PITTSBURGH — Fourth-quarter comebacks and close wins allowed the Eagles to emerge from September in first place despite a negative turnover ratio.
But engineering another late go-ahead drive wasn’t enough for Michael Vick to overcome his early sloppiness with the football yesterday.
Shaun Suisham hit a 34-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 16-14 victory over the Eagles.
Vick fumbled three times — losing two in the first half, including one at the goal line to negate likely Philadelphia points. It was enough to overshadow what would have been Vick’s fourth fourth-quarter game-winning drive in five games this season.
“It’s the game of football,” Vick said. “Things happen. I wish I could take the fumble back on the goal line but you can’t. Ultimately I think we put ourselves into a position to win this game and we didn’t win.”
Philadelphia (3-2) took its only lead at 14-13 with 6:33 left on Vick’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek. That play capped a 17-play, 79-yard Eagles drive that took up more than half of the fourth quarter and included a pair of risky fourth-down conversions, including one deep inside their own territory.
But the Steelers responded by driving 64 yards to set up the winning kick, including a pair of key third-down conversions by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
“They just, on that last drive especially, made one more play than we did, one more yard than what we were able to stop them on,” safety Kurt Coleman said.
Pittsburgh running back Rashard Mendenhall ran for 81 yards and a touchdown in his first game of the season as the Steelers (2-2) avoided their first two-game losing streak in three years.
Vick completed 20 of 30 passes for 175 yards and two scores for the Eagles, who couldn’t keep their string of narrow early-season victories going. LeSean McCoy rushed for 53 yards, and caught four passes for 27 yards and a touchdown for Philadelphia.
The Eagles’ first three victories had come by a total of four points, and Vick had become the fourth quarterback since 1960 to lead his team to a fourth-quarter comeback win in three of his team’s first four games of the season.
Philadelphia’s magic ran out against the Steelers.
“We’re not playing complete games,” Eagles defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. “We’re just waiting to the end, to try to pull it out at the end. We’re not putting ourselves in the best situations we should be.”
“Even on elite defenses, every now and then, a third-and-10, a third-and-12, you might give up,” Philadelphia cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. “It’s just that, at the time when you need it the most, you’ve got to be able to make that type of play.”