THE SPORTS DESK
Pro football: Bironas’ FG gives Titans 26-23 win over Steelers
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Rob Bironas kicked his fourth field goal, a 40-yarder as time expired, and the Tennessee Titans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 26–23 on Thursday night to snap a two-game skid.
Matt Hasselbeck threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Britt with 4:19 left to tie it at 23, and the Titans (2–4) snapped a three-game losing streak against the Steelers.
Pittsburgh (2–3) lost its third straight road game this season and for the fifth time in six games dating to last season despite Ben Roethlisberger throwing for 363 yards and becoming the Steelers’ career passing leader.
Roethlisberger drove the Steelers into position to take the lead after the Titans tied it. Shaun Suisham, who already had connected from 29, 28 and 52 yards, had his 54-yard attempt fall short of the crossbar with 49 seconds left.
Chris Johnson ran for 91 yards on 19 carries, and Hasselbeck finished with 290 yards passing.
Baron Batch’s 1-yard touchdown run gave Pittsburgh a 20–16 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The Titans were in front 16–13 and appeared to have a chance to extend their lead in the third quarter when Mike Martin sacked Roethlisberger, forced a fumble and pounced on the loose ball at the Steelers 22. But the fumble was overturned on replay after officials ruled Roethlisberger’s arm was moving forward when the ball came loose.
On the next play, Roethlisberger hit tight end Heath Miller for a 17-yard completion. The play enabled him to overtake Terry Bradshaw for the franchise record. Roethlisberger entered the game with 27,703 yards, 286 yards shy of Bradshaw’s mark. This was Roethlisberger’s 119th career game. Bradshaw played 168 games from 1970–83.
Batch capped the drive with his touchdown run.
Steelers running back Ike Redman caught four passes for 105 yards for the Steelers before injuring his right ankle in the third quarter. Redman had caught just six passes for 45 yards through the Steelers’ first five games.
Redman was one of many Steelers to get injured.
The Steelers were playing without injured strong safety Troy Polamalu (calf) and outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley (hamstring) on defense, and they lost two starting offensive linemen Thursday.
Center Maurkice Pouncey injured his right leg on the Steelers’ first play from scrimmage and was ruled out for the rest of the game. Right tackle Marcus Gilbert hurt his right ankle in the second quarter. Doug Legursky stepped in for Pouncey, while rookie Mike Adams replaced Gilbert. A Steelers drive into Titans territory in the second quarter stalled when Derrick Morgan got around Adams and sacked Roethlisberger on a third-down play.
Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall also went down with an Achilles injury.
