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| The House that a Nation built! |
As anyone who attends Pittsburgh Steelers home games can tell you, Heinz Field has come a long way in the 10 years we have been calling it our Sunday home. The legendary Three Rivers Stadium literally cast a huge shadow over Heinz Field during the construction process, and that shadow remained well after the historic home of the 1970's Steelers Dynasty was imploded on February 11, 2001. Many members of "Steeler Nation" debated whether the new digs would ever fully replace the concrete bowl of memories. From the Immaculate Reception to the infamous "Hail Mary" game that propelled the Steelers to Super Bowl XXX, the old stadium had seen it all. How could any stadium EVER replace it?
As we sit here in 2011, we have had 10 years to create new memories for a new generation of "The Nation". Heinz Field has seen four AFC Championship Games, over a hundred Steelers victories, and numerous major accomplishments by our players. It has been ranked as one of the best overall stadiums in the NFL on more than one occasion, most recently by ESPN.com in a poll that ranked Heinz right behind historic Lambeau Field. When you combine all of the factors that make an NFL stadium great - atmosphere, team quality, fan quality, amenities, accessibility - Heinz Field is top of the line in all categories. In essence, Heinz Field has become the breathing, pumping heart of the bloodline of the Steeler Nation.
We all remember the big wins. The 2008 AFC Championship Game vs. Baltimore was the first time our team raised the AFC Title at home since 1995. The 2010 AFC Championship Game vs. New York was a great day for the stadium too, and for many fans who may have not been able to attend in 2008. Those are the moments frozen in time, shown in all their glory on NFL Network year round. An argument could be made that the 2008 AFC Title Game was the greatest overall moment in Heinz Field history, and it would be hard to debate that. The fact that the victory was over the hated Baltimore Ravens added another level of greatness to that night, and sitting among 60,000+ fans signing at the top of their lungs "Here we Go!" was a heavenly moment in time.
But what about the moments that didn't end up on perpetual replay in our minds? The events that didn't result in trophies being held up or fireworks displays? Heinz Field has been the venue for some of the greatest non-championship moments in Pittsburgh Steelers history.
This is a list of the 5 "Heart-Steeling" Moments in Heinz Field History
5. Myron Cope is Honored by Steeler Nation - On Halloween 2005, the legendary Pittsburgh sports icon and creator of the Terrible Towel was given a proper send-off into retirement by the Nation he helped build. The night started with Myron joining Steelers captains at mid-field for the coin toss. After briskly walking back to the sideline, Cope reached deep into his trenchcoat pocket and pulled out his own personal Terrible Towel. What happened next will forever be remembered as the most emotional Terrible Towel wave in Heinz Field history, as Myron used every last inch of his small frame to spin that towel to the crowd. The stadium shook as everyone in attendance joined the wave, and chanted "Myron, Myron" in unison.
This would be the final opportunity the Heinz Field crowd would have to honor Myron Cope in person.
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| Doug Brien watches his career come up short. |
4. Doug Brien 1/15/05 - 2004 was a strange season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coming off of a terrible 6-10 campaign the previous year, not many experts pegged the Steelers to be a contender and even fewer predicted a deep playoff run. The team was set to allow the rejuvenated Tommy Maddox lead their offense, while highly touted rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger learned the ways of the NFL via the clipboard. In Week 2, those plans changed quickly when "Tommy Gun" was torpedoed by the Baltimore Ravens defense. In stepped the green Roethlisberger, who proceeded to go 13-0 the rest of the way in leading the team to their first and only 15-1 regular season and the #1 seed in the AFC Playoffs.
The Steelers watched the opening round of the playoffs from home, as the New York Jets shocked the football world by beating the heavily favored San Diego Chargers in an overtime thriller to set up a very tasty-looking match-up for the Steelers. The stage was set for a resounding Pittsburgh victory in the Divisional Round, and a potential rematch with the hated New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Unfortunately for the Steelers, they forgot to show up to Heinz Field on January 15.
The Jets quickly went down 10-0 in the 2nd Quarter, as the Steelers defense looked to be too much for QB Chad Pennington. New York fought back, and after a 75-yard punt return TD by Santana Moss quieted the crowd, the teams went into halftime tied 10-10. The Jets took the lead 17-10 in the 2nd half, as the Steelers continued to bury themselves with turnovers and sloppy play in the red-zone. When the dust settled with 2:00 in regulation, the teams were tied 17-17.
Enter Doug Brien.
The Jets kicker was the hero just a week earlier, kicking an overtime FG to clinch the upset victory. Now he stood 47 yards from giving the Jets a 3 point lead with 2 minutes left in an AFC Divisional Playoff game. Nobody in Black and Gold expected to be watching these events unfold when they headed to the North Shore that night. The Steelers had dominated the competition for the past 3 months, and it was just a matter of weeks before they raised the elusive "One for the Thumb". The team had floundered all night as if the regular season were only a dream. As the wind blew into Heinz Field on this cold Pittsburgh winter night, the Steelers looked ready to pack it in. This was the game. The season. A nightmare of EPIC proportions.
Doug Brien was called on by Head Coach Herman Edwards with 2:02 left in regulation to kick the game sealing FG. The Heinz Field crowd, huddled together and clinging to hope, went silent.
Good snap.
Good hold.
Brien kicked the ball with all of his force, sending it towards the goal post in the closed end of Heinz Field. The kick was strong and the ball carried well. As it reached the goal line it began to falter, as if a giant hand had come down from the heavens and pulled it back. The ball clanged off of the crossbar, falling harmlessly to the frozen turf.
In unison, the Heinz Field crowd went bonkers. The players and coaches jumped around like they had just won the Super Bowl. In the span of 10 seconds, the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers had new life.
The offense took over on the 30-yard line, needing just an average drive to get into PK Jeff Reeds FG range. As quickly as the crowd had been brought back to life, the reality of a playoff game with a rookie QB again reared its ugly head. The next play from scrimmage, Jets CB David Barrett jumped a quick pass from Roethlisberger and once again Doug Brien was the name on the mind of an entire Nation. A professional placekicker like Doug Brien would not miss another potential playoff game-winning kick, right?
Once again the Steelers faithful held hands, prayed, and prepared for a long offseason. The Jets took the clock down to :04 and called a timeout. The ball sat on the 24-yard line, and while not a chip shot, a 43 yard FG was well within range for Brien.
Good snap....good hold.....
WIDE LEFT! The kick never had a chance.
As 64,915 fans tried to lower their pulse rate, the Steelers celebrated once again. In overtime, "Big Ben" would begin to mold his Hall of Fame career in leading the team on a 72-yard game winning drive capped by a "Skippy" FG for the win.
It would forever be a "Heart-Steeling" night.
3. FU for the Win - The Steelers have had many amazing comeback victories at Heinz Field, but few will ever match the emotional 2002-03 AFC Wild Card Game against the (then) arch-rival Cleveland Browns. Besides being the only meaningful game between the two storied franchises in the history of the stadium, this game will always be remembered as the one that almost ended up as the worst loss in team history.
The Steelers entered the playoffs as the #3 seed in the AFC, winners of the first AFC North Division title. The Browns had won 5 of their last 7 regular season games to secure the 6th seed in the AFC Playoffs. Cleveland entered the game with back-up QB Kelly Holcomb replacing highly-touted QB Tim Couch and playing in only his 4th game of the season. The Browns were huge underdogs when they arrived at Heinz Field, a lamb to slaughter against the favored Steelers.
Of course, that meant Cleveland would dominate the game. The Browns - led by Holcomb doing his best Bernie Kosar impression - spent the entire game playing cat and mouse with the Steelers defense. With 10:17 left in the 4th Quarter, Holcomb hit a 22-yard TD pass to WR Andre Davis that gave the Browns a 33-21 lead. The Steelers seemed to be victims of an Orange drive-by victory.
QB Tommy Maddox fought back. The Steelers newly minted "Tommy Gun" methodically drove the team down the field, and with 3:06 of the clock, he spiraled a TD pass to WR Hines Ward to cut the Browns lead to 33-28.
The Browns had a chance to seal the game on the next possession, but a perfect 1st Down pass from Holcomb went right through the open, uncovered arms of QR Dennis Northcutt. Cleveland punted with 2:38 left, giving the Steelers a last chance at victory. The Offense went to work quickly, with Maddox zipping passes around the field to his Pro Bowl WR tandem. Pittsburgh sat 3 yards out of the Browns endzone with :58 left on the clock, down 33-28. The Steelers looked to an unlikely hero to gain the last 3 yards of the game.
FU!
RB Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala took the handoff out of a 4-receiver set, a clever call by Offensive Coordinator Mike Mularkey. He bounced out to the left and ran through a hole the size of Ohio to give the Steelers a 1-point lead. Steeler Nation had embraced "Fu" since he arrived in Pittsburgh, and this moment would brand him a Steeler hero forever.
The team would ultimately lose in Tennessee the next week, but the "Fu" TD would long be considered by Heinz Field faithful to be the greatest play in stadium history until 2008.
2. Deshea runs the Cowboys back to Dallas - The 2008 Season saw the Steelers renew a bitter rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys. This time around, the game would take place at Heinz Field, and the Playoff implications for both teams were huge. Dallas was on the verge of winning the NFC East, and a win in Pittsburgh would lock up the division crown. The Steelers were battling the Ravens for the AFC North Title and vying for position to lock up a 1st Round Bye in the AFC Playoffs.
The game on December 7, 2008 had a distinct Playoff feel to it from the start. The crowd was littered with pockets of Cowboys faithful, but the Steelers fans were the ones who took control of the game when it mattered. The Cowboys Defense harassed "Big Ben" all day, sacking him 5 times and pressuring him with a constant pass rush. Ben was never able to get settled, and the running game was ineffective from the start. The Offense was going to need the Defense to bail them out once again. With 12:24 left in the game, the Cowboys stuffed the Steelers on the 3-yard line with an amazing goal line stand and it seemed the 13-3 deficit might be too steep for the Steelers to climb out of on this cold Pittsburgh day.
Santonio Holmes set up a Jeff Reed FG with a nice 40-yard punt return, and the lead was cut to 13-6. After holding Dallas to a 3-and-out, the Steelers had the ball with a chance to tie the game. With 2:06 on the clock, Ben heaved an over-the-shoulder pass right into the waiting arms of TE Heath Miller, who then carried a Cowboys defender into the end zone to tie the game 13-13. The Steelers were back in business.
The Defense took the field with one mission. Get the ball back to their Franchise QB with enough time to mount a final drive. The Cowboys were looking to get into field goal range, trying to end the game and get out of Pittsburgh with a season defining victory. The Heinz Field crowd, all 60,000 standing and yelling at the top of their lungs, began to inflict their brand of noise on Cowboys QB Tony Romo. The crowd was so loud, in fact, that TE Jason Witten did not clearly hear his assignment.
Romo took the first snap and began to search for his Pro Bowl TE. The throw was perfect, if Witten had been where he was supposed to be. Instead, the ball found its way into the waiting arms of CB Deshea Townsend at the 25-yard line. With 1:40 left in the game, Townsend made the biggest play of his long Steelers tenure as he ran the ball back to the end zone, diving in for a Steelers TD and sealing the win. Heinz Field erupted like an Icelandic Volcano, and the Cowboys were on their way back to Dallas with a Texas-sized loss.
The Steelers would go on to win Super Bowl XLIII, and the Townsend INT Return TD will forever be known as the catalyst for the final run that season. The Steelers moved to 10-3 that day, and the next week they would go into Baltimore and come away with the AFC North crown. The momentum from the Cowboys game would carry the rest of the way for the Steelers.
1. Troy seals the Deal - The 2008-09 AFC Championship Game would be the first to result in a Steelers victory in Heinz Field. After two horrific losses in 2001 and 2004, the stadium was ready for its "I Have Arrived" moment, and on January 18 2009, the Steelers and Troy Polamalu gave it just that.
The Steelers locked horns with their arch-rival Baltimore Ravens in what many referred to as World War III for the AFC Championship. The game went according to plan, players being taken off on stretchers, big hits, and great defense ruled the night.
The Steelers opened up a 13-0 lead in the 2nd Quarter, but the Ravens fought back. After a clock management issue forced the Steelers to go to halftime without trying a long FG, the teams went into the locker rooms with a 13-7 score. The 2nd Half would see some of the most bone-crunching NFL action of the past 30 years.
The Steelers drove 51 yards for a Jeff Reed FG to take a 16-7 lead at the end of the 3rd Quarter. With the way the Defense had been playing all game, the lead seemed safe. We all found out quickly that no lead is safe in the NFL as Baltimore began to get its legs back in the 4th Quarter. A perfect 58-yard drive by QB Joe Flacco, capped off by another Willis McGahee TD run cut the lead to 16-14 with less than 7 minutes left in the game.
With a Super Bowl berth at stake, the Steelers offense proceeded to go 3 and out on the next possession, leading to a Mitch Berger punt that put the Ravens on their own 14 yard line.
A brief stop in the action gave the Heinz Field audio techs a chance to play "Renegade" for the 65,000+ fans in attendance. The video charged up the vibe of the entire stadium, and when the Steelers defense hit the field with just over 6 minutes left in the game, they were ready to wrap up a trip to Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII.
Just four plays into the Baltimore drive, All-Pro Safety Troy Polamalu jumped in front of a pass from Ravens QB Joe Flacco, making a stretching interception. Polamalu didn't stop there. With the crowd on fire, he ran through, around and finally past all Ravens players to return the INT for a game-sealing TD. It was one of the most intense moments in Steelers history, let alone Heinz Field history. The Steelers Defense owned Baltimore after that. Ryan Clark put a huge hit on McGahee, causing a fumble that was recovered by Lawrence Timmons. After another Steelers punt, back-up Safety Tyrone Carter picked off a pass and the rest was academic.
The Steelers were on their way to Tampa and their 6th Super Bowl crown. The Polamalu Interception return was the most emotional play in years. The crowd exploded after he hit the end zone, and the explosion didn't stop until time expired
As the Steelers celebrated their AFC Title, Heinz Field was filled with the sounds of "Pittsburghs goin' to the Super Bowl" as sung by the happiest 60,000 people you will ever see. It was a watershed moment for Heinz Field and for the faithful that had sat through the playoff losses over the past 8 years.
Summary:
There were many "Heart-Steeling" Moments that didn't make this list, and while compiling the memories, I did come to one conclusion. Heinz Field will never be Three Rivers Stadium. Three Rivers belonged to our fathers, uncles, grandfathers and the legendary tales we grew up hearing. The echoes of Three Rivers Stadium will forever grace the North Side, never to be forgotten.
Heinz Field is OUR stadium. The new generation of Steeler Nation, the Steel World Order, the greatest fanbase in professional sports. It is our alter, the place where we join together to celebrate our passion year after year. Heinz Field has earned its spot in our hearts, and the only thing we know for sure is that we will have plenty more "Heart-Steeling" moments before its all over.
