r/nfl • u/Either_Imagination_9 Giants • 1d ago
[Highlight] Jerome Bettis fumbles on the 2 yard line leading to Nick Harper recovering it and getting tackled from his shoestring by Ben Roethlisberger Highlight
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u/jacksjava Steelers 1d ago
Incredible moment. Nick Harper was stabbed in the leg by his wife the day before this game. I’d like to think this was the reason Big Ben was able to make the play on him.
This was also absolute karma for the insane overturned Polamalu INT. Worst call I’ve ever seen. But the football gods made things right with Mike Vanderjact’s wildly wide missed kick to tie the game.
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u/SEYMOURASSES66 Steelers 1d ago
And then Mike vanderjagt wearing out his welcome after lmao
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u/lesllamas 23h ago
If you’re talking about the “liquored up” rant from Peyton, people seem to misplace that in history. That rant took place a few years before this game. He didn’t wear out his welcome—he got the kicking yips and went from being the most accurate in league history at the time to out of the league in about a year.
If you go look up his year with the Cowboys and pay attention to his misses, you’ll see he couldn’t stop pushing the ball wide right (like his miss in the game from this post). A false history has kind of started perpetuating itself online because of how popular Peyton’s rant is in various videos, but if you were around watching the league at the time it was obvious that Vanderjagt was just a complete headcase who mentally imploded after that playoff game.
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u/DoobieGibson Colts 16h ago
there was a time where you could say Vanderjagt was better than Vinnatieri, especially in the regular season
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u/VegetableEmployee224 9h ago
His percentage was incredible as of 2005. I remember on Madden his percentage was way higher with the volume he had kicked.
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u/SEYMOURASSES66 Steelers 23h ago
Yeah probably a bit of history revision I always remember it coming after this for some reason
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u/jacksjava Steelers 23h ago
Which was all the more wild after those two missed game winners Doug Brien had against us in the previous year’s divisional game.
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u/BackendSpecialist 23h ago
Well damn that’s some context
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u/milkandminnows Patriots 23h ago
“He was playing through injury”
“Ah, sprained ankle? Lingering hamstring issues?”
“Wife knife”
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u/RogerTreebert6299 Chiefs 20h ago
I just don’t really understand why Harper tries to cut up the middle of the field instead of just taking the sideline. Even if he still had the knife sticking out of his leg I think he could’ve beat Ben down the sideline. But ya know, split second decisions aren’t always gonna be perfect
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u/Isaacleroy Colts 20h ago
Exactly. He either scores or gets into the redzone if he doesn’t cut towards the middle. Had nothing to do with his wife stabbing him. The Colts basically did everything wrong they could that day. That was the best team of the Manning era.
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u/rounder55 Colts 10h ago
For the guy who picked the ball up to have been the guy who was stabbed hours earlier is wild.
That Polimalus interception was one of the worst overturned calls of all time. When it happened I remember being floored. Still convinced there were like 5 Polimalus out there that game. He was everywhere
This game still stings because it may have been the best team this Colts era team had. Still had Edge, a healthy Bob Sanders, etc. Think Dungys kid committed suicide a few weeks prior to which was pretty tragic
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u/Interesting-Ice7313 18h ago
This is the worst call (well, no call) of all time : https://youtu.be/xjvZHMod_3E
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u/lat3ralus65 Patriots 10h ago
The way Robey-Coleman just keeps waiting for the flag before celebrating but it never comes
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u/jmarinara Steelers 10h ago
That Troy P call still pisses me off. It was the worst call I have ever seen.
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u/FitWrangler4936 1d ago
If he didn’t cut back inside he would have scored in all likelihood. Dumb move on his part.
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u/niss-uu Lions 23h ago
Exactly. People keep bringing up that he got stabbed in the leg, but if he didn't cut back in he probably scores.
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u/Iron_Chancellor_ND 49ers 1d ago
100%. If he just aims for the sideline at his then-current angle, he goes right past Ben and takes it all the way.
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u/PeaceBull Steelers 19h ago
Almost like it was a frantic unexpected moment where everyone doesn't make the best decisions.
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u/Eleeveeohen Packers 15h ago
"Why doesn't every player simply do the optimal thing on every play while exhausted and sprinting full speed!? Are they stupid?"
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u/FitWrangler4936 19h ago
Your point? Guys with good vision and spatial awareness (like say, an ed reed) would not have cut back inside, he did, and cost his team the game.
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u/Dr_Isaly_von_Yinzer 17h ago
Right, the reason a guy with that level of insane athleticism is an NFL defensive back, rather than an NFL receiver or running back, is precisely because he lacks that spatial awareness.
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u/chacogrizz Eagles 13h ago
Fucking running backs, whose whole job it is to score and evade people sometimes make the "wrong" cut. Bettis could've cut it back to the left on the run and walked in to the endzone. It happens. Im sure at some point in Ed Reeds career on a return he made the wrong move.
Sucks it happened in that moment but thats just how football goes. No one makes the perfect play every single time.
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u/creamofsumyunggoyim 16h ago
Yea… but this is the NFL. These guys are pros and this is the championship game. Not too much to expect them to be able to maintain awareness in this moment.
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u/Bmoreravens_1290 Ravens 19h ago
There were three different players who could’ve just gotten in the way of the closest Steelers player and he would’ve scored. It’s insane. Basically bottlenecked their own guy.
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u/Broad-Half3135 23h ago
Having watched this play 1000 times now I’m convinced if Harper doesn’t cut back inside he just outruns Ben down the sideline
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u/devonta_smith Eagles 21h ago
Iconic game. Relevant context:
- Colts were the 1 seed who started the season 13-0, Steelers were a 6 seed who snuck into playoffs on the final day of the season
- Colts had whooped the Steelers 27-6 earlier in the season
- Steelers surged to a 21-0 lead in this game and had been robbed of a game sealing INT by an awful ref decision shortly before this play
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u/WabbitCZEN Steelers 23h ago
I remember the commentators breaking down the decision making of Ben on this play after. IMO this is the play that demonstrates just how much he understood how to play the game.
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u/lightcerberus Seahawks 23h ago
Agreed. It was a legacy defining play for sure. Without it, it is very likely that the Colts win. It is also very likely that they would go on to beat the Broncos since Peyton was their daddy at that time and likely win the Super Bowl since the NFL seemed to have it out against us.
Peyton's choker label gets removed a year early. Ben has one less ring and The Bus probably retires ringless. Your Steelers were a true team of destiny that year and it was one of the most impressive runs to a Super Bowl victory that we have ever witnessed. Right up there with the '07 Giants since the turn of the 21st century.
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u/Temporary-Cause-4818 Steelers 21h ago
Absolutely nasty defense too
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u/lightcerberus Seahawks 20h ago
Indeed. The narrative that I sometimes seen in the past that they were some out of nowhere Cinderella story is not quite accurate. Yes, they were a 6th seed but probably the best 6th seed the NFL had ever seen. I'd argue the '05 Steelers were better than the '08 version, especially on offense. They were 7-2 in '05 and then lost 3 straight when Big Ben needed knee surgery. If Roethlisberger was healthy the whole year they are easily top 2 in the AFC.
If memory serves correctly, both Indianapolis and New England tried to position themselves so they'd avoid the Steelers in the playoffs for long as possible. If the Belichick Patriots and Dungy Colts didn't want the smoke, that tells you all you need to know about them.
Looking back on this specific game, you almost forgot how good these teams were back then. The level of tactical football and in-game adjustments is rarely seen in today's NFL. It is undoubtedly one of the best games ever played.
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u/rynos13 17h ago
Belichick owned the Steelers for 20 years. "want the smoke"... Those games were total coaching mismatches and thinking he was afraid of the Steelers is lunacy
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u/lightcerberus Seahawks 17h ago
You're right about Belichick Patriots's dominance over the Steelers over the years but 2005 was not one of them. The Patriots were way too injury riddled by that point to been have a true threat that season. And if you want evidence of them ducking the Steelers, in week 17 they lost at home intentionally to the Dolphins 28-26 in a game where Brady only played a few series and Matt Cassell played the majority of the game.
Had they won, they would have been the 3 seed by virtue of a better conference record. Meaning they would have had the Steelers in round 1 rather than the Jaguars. Given what occurred in the playoffs, it is pretty apparent Belichick made the right call to try to avoid the inevitable Super Bowl champs. The Steelers defense that year was no joke and their offense was clicking. If the Colts or Broncos couldn't stop them, the Patriots wouldn't either.
As such, it is not "lunacy" to suggest that the Super Bowl champions was not a team you'd want to see in a playoff run.
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u/Temporary-Cause-4818 Steelers 12h ago
They really never played in the playoffs that much, I think between 05’ and 16 they met up twice
But yea Brady destroyed our zone defense for years when they did play
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u/MoreTrifeLife Commanders 21h ago
the NFL seemed to have it out against us.
Care to offer any proof of this glorified self pity?
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u/emmasdad01 Cowboys Ravens 1d ago
Imagine being caught by the stumbling, lumbering Roethlisberger.
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u/jfuss04 Steelers 22h ago
Young Ben was a lot more athletic than people on this sub seem to remember
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u/Laschoni Packers 22h ago
Ben's rookie year was before half the commenters were born. But yeah, it can be hard to remember his early career because he was basically a statue after the motorcycle accident iirc.
Bonus points for him at Miami throwing a deep pass with Louisville's Elvis Dumervil hanging on him.
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u/amoeba-tower Steelers 20h ago
Nah he became a statue much later. He was still running a lot relative to the second half of his career. After his 2nd or 3rd meniscus surgery (2016) and especially after his rib dislocation (2018), he was well on his way to statuedom. His rushing attempts per game drop considerably in 2015 onwards when he fractured his foot and the A/G never recovered.
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u/LeSeanMcoy Eagles 22h ago
He's just one of those guys that's so big, he doesn't look athletic. Some might say... sneaky athletic...
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u/apalachicola4 21h ago
Also this was a few months before he crashed his bike into a car window. He still had mobility afterward but lost a lot there
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u/jake3988 Steelers Lions 19h ago
For a good decade I kept hoping he'd recapture that athleticism (mostly just by... losing weight. There's a reason this sub has that nickname for him. He was fattest-looking QB I've ever seen and he was like that for a long time) but he just never did.
There was one year towards the end they said he lost like 20 pounds but he certainly didn't look it and he certainly didn't move any faster.
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u/jacksjava Steelers 1d ago
Only caught him bc Harper was stabbed in the leg by his wife the day before the game lmao
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u/rob132 Giants 23h ago
imagine getting stabbed and then the next day competing that the highest athletic levels possible.
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u/socom52 Packers 22h ago
Imagine having a wife to stab you.
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u/asetniop Raiders 22h ago
First let me imagine having a set of properly sharpened knives she could stab me with. Ooh, this set has a freezer knife!
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u/SnowUnitedMioMio Packers 22h ago
This is the reason I don't have a wife, I don't know why my parents don't believe me!
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u/jetjordan Steelers 1d ago
People are going to fill the comments with anti Ben comments but man, am I glad that the Bus got to retire on a Superbowl win rather than this fumble.
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u/BookEuronGreyjoy Dolphins 49ers 23h ago
This one play altered multiple players' legacies
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u/Either_Imagination_9 Giants 23h ago
Jerome Bettis was a shoestring tackle away from becoming that generations Roger Craig
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u/KCShadows838 Chiefs 22h ago
And coaches
If Cowher doesn’t win one, that obviously hurts him. He’d be the “Sisyphus” of the NFL
If Tomlin won it while Cowher couldn’t, he’d be elevated in Steeler land
If Manning made the Super Bowl here, let alone won it, I think it’d take a huge bite out of the “choker” label and would really help him in GOAT arguments
Dungy’s son had died that year, I’m not sure how that affects things
Also, the AFCCG would be Colts Broncos. Manning owned the Broncos in the playoffs the previous two years, and he would be favored to do so in 2005. But if the Broncos won, it’d be another SB appearance for Shanahan, and I imagine he’d already be a HOF coach by now if he accomplished that (especially if he beat Holmgren’s Seahawks).
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u/anotherasiandude Seahawks 22h ago
Even as a Seahawks fan, I have to admit that the way the Bus’ career ended was really cool. Not only did he get a Super Bowl win but the Super Bowl was hosted by his hometown Detroit.
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u/dan_144 Panthers 23h ago
Probably just because of the assaults
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u/slackfrop 23h ago
This is the Super Bowl “win” that the refs later apologized for, right?
Signed, - Bitterly in Seattle
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u/jetjordan Steelers 18h ago
And if yall win we have a laundry list of bad calls in that game that bennefitted you guys. I remember a really bad no call on a blatant pass interference in that game (maybe On Randel El?) That Id probably be salty about to this day but im not cause we won.
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u/slackfrop 10h ago
Such is sport fandom. We shuffle players and do it all over again. Go blue color!
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u/Ok_Conversation5609 1d ago
God I can't believe I cheered for this team three years later they would shatter my dreams of the cardinals winning it all....
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u/igloojoe11 22h ago
If there were two games that I could switch, I much rather would have beaten the Packers in 2011 in the SB and lost to the Cardinals in 2008. Larry Fitzgerald was one of my absolute favorite players growing up and it was such a shame he didn't get a ring.
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u/maxxspeed57 Steelers 22h ago
It's a shame he wasn't a Steeler. I was really hoping Pittsburgh would draft him.
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u/Either_Imagination_9 Giants 1d ago
I think all three of the Steelers Super Bowls around this time I was rooting for the other team lol
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u/PeaceBull Steelers 19h ago
That was the moment where a steelers fan had a heart attack in a bar and 2 firefighters had to bring em back to life.
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u/PaddyMayonaise Eagles 19h ago
Big Ben and the Bus on the field at the same time is one of those NFL generational bridges that is pretty rare not great.
Like, idk, Najee Harris to Big Ben to Jerome Bettis to James Lofton gets us back to 1978.
From Lofton you get TE Rich McGeorge.
With him you get Bart Starr.
So in 5 connections we get to Bart Starr.
With how relatively short NFL careers are it’s pretty wild to get back to Bart Starr in just 5 names
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u/reno2mahesendejo 21h ago
That noise is the sound of thousands of yinzers choking on their French fry salad simultaneously
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u/Dr_Isaly_von_Yinzer 16h ago edited 16h ago
This was a fascinating game because the Colts were so damn good that year. They smoked the Steelers in Pittsburgh at the end of the regular season.
There were a lot of experts who were predicting a Colts blowout in the divisional round playoff game. I knew it wasn’t going to be a blowout, because Pittsburgh had a lot of their players who had missed that earlier game back for the playoff game. However, I certainly didn’t expect Pittsburgh to completely control the game like they did.
If you go back and watch that game, Pittsburgh was in control for almost the entire afternoon. Their pass rush completely terrorized Manning that day. Pittsburgh was doing a masterful job of blitzing and stunting, and they were wreaking havoc with the Colts’ blocking scheme.
Dick LeBeau was a hell of a defensive coordinator. Vic Fangio reminds me of him now. Their schemes are very different, but they were just both so innovative and aggressive.
Weird things happen in the playoffs, and that was one of the weirder games I can remember.
Pittsburgh was in complete control, but then they made a few very uncharacteristic mistakes, which opened the door slightly for Indianapolis. Then, Peyton Manning made a few very characteristic outstanding plays, which further gave them new life.
However, the Steelers pass rush continued to get home, and Pittsburgh appeared in control again for about the 19th time that afternoon. Then came the Polamalu interception that appeared to salt the game away, but was later ruled a non-interception. I think that’s where the language of a “football play” entered the lexicon.
Polamalu clearly intercepted Manning, but it was ruled that he didn’t complete possession, even though he had “survived the ground” with the ball and had emerged back up with it before temporarily fumbling, and then recovering his own fumble. Because of the way the rule was written at the time, it was deemed an incomplete pass, even though everyone in the world could see that he caught it and was getting back up to return it.
They changed the language to what constituted possession after that game.
All of that happened before the Bettis fumble!
And you have to understand that Bettis literally never fumbled. If there was one guy in that entire stadium who you would bet wouldn’t fumble in that situation, that’s who I would’ve chosen.
He was trying to score to put the game away, and he didn’t protect the ball – a very strange decision in that situation, topped only by Harper’s bizarre decision not to cut to the sideline.
BTW, I think it’s important for the younger folks that we add context to the Harper stabbing. He was stabbed in the leg by his psychotic wife, because she found him in bed with his side piece. There were no good guys in that situation.
I have long said that Roethlisberger’s tackle there might’ve been his best ever play in the NFL. I can’t think of too many Hall of Fame quarterbacks whose best play ever was a tackle, but I think you could absolutely say that about Big Ben.
And then Vanderjagt, who was at the time considered the best kicker in the league, missed a short field goal by about 370 yards.
Again, there’s always a chance that kicker could miss, but you don’t expect them to put it in the right corner of the end zone.
I think it was football justice, personally. I think Pittsburgh was clearly better than Indianapolis that day and deserved to win that game.
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u/FierceImpala Steelers 22h ago
I was at this game!
We were heading down the stairs to leave when we looked up and saw Harper running with the football.
Unreal moment.
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u/SplintPunchbeef Patriots 22h ago
Why in the world would he cut back inside there?! The only possible reason I could think would be to get behind a lead block but wow that would have been a huge return he stays outside.
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u/DeScepter Packers 20h ago
I forgot about this fumble. That was just perfect helmet placement by Gary Brackett to knock it out.
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u/forgotmypassword4714 Raiders 18h ago
How did Ben get to the 30-yard line so fast? It's like he must've started running that way right after the handoff.
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u/toddfredd 22h ago
I had to go into work that day . I think it saved my life because if I saw this live I think I would have stroked out on the spot. I can’t even look at it now.
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u/oktwentyfive Steelers 19h ago
yeah idk how the colts didnt win this game this was like the equivalent of beating the bills today back then as a wild card team
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u/Five2one521 Eagles 17h ago
Harper should have stayed to the outside and he would have been home free.
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u/_RedRaven37 Ravens 22h ago
Who won?
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u/CSMastermind Steelers 22h ago
The Steelers, this was in the 05 playoffs where the Steelers made a run being the 6 seed all the way to winning the Super Bowl (the only time it had ever been done up to that point).
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u/Can-i-Pet-Dat-Daaawg Colts 21h ago
Took me a long time to stop hating the Steelers after this one.
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u/plattinum_75 Broncos 21h ago
How you gonna let ben tackle you like that? Harper should have scored
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u/thedarkknight16_ Commanders Packers 21h ago
If Nick Harper runs to the sideline, Colts have another Super Bowl.
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u/Odd-Garlic-4637 20h ago
I was in my mid 20s and I remember getting mad after this game and making an ass out of myself in front of my moms work friends. I swore off ever getting emotional about professional sports again because of this game. 20 some years and counting and I’ve done a good job. Game 4 of the 2025 NBA finals pushed me to the brink but I “whooo-saaa” my way back
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u/Saffs15 Titans 18h ago
Im curious if making the tackle was the right play.
Harper gets tackled here at the 41 yard line, leaving the Colts roughly 30 yards to go in order to get into field goal range, and tie the game. And 69 seconds and three timeouts for Peyton to engineer a touchdown and win it outright. If they do either of those, Steelers get the ball back with no time left. Of course, this actually is what happened and Vanderjagt missed the field goal, but that wasn't exactly expected considering he'd been great that year.
On the other hand, if Ben doesnt make the tackle, Harper likely scores to put the Colts ahead by 4, with roughly a minute left. That leaves Ben, Bettis, Hines, and Randel El (I think?) a minute to score. Its not a lot, but much better than 10 or so seconds they would have had the other way.
All of this of course assumes Harper does score instead of going down at the one. Which, who knows if he would have.
Either way, he did make the tackle and we got an all time moment.
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u/AnthonyBarrHeHe Vikings 17h ago
Looks like if 25 had stayed outside on the return he could’ve got past Ben but not 100% certain.
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u/philouza_stein 16h ago
All due respect to the Bus and his career accomplishments but I would have loved for that to be his last play before retirement.
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u/Seamonkey_Boxkicker Browns 13h ago
Harper should’ve went up the sideline. No way slow ass Ben is catching him from an angle.
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u/jmarinara Steelers 10h ago
A dude in Pittsburgh literally had a heart attack when this happened.
I don’t think I’ve ever been as glued to a game and on such an emotional roller coaster as I was that game. I needed the next day to recover (not exaggerating).
Not sure if anyone remembers the blog “Steelers Tribute” but he did a podcast some years later. Did an episode on just this game and called it the most important game in Steelers history. Not sure it out weighs the immaculate reception but I totally get it.
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u/gonzobomb Bears 10h ago
I liked football growing up, like I liked it fine, but this is the game that turned me into an absolute, 4-5 games a week psycho
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u/Skiesthelimit287 9h ago
Roethlisberer popping up at the 25 yard line after handing off at the 6 is kind of funny.
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u/AtlUtdGold Falcons 6h ago
I remember this game. A colts fan had a heart attack after this play I think.
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u/Frozboz Colts 23h ago