AFC Championship Game
Sunday, January 23, 2011
This marks the 8th consecutive year the AFC representative in the Super Bowl will be New England, Indianapolis, or Pittsburgh. The Steelers tie Dallas for the most Super Bowl appearances in NFL history with eight appearances. Pittsburgh has won six of their seven Super Bowls, their only loss being to Dallas in Super Bowl XXX in 1996.
New York, for the second year in a row, advanced to the AFC title game, only to fall short of their goal of the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance since their upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
The Jets got off to a terrible start. Their defense had no answer for Pittsburgh’s first drive, which lasted just over 9 minutes and resulted in a 7-0 Steelers lead. Pittsburgh continued to put a hurting on the Jets defense, and New York’s offense failed to get any momentum. It wasn’t long before New York was in a 24-0 hole.
Hope wasn’t completely lost, however, as Nick Folk nailed a 42-yard field goal late in the half to put the Jets on the board before halftime.
New York came out fired up in the second half. Less than three minutes in, Mark Sanchez hit Santonio Holmes for a 45-yard touchdown. Holmes broke off his route when he saw an opening, caused by a Pittsburgh defender slipping in coverage, and Sanchez found him calling for the ball well ahead of the Steelers secondary.
The Steelers offense failed to get anything going in the second half. Roethlisberger, like Rodgers in the early game, couldn’t seem to get much of a rhythm after a good start to the game. It didn’t help that the Jets defense finally picked up the intensity and did what most teams fail to do, take Big Ben down.
After a failed drive by New York, their defense got the ball back and Sanchez & Co. marched the ball down field on a long drive that took up the better part of eight minutes. A failed 4th & goal gave the ball back to Pittsburgh with the Jets still trailing 24-10.
On the first play, a bobbled snap was recovered by Roethlisberger in the end zone, but he was stopped there and the Jets added two points to their tally. They took the next possession to the house and suddenly it was a 5-point game.
After a season during which many said the majority of the Jets wins came from luck, that luck finally ran out. Pittsburgh shut the door on any remaining hope on the New York sideline of completing what would have been the biggest comeback in conference championship history with two first down throws by Big Ben. Three kneel downs locked up their birth in Super Bowl XLV in Dallas.
Final Score: Pittsburgh – 24, New York – 19
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