Jets win for first time in Pittsburgh, 22-17

PITTSBURGH - Santonio Holmes had only one thing in mind as he watched Ben Roethlisberger drive the Steelers down the field in the closing minutes Sunday in the bitter cold and snow at Heinz Field.

"Defense, you guys have to come through for us," the wide receiver said. "I was asking the guys, 'Don't let us down.' "

Braylon Edwards had seen the scenario unfold before. "It was nerve-wracking," the wideout said. "When I was with the Browns, he beat us so many times on last-second drives."

The Jets kept that from happening this time around - barely. With the Steelers at the Jets' 10-yard line with two seconds left, reserve defensive back Marquice Cole tipped Roethlisberger's pass intended for tight end Matt Spaeth and it fell incomplete, sending the Jets to an exhilarating 22-17 win and snapping their two-game losing skid.

The Jets (10-4) moved closer to clinching a playoff berth. They hold a two-game cushion for the AFC's second wild-card slot and have games remaining against Chicago and Buffalo.

"This was a must win," cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "We couldn't leave this stadium without getting a win. We found a way. It's tough playing here, seeing all the terrible towels. They've got a great defense as well. It speaks volumes for this team for winning in a tough environment.''

But it certainly wasn't easy, not with Roethlisberger nearly pulling off the comeback.

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The Jets grabbed a five-point lead when Jason Taylor tackled Mewelde Moore for a safety with 2:38 left, which meant the Steelers (10-4) would have to go the length of the field and score a touchdown to win.

After a punt, Pittsburgh got the ball at its 8-yard line with 2:08 remaining. The Steelers drove 82 yards in 12 plays before being thwarted by Cole's big play at the back of the end zone.

Said Cole: "It feels good that the coaches had confidence to put me in the game in a situation like that."

Few outsiders had confidence in Mark Sanchez, given the way he had been playing of late, but the second-year quarterback made a key play to help the Jets' offense out of its scoring funk.

With the Jets trailing 17-10 and facing a fourth-and-1 at Pittsburgh's 7 with 5:21 left in the third quarter, Sanchez made a beautiful play-action fake, pretending to stick the ball in Shonn Greene's gut. Instead, Sanchez kept it, running left untouched into the end zone on a naked bootleg that caught the Steelers off guard.

"Call came in and we just made sure we'd sell it up front, sell it with the running backs," Sanchez said. "I think Shonn dove over the pile to try to sell it, and then once I got around, I started to really dig and there was nobody there."

The tricky play ended the Jets' drought of 178 minutes without an offensive touchdown. More importantly, it gave that unit something to feel good about after not finding the end zone since the third quarter of the Thanksgiving win over the Bengals.

The Jets got the spark they were desperately seeking at the game's outset. Brad Smith took the opening kickoff and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown, helped by key blocks from Tony Richardson and Rob Turner.

The Jets' last TD before that one? An 89-yard kickoff return by Smith early in the fourth quarter against the Bengals.

"That's huge, man," he said. "Just coming out and scoring and having that momentum, that just kind of drove the day."

Especially with the Jets needing this one badly, knowing their margin for error was decreasing with each loss that piled up.

"It is a relief," tackle Wayne Hunter said. "It's a big burden off our shoulders, and if we can just play like this consistently, this is the team that we are, how we played tonight as an offense. So if we can just play like this consistently, there's no reason why we can't take it all the way."

First, though, they have to actually get in, and Rex Ryan doesn't think that'll be a problem.

"We're going to make it," he said, "one way or the other. We're going to take care of it ourselves."