone in america who doesn't know who michael phelps is sure can't be many didn't say what level no but there there can't be many after what he did in beijing the pittsburgh steelers loyal fans have seen their heroes put up 30 unanswered points and they pretty much have gillette stadium to themselves [Applause] and has as often a familiar sight for steelers players when they win on the road there's always a couple thousand of their fans here that are ready to party on with it and a pretty tough trick to come into foxborough and knock off the new england patriots and they have done it in an impressive fashion forcing new england into turnovers five of them in all [Music] this one scooped up at the 25-yard line by stephen neal and steven neal still on his feet and brings it back across midfield well earlier today dan let's check out indianapolis colts yeah dwight freeny with a strip robert masters picks it up and goes amani tumer with a great burst there the giants man do they look good and how about carolina with that four point win against the packers who are struggling lately how about the giants at 11 and 1. if they're not the best team in the game right now somebody please send me your suggestions as to who is and we'll quickly dismiss that two and a half minutes to play and the clock is moving and of course the whole plexico birth situation tom coughlin and the giants are going to have to deal with that this week but it sure didn't seem to cause him a distractional problem today you know tom i know tom he must be fit to be tied his he's normally red-faced this time of year anyway i i can't imagine his blood pressure when he got that news two minutes to play at gillette stadium teddy brewski and the patriots on the short end of the scoreboard yardage we were talking with mike tomlin yesterday about that remaining steelers schedule and he was stoic he said i don't look at schedules it is what it is we'll deal with it but that's a load castle over the middle and that is complete and then knocked to the turf with jabar gaffney you know this is the original one week at a time league and this this was job one coming to new england now they take on the cowboys at home then they have to go to baltimore and tennessee before rounding it out at home against cleveland that's a challenge for anybody minute 35 and counting castle throws and that's incomplete ben watson missed it 30 unanswered points yeah and that was opening day of the 03 season when they got beat by the bills 31 to nothing meanwhile what did mike tomlin say yesterday we can't be one dimensional if we expect to play football in january today pittsburgh 161 yards rushing 172. through the air well and the 162 on the ground the steelers offense is predicated on running the ball if they can't do it they are going to struggle that pass is incomplete while we have oh now see there's a penalty mark around the far side of the field holding defense number 26 five yard penalty and an automatic first down penalty is on to shay townsend while we have a moment the executive producer of the nfl on cbs is sean mcmanus the vice president of production of cbs sports harold bryant today's game produced by mark wolf directed by bob fishman the senior producer of cbs sports in the nfl today is eric mann our director is bob martinez the coordinating producer of the nfl on cbs is lance barrow the coordinating producer of cbs sports is steve karasik the associate directors of today's game ryan galvin and alana campbell our broadcast associates brian jacota and chris burns our technical manager jim baker the technical director is dennis stone and our audio supervisor is kevin little our statistician joe castellano and chuck hinkle and our spotter is the ever popular mike gluck and thank you to all of you whose jobs today took you out into this weather our cameraman and everybody pulling cable and everything else job well done we know this has been a long afternoon even longer for matt castle who goes down courtesy of lamar woodley [Applause] that's you think that's a fun way to spend an afternoon great job everybody everybody down in the truck those of you in the truck got to stay dry and warm no shelter from the storm out there well you're not cold if you're winning i would venture to say that right now almost everybody in yellow and black is pretty pretty comfortable third and 12. and this has been jarvis green ellis with some running room 25 and tripped up as he approached the 20-yard line and that'll be a first down final 10 seconds of the game matt castle wants to get another one off and he's not going to be able to do it 33-10 pittsburgh a winner over new england for dan dierdorf greg gumbel to james brown in new york

Channel: Bart Simpson

Views: 87,195

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Id: Kmq1RwCz35M

Length: 130min 5sec (7805 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 19 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/C21H27Cl3N2O3]

That’s my HC.

[u/VR-TITAN]

This is really weird. In so many ways this feels like our 2008 season with cj2k - And now you show me footage of our future HC from that same year... in PADS. really crazy how times have changed since then- I remember that year like it was a few weeks ago. Damn I'm getting old. But glad I get to see our boys playing so well again. LET'S get a TROPHY !

[u/chazspearmint]

That is the most crystal clear footage from like pre-2012 that I have ever seen.

[u/im-just-chillin-man]

Play starts at 4:33 if the link doesn't work

[u/thatsrandom22]

This shows how nice Mike’s hands were.

[u/kgalliso]

Lets suit him up for a repeat performance

[u/NoBrakes2k16]

They also scored off the pick when they put Vrabel in as a blocker!

[u/DickieJoJo]

Vrabel is a total shit-hawk too. He might not end up as dominant as Belichick in the end, but he is coming off as an heir apparent, especially considering the tools that actually coach under him and move on... or then don't, lol.

Last year when you guys ran the clock down by working the rules and ol' Bill got so pissed... LOVED it! Especially with the NZ infraction!

[u/dagibcollecta]

When they asked Vrabel about this interception in his press yesterday, he said “I did pick him off, I didn’t have many so he’s in elite company” lmao