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From Orlando Sentinel

NFL Playoffs Wild Card Games

QB David Garrard's draw play shocks Steelers as Jags win 31-29

Alan Schmadtke | Sentinel Staff Writer
January 6, 2008

PITTSBURGH - David Garrard's accuracy and poise left him Saturday night, but he still had his legs.

They allowed Jacksonville to escape Pittsburgh with its first playoff victory in eight years -- and Garrard's first.

His 32-yard scamper on a draw play on fourth-and-2 put the Jaguars deep into Pittsburgh territory, from where Josh Scobee booted a 25-yard field goal to beat the Steelers 31-29 in an AFC Wild Card Game at Heinz Field.

"I held it like it was my baby boy," Garrard said after he cradled the football as safety Tyrone Carter finally dragged him down at the 11-yard line.

"I thought I was going to score, but my slowness caught up to me and everybody else caught up to me."

Scobee's points were the only ones the Jags scored in the fourth quarter of a wild, see-saw game that saw Jags lead by 18 points only to fall behind 29-28 with 6:21 to play.

The Steelers (10-7), winners of the AFC North, had one final gasp. But Bobby McCray sacked Ben Roethlisberger, stripped him of the ball, and Jags lineman Derek Landri fell on it at Pittsburgh's 21.

"We're in shock and disbelief," said Roethlisberger, who threw for 337 yards but whose three first-half interceptions looked to be his defining moments on this chilly night. His errant throws helped Jacksonville take a 21-7 lead into halftime, a margin the Jags padded on the first drive of the second half.

Rashean Mathis made two of the interceptions, returning the first 63 yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead. That followed Maurice Jones-Drew's 96-yard kickoff return that helped erase the Steelers' early 7-0 lead.

Jones-Drew's 10-yard run late in the third quarter pushed Jacksonville's advantage to 28-7, and the Steelers seemed buried.

Then Garrard started to feel the playoff pressure. Jacksonville's offense suddenly went stagnant, and Garrard started reaching for plays that worked. The result: two interceptions.

"I can throw interceptions and rebound from them. It's how you handle them with the chips on the line," said Garrard, who was 9 for 21 passing for 140 yards with one touchdown and four sacks.

The second mistake was the most devastating. Trying desperately to protect a 28-23 lead with the clock ticking below 10 minutes, Garrard badly overthrew Marcedes Lewis, and Ike Taylor stole the pass and returned it 31 yards to Jacksonville's 16.

Jacksonville's defense put Pittsburgh on a fourth-and-goal from the 1, but receiver Hines Ward coaxed a pass interference penalty on cornerback Brian Williams for a new set of downs. Williams got the flag, but replays showed Ward had hold of Williams' jersey and face mask on a pass that was incomplete.

Najeh Davenport cashed in the reprieve from the 1 on the next play.

Suddenly, shockingly, after trailing for 30 minutes, the Steelers were ahead.

However, not as far ahead as they could have been. Coach Mike Tomlin opted for a pair of two-point conversion attempts -- the first of which would have pulled his team to a three-point deficit, 28-25 -- but both failed. Had the Steelers simply kicked the extra points, Scobee's field goal wouldn't have won the game but sent it into overtime.

"Those are winning plays, and that's what it takes in this league," said Jags Coach Jack Del Rio, who hitched this team and his career to Garrard just before the season and flew home Saturday night with his first career playoff win.

"I was very proud of our guys for responding after watching that 18-point lead evaporate."


Alan Schmadtke can be reached at aschmadtke@orlandosentinel.com.

Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

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