11/18 — Pittsburgh's next drive is a mix of successes on both sides of the ball. Ben Roethlisberger throws a 25-yard ball to Hines Ward on a deep out that Darrelle Revis gets his hands on. The ball pops into the air — and Santonio Holmes is right there, somehow in the same area, to make the catch.

Dewayne Robertson is held by C Sean Mahan, still makes the tackle for loss of Willie Parker, but Pitt converts the first-and-20 immediately on a crossing route to Ward for 22 yards. Finally, Roethlisberger's fifth completion of the drive is a 7-yarder to Holmes, kind of a WR screen that Holmes takes just over the left pylon of the East end zone for the visitors' first score with nine minutes left in the half.

Jets 10, Steelers 7

The Jets are using a four-man wedge to return kickoffs this game, with Leon Washington all alone rather than with Brad Smith back alongside him. This kickoff should have provided decent field position for the hosts since the Steelers are kicking into the wind. But Justin McCareins, thinking Washington won't get to the short kick (Leon was right behind McCareins ready to make the catch), takes it at his 21 and makes it only to his 24. Opportunity wasted.

Laveranues Coles walks off the field slowly shortly after the first play of the drive. CBS analyst Phil Simms speculates that Coles hurt his ankle possibly when he was tackled on the second play of the game, the fleaflicker.

The Jets get a break when Pittsburgh PR Allen Rossum allows a Ben Graham punt that hits short to roll. It keeps rolling and rolling, until downed at the Steelers 19. An unexciting punt turns into a 54-yarder and an inside-the-20 effort with just over six minutes left in the half. The Jets will take it, but now the D has to hold.

It's not pretty but the Jets D still has an edge, especially off the edge. Roethlisberger throws the ball almost 60 yards into the wind and nearly hooks up with Santonio Holmes, but it wouldn't have counted because Max Starks, a tackle brought in as a tight end, holds Shaun Ellis. Then David Bowens leads the charge to Najeh Davenport for a 1-yard loss, and David Harris brings Davenport down after a 2-yard catch.

Finally, Roethlisberger is harassed again and throws a ball off his right hip rolling to his left. The ball is slightly underthrown to Nate Washington, with David Barrett batting the ball into the air, enabling S Kerry Rhodes to make a leaping interception.

Heading into the two-minute warning, the Jets have second-and-9 at the Pittsburgh 48.

And heading toward the final minute, Will Montgomery, playing at LG for Adrien Clarke, throws a nice block to spring Thomas Jones on third-and-1 for a 4-yard conversion. The Jets are in field goal range.

And now they're 3 yards away from a 10-point lead againi, as Jones has perhaps his best run as a Jet. He goes to his right, slips two Steelers tackle attempts, and charges left. It's not his longest run of the year, but his 26-yard jaunt has the Jets first-and-goal.

The Jets luck out when Chris Baker is held by Clark Haggans on the goal line. Luck because Clemens, after the play fake, rolled to his right, tried to score at the right pylon, and fumbled the ball over the goal line and through the side of the end zone. It would have been a touchback, no score for the Jets. Instead, it's first-and-goal at the 1 with 17 seconds to play and one timeout left for the home team.

Jones is stopped for no gain off the right side — will he ever score that first TD? — so the Jets clal their final timeout with eight seconds left.

A fade from Clemens for Brad Smith falls incomplete, so Mike Nugent comes on for a 19-yard field goal that ends a first half that wasn't as good as it could've been but still, all things considered, was pretty good. Thirty minutes down, 30 to go.

Jets 13, Steelers 7