The Steelers are one win from clinching the AFC North.
The Steelers are one win from clinching the AFC North.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Ben Roethlisberger had plenty of help in this win.
The rookie quarterback extended both his and the Pittsburgh's winning streak to 10 games by engineering a last-minute drive Sunday night to set up a 37-yard field goal by Jeff Reed with 18 seconds left that gave the Steelers a 17-16 win over Jacksonville on Sunday night.
The drive, the kind pulled off by the best quarterbacks, covered 56 yards in six plays after Josh Scobee made a 36-yard field goal with 1:55 left to give the Jaguars the lead.
But Roethlisberger, who set a record for most wins by a rookie quarterback, wasn't the only star of the last-minute victory.
Good clock management
There was Reed, of course. And the win by the Steelers (10-1) was a testament to coach Bill Cowher's clock management. He used all three of his timeouts before the 2-minute warning as Jacksonville was driving for the go-ahead field goal, preserving plenty of time for his offense.
Then Roethlisberger was 3-of-4 for 39 yards on the winning drive, and the one incompletion was a spike after he calmly let the clock run down to avoid giving the Jaguars much time for a march of their own.
He finished the night 14-of-17 for 221 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 40 yards after three rather sluggish games in an otherwise brilliant rookie year.
Jacksonville (6-6) had one last shot after a 19-yard completion from Byron Leftwich to Jimmy Smith, which gave Scobee a shot at a 60-yarder. It fell just short and wide right.
The Steelers are one win from clinching the AFC North. They hold a four-game lead over Baltimore with four games left, but their only loss of the season was to the Ravens, when veteran quarterback Tommy Maddox was injured and Roethlisberger took over.
Jacksonville, which could have moved into a tie with Baltimore and Denver for the final AFC wild-card spot, remains a game behind those two. The Jaguars have had 11 of their 12 games decided in the final minute.
Pittsburgh scored touchdowns on its first two possessions, but was held without a point for the rest of the game until the final drive.
In the first three quarters, the Jags moved inside the Pittsburgh 15 three times, but came out with only six points -- Scobee missed a 32-yard field-goal attempt in the second quarter, made two others.
The first Steelers TD came after a 77-yard, seven-play drive when Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward for a 37-yard score.
Leftwich, who finished 16-of-27 for 268 yards, countered with a 12-play, 73-yard drive, finding Troy Edwards from 22 yards. As Ward did on the first TD, Edwards broke a tackle and ran it in for the score.
Second TD pass
Pittsburgh made it 14-7 on Roethlisberger's 26-yard pass to tight end Jay Riemersma to cap a 72-yard drive.
Jacksonville cut it to 14-10 on Scobee's 20-yard field goal on its first second-half possession, in which it went from its 2 to the Pittsburgh 2. There were two big plays on the drive: a 56-yard pass from Leftwich to third-string tight end Todd Yoder and a 36-yarder to Edwards.
Scobee's 29-yarder in the final seconds of the third quarter cut it to 14-13.
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