Indianapolis – Having called out the Indianapolis Colts, then backing up his words with a strong game Sunday in Pittsburgh’s 21-18 AFC divisional playoff victory, Steelers linebacker Joey Porter threw down the gauntlet once again. This time the former Colorado State star was taking on the entire NFL hierarchy.
“I know they wanted Indy to win that game. I know the whole word loves (Colts quarterback) Peyton Manning, but come on,” he said. “Don’t take the game away from us, and on that play, they tried to take the game away from us.
“Somebody needs to say something about that because it wasn’t right. (NFL commissioner) Paul Tagliabue needs to do something about that.”
Porter was referring to what seemed to be a game-clinching interception by Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu with 5:33 remaining. The Steelers were ahead 21-10 at the time. While attempting a pass to Bryan Fletcher, Manning seemingly threw right to Polamalu, who went to the ground, rolled over and lost the ball as he started to get up.
After the apparent interception, the Colts challenged the call and it was overturned by referee Pete Morelli. Indianapolis went on to score a touchdown, then made a two-point conversion to make it 21-18.
“I had the defender catching the ball,” Morelli said in a statement. “Before he got up, he hit it with his leg, with his other leg still on the ground. Therefore he did not complete the catch.”
Porter, who provided a little bulletin board material for Indianapolis last week when he called the Colts soft, finished the game with 1 1/2 sacks, the plays coming in the final two minutes.
“They couldn’t say anything to me because I was only speaking the truth,” Porter said when asked if there was any interaction between him and the Colts during the day. “If you ask me a tough question, I’m going to give you a tough answer.”
The reversed call set off a wild sequence of events, the most notable perhaps being Steelers running back Jerome Bettis’ fumble near the goal line with 1:27 remaining, a play that gave the Colts a chance to force overtime. Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher said he never considered having his team take a knee and try to run out the clock, in part because the Colts had three timeouts remaining.
Besides, he said, “We score there, the game’s over.”
That it didn’t play out that way came as a shock to Porter.
“I was standing on the sidelines celebrating, and I looked up and there was (Indianapolis cornerback Nick Harper) running down the sideline,” Porter said.
“I’ve never been in a football game like that,” Steelers teammate Chris Hope said. “It was almost like an NCAA Final Four game. The emotions were in our favor; they snatched them right back. We snatched them back from them. I’ve never played in a game like that.”
Harper plays despite cut
The Colts were jolted before the game when it was learned that Harper was cut on his left knee Saturday afternoon during an apparent domestic dispute with his wife, Daniell.
Harper received three stitches and played well enough against the Steelers to make nine tackles. Harper was arrested in June and charged with domestic battery; that case is pending.
“That’s a tough deal,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said of Saturday’s incident. “We’re going to support Nick through this and try to come to some conclusion.”
