The NFL scheduled 13 Thursday night football games this year as a way to put more teams in the national spotlight and to create an exciting early start to each week of games.
While some of the matchups have been exciting (like Packers-Bears), others have been blowouts (like Giants-Panthers). A few things are clear though after five of these games: the short week puts teams in a tough position to prepare and allows for the underdog to have a good chance of an upset.
That's exactly what happened on Thursday night this week as the Tennessee Titans kicked their way past the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-23 on a last-second field goal as time expired.
"It's only one win, we know that," Titans coach Mike Munchak said to the Associated Press. "But it's a great win for us at this point in the season when we needed a win to show people what we're all about."
Rob Bironas was stellar kicking for the Titans, converting four field goals on the night, including a 40-yard game-winning kick. The team snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 2-4 on the season.
The Steelers made mistakes and had another rough game on the road. The loss drops the team to 0-3 on the road this season, only the second time that has happened to the franchise in 20 years.
"We're not doing enough things to finish games in hostile environments," Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said. "That's just the reality right now. Hopefully, it's just right now. We didn't do the job tonight. We defeated ourselves in some areas. We'll go back to work. Needless to say it's disappointing. We tip our caps to those guys."
The Titans tied the game at 23-23 in the fourth quarter with four minutes to go before Roethlisberger brought the Steelers down the field to get a shot at the lead. Kicker Shaun Suisham had kicked three field goals in the game already, but missed on a 54-yard attempt, allowing Tennessee another chance to win with less than a minute left to go.
"I take full responsibility for the miss," Tomlin said.
Bironas took his chance and put the game-winner through cleanly.
"It feels good to win against a good opponent," said Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. "It feels good to win a close game."
Hasselbeck was starting for injured Titans quarterback Jake Locker and managed a great game, passing for 290 yards and touchdown. Running back Chris Johnson, who has struggled mightily this season, rushed for 91 yards on just 19 carries.
Hasselbeck threw one interception to linebacker Lawrence Timmons, but the Steelers were only able to convert a field goal on the turnover.
Roethlisberger had a stellar game for the Steelers, throwing for 363 yards and one touchdown. During the game he also set a career milestone, becoming the all-time passing leader for the Pittsburgh franchise, passing Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw.
The Titans took an early lead off a 22-yard field goal, but fell behind 10-3 to the Steelers after a Shaun Suisan 29-yard kick and an 82-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Bironas added a 38-yard kick at the end of the first to bring it to 10-6.
"We're not scoring enough points, and we're not making the play when we need to," Roethlisberger said.
The second quarter was all Titans, with Jamie Haroer adding a 1-yard touchdown and Bironas converting on his third field goal with a 47-yard kick. The Steelers answered in the third with a Suisham field goal and then took the lead in the fourth on a 1-yard run from Baron Batch to go up 20-16.
Following another Suisham kick the Steelers were up 23-16 before the Titans went to work. Hasselbeck threw a five-yard touchdown to Kenny Britt to tie the game and the took advantage of Suisham's miss to win at the last-second.
The Steelers hurt themselves throughout the game by scoring field goals and not touchdowns and also couldn't recover from a blocked punt by the Titans in the second quarter by Tim Shaw, which set up a Tennessee touchdown.
"We couldn't lose tonight," Shaw said. "We were desperate. We needed this win more than anything. It's gotten us in a good place."
Isaac Redman had a stellar game for the Steelers, catching four passes for 105 yards.
Roethlisberger reached his milestone in the third quarter with a pass to tight end Heath Miller. He entered the game with 27,703 yards, only 286 yards shy of Terry Bradshaw's franchise record according to ESPN.com.
It took Roethlisberger 119 games to break the record, 49 less than Bradshaw needed. Obviously passing wasn't as prominent in the past as compared to today, but the record still is another impressive milestone for Roethlisberger.
The Steelers now have a long week to rest and prepare for another road game on Oct. 21 against their AFC North division rival the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday night football. The Titans will play the Bills on the road in Week 7.
