After throwing three 1st quarter interceptions, Kordell Stewart to account for five touchdowns in leading the Steelers back from a three-touchdown deficit.
When Kordell Stewart entered the National Football League in 1995, the former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback was selected as a possible quarterback of the future for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But Steelers head coach Bill Cowher and the rest of the coaching staff were so impressed with Stewart’s athleticism, that they decided to use him in a number of different ways to spark their offense, sometimes lining him up as a running back or wide receiver or even quarterback.
This earned Stewart the nickname “Slash” as his contributions helped the Steelers make their first trip to the Super Bowl in 16 years. Even though starting quarterback Neil O'Donnell left Pittsburgh following the Super Bowl, Stewart still had to play the “Slash” role for the 1996 season as Mike Tomczak was the starting quarterback for the season.
Finally in 1997, Stewart become the Steelers’ starter as he led the 2-2 Steelers to Baltimore to face off with the 3-2 Ravens in Week 6 of the NFL season.
Football had returned to Baltimore in 1996 as Art Modell elected to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore but had to change the name of the team and keep all the records and history that Browns had accumulated in their 50 years of existence in Cleveland.
Essentially, that mean the Ravens were a brand new team even though most of the players from the 1995 Browns team would be playing in Baltimore.
The Ravens brought back another Baltimore legend in head coach Ted Marchibroda, who had led the Baltimore Colts to three straight AFC East titles back in the 1970s, and had used their two first round picks in the 1996 NFL Draft to pick players that would be part of the nucleus for the Ravens’ future in offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden and linebacker Ray Lewis.
Baltimore went 4-12 in 1996 and were hoping to improve upon that record in 1997 with quarterback Vinny Testaverde at the helm as they looked to match their win total of the previous year if they could beat the Steelers.
The Ravens got the ball to start the game and drove 25 yards from their own 21-yard-line to the 46-yard-line when Testaverde was intercepted by Steelers safety defensive back Carnell Lake, who returned the pick 11 yards to the Baltimore 43-yard-line.
However, on 3rd-and-9 from the 42-yard-line, Stewart gave the ball back to the Ravens as he was picked off by Baltimore cornerback Eugene Daniel, allowing for the Ravens to take over at their own 33-yard-line.
Testaverde rebounded from his early interception by completing back-to-back passes to Derrick Alexander for 31 yards to start the drive, then hit Jermaine Lewis for a 13-yard gain on a 3rd-and-9, then concluded the drive with a 22-yard touchdown pass to tight end Eric Green which put the Ravens ahead 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
Things did not get better for Stewart and the Steelers on their ensuing possession as Stewart threw his second interception of the game with strong safety Stevon Moore being the culprit this time and returning the pick 38 yards to the Pittsburgh’ five-yard-line.
It took the Ravens three plays to get back into the end zone as Bam Morris, punched it in from one yard out to increase the Baltimore lead to 14-0 with 4:55 left in the first quarter.
After having his quarterback throw two interceptions that led to touchdowns, Cowher decided to go to the ground game on the Steelers’ next drive as Jerome Bettis carried the ball five times for 31 yards to lead the Pittsburgh offense to the Ravens’ 19-yard-line as the second quarter began.
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| Ravens quarterback Vinny Testaverde was 28-of-47 for 290 yards and three touchdowns, but also accounted for all four Baltimore turnovers. |
But on the second play of the quarter on a 3rd-and-11 Stewart was picked off for the third time in successive possessions as Daniel made his second interception of the game and returned it 43 yards to the Pittsburgh 42 yard-line.
Five plays later, the Ravens were ahead 21-0 as Testaverde connected with Brian Kinchen for a 24-yard touchdown.
At this point, many Steeler fans were clamoring for Cowher to bench Stewart and put Tomczak in the game.
But, Cowher stuck with Stewart, even though the next two Pittsburgh drives ended in punts.
Then with 6 ½ minutes left before halftime, the Steelers defense rose up and forced their first turnover of the game as defensive back Chris Oldham sacked Testaverde, causing a fumble that was recovered by nose tackle Joel Steed at the Ravens’ 29-yard-line.
Bettis got the call on the first three plays of the drive as he gained 12 yards until the Steelers went back to the air as Stewart connected with Courtney Hawkins for a 15-yard-gain to set up a 1st-and-goal at the two-yard-line.
After Bettis gained a yard on 1st down, Stewart snuck into the end zone to put the Steelers on the scoreboard and cut the deficit to 14 points, 21-7 with 3:17 left in the first half.
The Ravens held the ball for the remainder of the first half as they put together a 12-play, 51-yard drive that culminated with a 34-yard field goal by Matt Stover to push the Baltimore lead to 24-7 as the first half came to a close.
With 30 minutes left in the game, the Steelers knew that they probably had to score every time they had the football to come back from the 17-point deficit.
So, for the opening second half kickoff Cowher sent wide receiver Yancey Thigpen out on the field even though he normally was not a part of the return unit.
To the Ravens’ kicking unit, this signaled a possible reverse was going to be used by the Steelers.
Stover kicked the ball which was received by Will Blackwell at his own three-yard-line, with Thigpen backing up toward Blackwell for a possible reverse.
But Thigpen never got the ball and drew enough Raven players off Blackwell, allowing for him to run untouched for a 97-yard touchdown, making it a 24-14 game just 17 seconds into the second half.
The score was still 24-14 midway through the third quarter when the Steelers began a drive from their own 10-yard-line.
On a 3rd-and-8 from the 23-yard-line, Stewart hit Charles Johnson for a 10-yard completion, which was followed by a 37-yard pass to Thigpen that put the Steelers in Ravens territory at the Baltimore 30-yard-line.
Five plays later, the Steelers were faced with a 4th-and-1 at the Ravens’ 10-yard-line when Cowher decided to gamble and go for the 1st down, instead of kicking a chip shot field goal that would bring Pittsburgh to within seven points.
The gamble paid off as Stewart gained two yards for the 1st down, then on the very next play hit Johnson for a 8-yard touchdown that brought the Steelers to within three points, 24-21 with 1:52 left in the third quarter.
Jerome Bettis carried the ball 28 times and ran for 137 yards in the Steelers' comeback win.
Both teams would go three-and-out on their next series, giving the ball back to the Ravens at their 12-yard-line early in the 4th quarter.
Three plays netted 15 yards before Testaverde was sacked by linebacker Mike Vrabel, causing the Baltimore quarterback to lose the football for the second time in the game as defensive end Kevin Henry recovered the loose ball at the Ravens’ 23-yard-line.
Two straight runs by Bettis for 19 yards put Pittsburgh at the four-yard-line where Stewart found tight Mark Bruener in the right corner of the end zone for the touchdown, to give the Steelers their first lead of the game, 28-24 with 9:31 left in the 4th quarter.
After forcing the Ravens to go three-and-out, the Steelers got the ball back at their own 11-yard-line with 7 ½ minutes to go.
After two Bettis runs gained only two yards, the Steelers went back to the air on 3rd-and-8 from the 13-yard-line when Stewart launched a deep pass down the right sideline that was caught by Thigpen for a 63-yard gain and a 1st down at the Baltimore 24-yard-line.
Two more runs by Bettis gained 13 yards and gave the Steelers a 1st down at the 11-yard-line when it looked like the Stewart from the first half of the game had returned as he was sacked for a 21-yard loss by defensive tackle James Jones, setting up a 2nd-and-31 at the 32-yard-line.
However, Stewart would come back with a 15-yard pass to Thigpen on 2nd down, which was followed by a 17-yard touchdown to Johnson on 3rd-and-16 that pushed the Steelers lead to 35-24 with 3:04 remaining in regulation.
Now it was the Ravens who needed to come up with a few scores as quickly as possible after leading by as much as 21 points.
They got much needed help on the ensuing kickoff as Jermaine Lewis’ 38-yard return put Baltimore at their own 49-yard-line.
On the first play after the return, Testaverde hit Alexander for 12 yards, which was followed by two straight incomplete passes, and then drew a 29-yard pass interference penalty on 3rd down that put the Ravens at the Steelers’ 10-yard-line where on the very next play, Testaverde hit running back Alexander for a 10-yard touchdown
The Ravens went for the two-point conversion and got it as Testaverde connected with running back Earnest Byner, cutting the Steelers’ lead to three points, 35-32, with 2:27 left in regulation.
With all three timeouts and the two-minute warning still to come, the Ravens opted not to go for the onside kick and instead kick deep, as the Steelers took over at their own 20-yard-line.
Bettis ran for six yards on two plays, setting up a 3rd-and-4 at the two-minute warning.
That is when Stewart faked a handoff to Bettis, then faked a reverse to Thigpen, and then went around the left end to run untouched for a 74-yard touchdown to push the Steelers’ lead back to double digits, 42-32 with 1:47 left.
The Ravens were going to need a miracle to at least send the game into overtime but once again they got a great kickoff return by Jermaine Lewis as his 46-yard return put Baltimore at their own 47-yard-line.
Testaverde hit two straight passes for 15 yards, giving the Ravens a 1st down at the Steelers’ 37-yard-line when he connected with Green for a 29-yard gain, only to have Green fumble the ball at the end of the run after a hit by Oldham, which was recovered by the Steelers’ Myron Bell the ball at their own eight-yard-line with 59 seconds left.
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| Ray Lewis and Tyrus McCloud(54) walk off the field dejected after allowing 35 2nd half points to the Steelers. |
However, Pittsburgh could not run out the clock and were forced with a punting situation when Cowher ordered punter Josh Miller to take an intentional safety, instead of having a potential punt blocked, giving the Ravens two points to cut the lead to 42-34 with 11 seconds left.
This meant the Ravens had one last chance as the Steelers would kick off to them and Baltimore would possibly have enough time to run one more play.
After James Roe returned the free kick 16 yards to the Baltimore 49-yard-line, the Ravens had eight seconds left and a chance for a Hail Mary pass.
But Testaverde’s Hail Mary was intercepted by Donnell Woolford, ending the game and completing the greatest comeback in Steelers history(though they had come back from 21-point deficits to games on two occassions before this one) as they won 42-34 after trailing by 21 points, thanks in large part to Stewart who completed 11 of 14 passes for 181 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions in the second half.
The Ravens struggled through the rest of the season as they finished with a 6-9-1 record and let Testaverde walk in the offseason as he signed with the New York Jets for the 1998 season leading them to the AFC Championship Game, while the Ravens went 6-10 that season leading to the exit of Marchibroda as head coach as he was replaced by Brian Billick who helped lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl title in the 2000 season thanks to Ray Lewis and the Baltimore defense.
As for Stewart, he would remain the Steelers’ starting quarterback for the rest of the 1997 season and led them to the AFC Championship Game, but turned the ball over four times himself(including two end zone interceptions) as Pittsburgh lost to the Denver Broncos 24-21.
Stewart and the Steelers would struggle for the next three seasons as they missed the playoffs each year before experiencing a renaissance in 2001 as Pittsburgh went 13-3 with Stewart earning his first and only Pro Bowl selection as the Steelers advanced to the AFC Championship Game, only to fall to the New England Patriots 24-17 as Stewart threw three interceptions in the loss.
Then in the third game of the 2002 season, Stewart was benched in favor of Tommy Maddox, who helped lead the Steelers back to the playoffs and ultimately to Stewart’s departure from Pittsburgh as he signed with the Chicago Bears for the 2003 season.
But once again, Stewart performed poorly and lost the starting job, leading to his release after one year and “Slash” signing ironically with the Ravens, where he served as a backup for the next two seasons for the final two years of his 11-year NFL career.
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