Many of the former Steelers players who will be at Heinz Field today for alumni weekend will not be surprised if the unthinkable, if not incomprehensible, were to occur.
They might not even bat an eye should they watch the Steelers (4-2) find a way to beat the heavily favored New England Patriots (5-1) without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and defensive end Cam Heyward, something nearly everyone up and down the three rivers finds downright unimaginable.
After all, most have been through similar circumstances and been a part of what can happen when nobody gave them a chance to win a game, either.
“When I think about my time in Pittsburgh, it was like everybody was on board in the organization trying to defy those odds of what we couldn’t do,” said former quarterback Kordell Stewart.
“And we always had that over-achiever’s mentality. That was the approach every single day. There was never a doubt about what we were doing. It was just a matter of going out to complete the task.”
Stewart was involved in one of those games once, going into Baltimore without running back Jerome Bettis in 2001 and playing the game of his life against the defending Super Bowl champions. So were Joe Greene and Mark Malone and Charlie Batch and a host of others. This one, though, could be a little different because not only are the Steelers without Roethlisberger, they are facing Tom Brady, the best quarterback of his generation, who is 8-2 lifetime against them and has been red-hot since returning from a four-game suspension.
That means the Steelers will have to rally around backup quarterback Landry Jones, who was in a similar position 12 months ago and did the unthinkable.
“Mike Tomlin always uses the next-man-up approach, and that’s different if there’s a linebacker or a safety or an offensive lineman out,” Batch said. “People can kind of cover up for them. But when the change is at quarterback, it raises everyone’s antenna.”
Here is a look at six games since the 1970s merger when the Steelers raised their antenna enough to overcome staggering odds and win when it wasn’t really expected:
Steelers 9, Oilers 3 • Dec. 10, 1972
Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene put on one of the greatest performances in franchise history when he single-handedly beat the Oilers in a game in which the Steelers were ravaged by injuries and illness.
Defensive end L.C. Greenwood and guard Sam Davis did not play, and tackles Jon Kolb and Gerry Mullins had the flu. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, wide receiver Ron Shanklin, guard Bruce Van Dyke, guard Jim Clack and backup defensive end Craig Hanneman were injured in the game and did not return.
What’s more, defensive end Dwight White and defensive tackle Steve Furness were injured during the game, but had to keep playing because the Steelers were running out of bodies. It was so bad tight end Larry Brown had to play flanker.
The Steelers had no business winning the game, but Greene made sure they did. He had a club-record five sacks, blocked a field goal and forced and recovered a fumble
“Joe Greene, at any time, could rise to a level that was incomprehensible to all of us,” said former linebacker Andy Russell.
Steelers 24, Broncos 17 • Dec. 30, 1984: AFC playoffs
While most of the country not only wanted but expected a matchup between John Elway and Dan Marino in the AFC Championship game, the Steelers went into Mile High Stadium and ruined the marquee showdown by upsetting the heavily favored Broncos.
The Steelers, 10-point underdogs, sacked Elway four times, intercepted him twice and rallied from a 17-10 deficit behind quarterback Mark Malone and running back Frank Pollard.
“I never saw a stadium go from being so loud to mausoleum-quiet,” former tackle Tunch Ilkin said.
Steelers 29, Oilers 24 • Sept. 6, 1992
In his first game as Chuck Noll’s replacement, Bill Cowher went into the Houston Astrodome armed with trick-plays and a gambler’s mindset and saw the Steelers upset the Oilers, who were 11-point favorites.
The Steelers intercepted quarterback Warren Moon five times and overcame a 14-0 deficit with the help of several unexpected calls from Cowher, who called a run for a first down on fourth-and-4 and a pass from punt formation to keep another drive alive.
“I’m not sure that anyone in America gave us a chance,” Cowher said. “Except us.”
Steelers 26, Ravens 21 • Dec. 16, 2001
Playing without running back Jerome Bettis, nobody gave the visiting Steelers much of a chance against the defending Super Bowl champions and their vaunted defense.
But Stewart played one of the best games of his career, throwing for a career-high 333 yards — including a 90-yard touchdown to Bobby Shaw — and running for 55 more. Wide receiver Plaxico Burress — derisively called “Plexiglass” earlier in the week by Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe — had eight catches for 164 yards as the Steelers outgained the Ravens, 476 yards to 207.
“The narrative was, we couldn’t win because we didn’t have Jerome, because of how big, fast and strong that defense was, especially coming off that Super Bowl,” Stewart said. “When someone gave us bulletin-board material, it didn’t take much. There were so many players that were so excited about those challenges that come from the opposing teams.”
Steelers 23, Ravens 20 • Dec. 2, 2012
The visiting Steelers (6-5) were not given much of a chance against the division-leading Ravens (8-3) when it was determined 48 hours before kickoff Roethlisberger, who had practiced during the week, would be unable to play because of a shoulder injury.
A week earlier, with Batch at quarterback, the Steelers lost to the 2-8 Cleveland Browns in a game in which they committed eight turnovers. Batch got almost no practice reps with the first-team offense in the week leading up to the Ravens game and was playing behind a makeshift offensive line that had All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey moving to left guard and a rookie, Kelvin Beachum, making his first start at right tackle.
What’s more, the team’s two young receivers — Antonio Brown (ankle) and Emmanuel Sanders (shoulder) — were banged-up with injuries.
“I don’t know if you can have as many shakeups as we had for that Baltimore game,” Batch said. “I knew, regardless what happened, I knew the Monday headline was going to be either the Steelers win because the Steelers play great defense, or if they lose it was because Ben Roethlisberger didn’t play. I took on even that more of an edge. I always took pride in myself that that wasn’t going to be the headline on Monday.”
Batch was the headline. And the picture — he and Roethlisberger hugging in what was Batch’s last appearance with the Steelers. He passed for 276 yards and brought the Steelers back from a 13-3 halftime deficit, scoring 10 points in the final eight minutes.
“I had that sense of urgency for me,” Batch said. “It’s one thing when I was in Detroit if you lose. But when you’re home, that goes back to grandma. So I couldn’t have that narrative. I couldn’t have anyone around the city talking how bad her grandson played.”
Steelers 25, Cardinals 13 • Oct. 18, 2015
The Steelers were already without Roethlisberger when his backup, Mike Vick, was injured in third quarter, trailing, 10-6.
Third-team quarterback Landry Jones came off the bench and threw an 8-yard touchdown on his first NFL pass attempt to Martavis Bryant. He then led the Steelers on three consecutive scoring drives that included an 88-yard touchdown pass to Bryant to stun the 4-1 Cardinals.
Jones finished 8 of 12 for 168 yards with no interceptions. Now he gets another chance today, against an even better opponent at home, to perhaps do the same.
“The competitor in you is always going to try to rise to the occasion,” said wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey. “You never really feel like you’re out of it. The outside world looks at the numbers and looks at this record and that record, but as competitor, you put me against Shaq one-on-one, I got to play defense. I’m not going to just lay there. So for us, we’re going to go out there and do our job and that’s to play football and beat the man in front of us.”
First Published: October 23, 2016, 4:00 a.m.