Steelers Throwback Thursday: Lawrence Timmons INT sets up Steelers OT win
Steel City Underground presents “Steelers Throwback Thursday” featuring plays from recent seasons which you may have forgotten about! Now we’re “bringing them back!”
It was the calm before the storm for the 2012 Pittsburgh Steelers. Marred by the early exit to a great 2011 campaign, injuries early on in the 2012 season stunned the Steelers and placed them with their backs against the wall.
5-3 on the year, Pittsburgh entered a Monday Night Football home game versus the 1-7 Kansas City Chiefs, against the backdrop of Veteran’s Day. Rain would stream throughout most of matchup, making for sloppy conditions as well as a sloppy game.
The Chiefs would tally a 10-0 lead before the Steelers would knot the game at ten-all before halftime. A scoreless third quarter lead to more struggles as each team would kick field goals in the fourth quarter. Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham gave Pittsburgh a three-point edge early in the fourth quarter, but the Chiefs would finally answer as regulation ended with a last-second 46-yard field goal conversion by Ryan Succop, sending the game into overtime.
Kansas City would win the coin toss, electing to receive the ball first in OT: this gave Steelers fans a queasy feeling as the last time a team took the ball first was the first-ever postseason game played under the new sudden death rules. If one team scored a touchdown first, it was game over.
With Tim Tebow still in the back of the minds of many players remaining from that previous January game just earlier within the same calendar year, Pittsburgh’s defense took the field to try and put the brakes on Matt Cassel and the Chiefs offense.
Two plays later, they would.
Steelers LB Lawrence Timmons gets some air on an errant Cassel pass and rumbles 23 yards down the field until he’s pushed out of bounce at the Chiefs five-yard line. The play sets up a 23-yard chip shot for Suisham, giving the Steelers their own sudden death victory 16-13.
It would be Pittsburgh’s fourth win in a row, lifting them to 6-3. However, they would drop five of their next seven to finish the season 8-8 and out of the playoffs.
