The Pittsburgh Steelers, beginning the preseason the same way they ended last season, felt fortunate that it wasn\u2019t a game that counted. The New York Jets only wish it did.
\nVinny Testaverde led a long touchdown drive on New York\u2019s opening possession and the Jets, aided by the special teams mistakes and turnovers that doomed Pittsburgh in the AFC title game, beat the Steelers 16-6 Thursday night.
\n\u201cIt was really encouraging to open the preseason with a touchdown,\u201d said Testaverde, who was 6-of-8 for 61 yards despite a thumb injury that bothered him early in camp. \u201cI felt right in stride.\u201d
\nThe Steelers, consensus picks to win the AFC championship they lost at home to New England seven months ago, probably felt stuck in time.
\nExcept for a couple of big plays by second-round draft pick Antwaan Randle El, who created first downs the first four times he touched the ball, it was an effort remarkably similar to the AFC championship game loss.
\nJerome Bettis once again had no running room, gaining only 8 yards on seven carries, numbers similar to his 8 yards on nine carries against New England.
\nAgain, there were turnovers \u2014 Kordell Stewart was intercepted on the first of two series run by the Steelers starters, leading to one of John Hall\u2019s field goals \u2014 and some mistakes by Troy Edwards on special teams, plus a blocked punt, and four turnovers.
\nThese were the same kind of errors that led the Steelers to fire former special teams coach Jay Hayes and bring in Kevin Spencer, only to get a repeat performance.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s eerie to get all that again. … It\u2019s amazing. I\u2019m stuttering, I almost don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d punter Josh Miller said. \u201cBut we\u2019ll get it fixed \u2014 Coach (Bill Cowher) is spending a lot of time with special teams, and it will get fixed.\u201d
\nCowher said, \u201cIt was disappointing, but not discouraging. … I wasn\u2019t happy about that (the special teams plays).\u201d
\nEdwards, whose error in stepping out of bounds while covering a Steelers punt led to Troy Brown\u2019s game-altering punt return touchdown for New England, was flagged this time for a 15-yard face mask penalty and for being the 12th man on the field on a Jets punt. That mistake kept the Jets\u2019 opening series alive.
\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t have any third-and-longs on that drive and that allowed us to get first downs,\u201d Testaverde said. \u201cWe approached it like a regular season game and scripted the plays.\u201d
\nNew York\u2019s 70-yard drive lasted so long \u2014 more than 8 1\/2 minutes \u2014 before LaMont Jordan scored from the 1 that Pittsburgh\u2019s starters, expected to be pulled before the end of the first quarter, played well into the second.
\nAfter the starters left, Hall kicked field goals of 33 and 40 yards and Danny Boyd kicked a 42-yarder, while the Steelers managed only field goals of 21 and 31 yards by new kicker Todd Peterson.
\n\u201cDefensively, I thought we played well,\u201d Jets coach Herman Edwards said. \u201cWe created two turnovers (in the first half) and had a nice goal-line stand. We won a game on the road and that\u2019s a pretty good start, beating them here.\u201d
\nThe Steelers\u2019 offensive starters had one productive drive, advancing to the Jets\u2019 1 on Stewart\u2019s 40-yard completion to Plaxico Burress. But Bettis, recovering from a groin injury, lost 2 yards on three consecutive carries, forcing the Steelers to settle for the first of Peterson\u2019s field goals.
\n\u201cWhat we understand now is we\u2019re nowhere near where we need to be,\u201d Bettis said. \u201cWe made a lot of mental mistakes.\u201d
\nJets first-round draft pick Bryan Thomas also blocked a punt by Miller midway through the second quarter, but the Jets couldn\u2019t capitalize as linebacker James Farrior threw Jordan for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1. Farrior was the Jets\u2019 leading tackler last season before signing with Pittsburgh.
\nThe Steelers had another good scoring chance late in the first half, but rookie receiver Lee Mays fumbled after hooking up with backup Tommy Maddox on a 21-yard completion and Jets cornerback Jamie Henderson recovered at New York\u2019s 13.
\nThe only second-half scoring as reserves and rookies fought for roster spots for both teams came on three field goals, two by New York, which lost 18-7 in Pittsburgh late last season. Both teams played four quarterbacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Pittsburgh Steelers, beginning the preseason the same way they ended last season, felt fortunate that it wasn\u2019t a game that counted. The New York Jets only wish it did. Vinny Testaverde led a long touchdown drive on New York\u2019s opening possession and the Jets, aided by the special teams mistakes and turnovers that doomed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}