Green Bay, Wis. – Troy Polamalu called himself an accidental hero.
His 77-yard touchdown return of Brett Favre’s fumble set the stage for Pittsburgh’s 20-10 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, when both teams turned to their stingy defenses to bail out injury-ravaged offenses.
“I thought our defense played outstanding,” Favre said. “We have to help them out.”
Green Bay held the Steelers without a single third-down conversion, and allowed just two field goals and a 20-yard touchdown drive.
The Steelers forced three turnovers that they turned into 17 points. That included Polamalu’s score on a play in which Favre second-guessed himself for not going to his hot read right away and settling for a field goal instead of trying to buy time for Walt Williams to get open for a touchdown.
Polamalu was kicking himself, too – but only for a split second.
“I missed the sack, which is pretty disappointing,” Polamalu said. “Bryant McFadden made a great play. And fortunately enough, he had the sack and the fumble. I just saw the ball lying there and picked it up and ran.”
The Steelers (6-2) became the first team since the 1989-90 San Francisco 49ers and the fourth team overall to win 11 straight road games. They did it without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (knee) and running back Jerome Bettis (thigh), who were joined on the sideline in the second half by starting tailback Willie Parker, who turned his left ankle.
Duce Staley, who had his first carries since the AFC title game in January, ran for 76 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
The Packers fell to 1-7 at the halfway point for the first time since 1986 under Forrest Gregg.
They’ve been in every game until the closing minutes and actually have outscored their opponents 168-159 – a first for an NFL team that lost seven of its first eight.
“If we were getting stomped and crushed every time we played somebody, it probably would be hard to be optimistic,” linebacker Nick Barnett said. “But we’re right there. We’re a play away, an inch away.”
Polamalu’s TD return came in the first half, when Green Bay trailed 6-3 and was about to forge ahead thanks to his 33-yard pass interference penalty that put the Packers on the Pittsburgh 3.
Consecutive false starts backed up the Packers to the 12, when they went to an empty backfield on third-and-goal.
McFadden came on a cornerback blitz and wrapped up Favre for an 11-yard sack, spinning him to the ground and forcing the ball to pop out. Polamalu scooped it up and rumbled 77 yards.
“You can put that one on me. That was my call,” Packers coach Mike Sherman said.
Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch made his first start since Dec. 2, 2001, when he was with Detroit. He completed 9-of-16 passes for 65 yards and one interception.
Pittsburgh settled for short field goals by Jeff Reed to take a 6-0 lead, which Ryan Longwell cut in half with a 40-yarder that made him the first Green Bay player to score 1,000 points in his career.
The Packers finally punched it in when Samkon Gado scored his first career touchdown from a yard out with 7:26 left in the third quarter, cutting Pittsburgh’s lead to 13-10.
