NFL Recap (Pittsburgh-Philadelphia)
Posted: Sun November 23, 1997 at 7:46 p.m. EST
PHILADELPHIA 23, PITTSBURGH 20
Bobby Hoying, making just his second NFL start, fired two
touchdown passes in the first 10 minutes as the struggling
Philadelphia Eagles surprised the Pittsburgh Steelers, 23-20, in
the battle of Pennsylvania.
The Eagles (5-6-1) continued their recent domination of their
in-state rivals, beating the Steelers for the seventh straight
time at home. Pittsburgh has not beaten the Eagles in
Philadelphia since posting a 20-14 win in 1965.
Philadelphia, which was coming off a 10-10 tie against the
Baltimore Ravens, snapped a three-game winless streak, posting
its first victory since beating the Dallas Cowboys, 13-12, on
October 26th. Hoying also earned his first victory.
"It feels good to get the first win out of the way," Hoying
said. "It proves to everybody you can win the game as the
starting quarterback. It wasn't easy. The defense played great
and we played good enough to win the ballgame."
The Steelers (8-4), who were outgained, 125-47, in the first
quarter, snapped a two-game winning streak and lost for only the
second time in their last nine games.
"It was a game of mistakes," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said.
"We gave them a couple big plays that is uncharacteristic of us.
We settled down after the first quarter, but we faced an
obstacle that we couldn't overcome."
Hoying, who was 15-of-31 for 246 yards and no interceptions,
tossed a 31-yard TD pass to tight end Jason Dunn and a nine-yard
TD strike to Irving Fryar in the first period to give the Eagles
a 14-0 lead.
"I think he's learning each week," Eagles coach Ray Rhodes said
of Hoying. "There are some things that he's going to do better
but he comes to play and each week is going to be a new
experience for him. He did a good job of getting rid of the
football, not taking the sack. He got hit quite a bit today but
he got rid of the football."
Fryar had seven receptions for 116 yards, while Watters led the
Eagles on the ground with 48 yards on 20 carries. The
Philadelphia defense held Jerome Bettis to 80 yards on 20
carrries.
"I threw into coverage a couple times," Hoying said, "but they
are a real good defense. We did enough things on offense when
they did blitz, like the touchdown to Jason Dunn. He ran a stop
route and then he did the rest."
Stewart was 20-of-43 for 294 yards and two TDs for the Steelers,
including a 30-yard "Hail Mary" TD pass to Will Blackwell with
only 10 seconds remaining, but he threw three interceptions.
Philadelphia, ranked last in the NFL in takeaways, forced five
turnovers.
"We went into the game knowing that Bettis was going to get his
carries, so we just tried to minimize his gains," Rhodes said.
The key thing is that we didn't want Kordell Stewart to beat us
running the football. He's a dangerous weapon as a runner and we
didn't want him getting around the edges and getting things
done."
The Steelers closed to within 20-13 when Bettis rambled 19 yards
for a TD on a screen pass with 2:04 remaining in the third
quarter. Pittsburgh recovered an onside kick on the ensuing
kickoff, but it was negated because of an off-side penalty and
the Eagles took advantage to go up 23-13 on Chris Boniol's third
field goal, a 25-yarder with 13:38 remaining in the fourth
quarter.
The Steelers were called for three penalties on the Eagles'
61-yard drive. None was bigger than a controversial 29-yard
interference penalty on corner back Donnell Woolford that gave
the Eagles a first down at the Steelers' 15.
"It was terrible," Woolford said. "It was the worst call I have
ever been involved in. He (referee) didn't explain anything. He
said he didn't know why he threw it."
Stewart was only 4-of-14 for 37 yards in the first half before
trying to rally the Steelers in the second half. Charles Johnson
had seven receptions for 106 yards, including six in the second
half for 92 yards.
"We knew going in that they were going to be a tough team,"
Stewart said. "They lost their games on the road. We knew we
would have a battle on our hands. They just played solid
defense.
The Eagles got an early break when linebacker James Willis
recovered Bettis' fumble at the Eagles' 42. The Eagles needed
only three plays to go up 7-0 on Dunn's 31-yard catch and run
4:33 into the first quarter. Dunn broke three tackles on the
play.
"I didn't think they caught us," Cowher said. "If we execute
some defenses, things are better. If we tackle the tight end on
the touchdown pass (to Dunn), things would have been better."
Hoying was 4-of-5 for 79 yards on the Eagles' next possession,
including his TD toss to Fryar that made it 14-0 with 5:38
remaining. Fryar caught his 74th career TD pass to move into a
tie for 17th place on the all-time list with Nat Moore.
"We just came out flat," Charles Johnson said. "We put ourselves
in a position to win the ballgame in the second half. We just
had a couple mistakes. We can't match touchdowns with field
goals. A loss is a loss, whether you lose by 30 points or one
point."
Pittsburgh cut the deficit to 14-6 on a pair of field goals by
Norm Johnson. But the Eagles stretched their lead to 20-6 on
Boniol's 23-yard field goal with 1:42 left in the first half and
his 35-yarder with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter that
capped a 14-play, seven-minute drive.
"I think that seeing what a quarterback goes through around here
helped me prepare for this, the way the media shifts from one
guy to another," Hoying said. "Not just seeing those guys play,
but seeing exactly what a starting quarterback has to deal
with."
Hoying is a combined 43-of-73 for 507 yards in his first two NFL
starts. He was 26-of-38 for 276 yards against the Ravens last
week.
"Bobby has all the tools," Fryar said. "He has the arm and he
has the presence on the field," Fryar said. "Everybody knew that
but we wanted to make sure that when he did come in, that we
weren't throwing him to the lions because if you put a young guy
in too early, you can mess him up and Ray didn't want to make
that mistake."
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