Visitor: Cleveland Browns

Home: Pittsburgh Steelers

Date: January 5, 2003

AFC Wildcard Playoff

Scoring:

Team 1 2 3 4 Final

CLE 7 10 7 9 33

PIT 0 7 7 22 36

Visitor playmakers:

RB William Green, WR Dennis Northcutt, WR Andre’ Davis

Home playmakers:

WR Antwaan Randle El, WR Plaxico Burress, TE Jerame Tuman, WR Hines Ward, FB Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala

Network: CBS

Announcers: Greg Gumbel, Phil Simms

Pregame: No

Halftime: No

Postgame: No

Commercials: No

Grade: Excellent

Notes: Tommy Maddox, the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year, led one of Pittsburgh's greatest comebacks by throwing three touchdown passes in the final 19 minutes as the Steelers rallied from a 17-point deficit to stun the Browns 36-33 Sunday in an AFC wild-card game. Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala's 3-yard touchdown run with 54 seconds left secured the Steelers' most dramatic come-from-behind playoff victory since Franco Harris' Immaculate Reception against Oakland in 1972. They trailed 17-7 at the half, 24-7 in the third quarter and 33-21 with just over 10 minutes remaining.

The Steelers denied the Browns their first road playoff victory since 1969 and their first playoff win of any kind since returning to the NFL in 1999. They also gave themselves a huge momentum lift going into Saturday's divisional game at second-seeded Tennessee.

The Steelers were shredded all afternoon by Kelly Holcomb, who threw for 429 yards and three touchdowns, and trailed 24-7 until Maddox's 6-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 3:50 left in the third quarter. The Browns’ game-long inability to run the ball -- rookie William Green ran 25 times for just 30 yards -- proved their undoing. Unable to wind the clock down, the Browns were forced to throw on almost every down, and, once the Steelers' defense tightened up, that left Pittsburgh the time to come back.

Still, even after the comeback began, the Browns had enough left to drive for Phil Dawson's 24-yard field goal and Holcomb's 22-yard touchdown pass to Andre Davis that made it 33-21. But the Steelers, who have lost four home playoff games under Cowher since 1992, were confident they could come back after rallying from 11 down in the fourth quarter against Baltimore only last week. Maddox gave the Steelers a chance, leading a 77-yard drive that ended with his 5-yard scoring pass to Hines Ward with 3:06 left, cutting the deficit to 33-28. Even then, the Browns needed only a first down or two to run it out.

But Northcutt, who had made big play after big play with two scoring catches and a long punt return, couldn't hold onto a throw from Holcomb on third-and-12 and the Browns punted. With Pittsburgh in a score-or-go home situation, Maddox found Plaxico Burress for 24 yards, Hines Ward for 10, Burress again for 17 and Ward for 7. Fuamatu-Ma'afala, filling the role Jerome Bettis usually plays when he's not hurting with a sore knee, then powered up the middle from the 3 to score. The game ended with Holcomb's 16-yard completion to Andre King at the Steelers 29 as the Browns couldn't get into range for a possible tying field goal.

Until Maddox took over, it was all Holcomb in a remarkable performance by a quarterback starting only his fourth NFL game, for a team that is 0-8 in road playoff games since 1969. Holcomb, subbing for the injured Tim Couch, had no running game for support, not a single minute of playoff experience -- and no fear. Only Bernie Kosar, who threw for 489 yards in 1987 against Jets, has thrown for more yards in a Browns playoff game. Holcomb, one of the most inexperienced quarterbacks to start an NFL playoff game, had completions of 83, 32, 29, 15 and 43 yards against a secondary weakened by injuries to cornerback Chad Scott and safety Mike Logan.

Holcomb needed almost no time to get Cleveland going, finding Kevin Johnson behind safety Brent Alexander for an 83-yard completion to the 1 on the third play from scrimmage. Green, coming off a 187-yard game against Atlanta, scored on the next play, one of his few positive-yardage runs of the day, and just like that, it was 7-0 Browns with 1:16 gone.

Pittsburgh, troubled by turnovers all season, later turned it over three times in a span of 5 1/2 minutes, twice on interceptions by Daylon McCutcheon, but only rookie Antwaan Randle El's fumbled punt was turned into points: Northcutt's 32-yard scoring catch that made it 14-0. Randle El made up for his mistake with a 66-yard punt return touchdown, but Cleveland answered with Dawson's 31-yard field goal for a 17-7 lead.

Running time: 2:14 (2 discs)