Giants 'man' up, beat living snot out of Steelers

PITTSBURGH -- The New York Giants beat the hell out of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Didn't just beat them. Beat them up.

Beat them senseless. Beat them in a way that could linger.

Justin Tuck might be in Big Ben's nightmares after this game. (AP)

The final score was 21-14, but this wasn't the kind of game you measure on the scoreboard. This was the kind of game you measure in the losing locker room, where there were very few Steelers walking around. This was the kind of game you measure in the trainer's room, where there were very many Steelers lying around.

Measure this game by the grass stains on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's uniform, or by the sheer volume of the Giants' defensive attack. Roethlisberger dropped back to pass 34 times, and was knocked down on 16 of them. He was sacked five times. He was intercepted four times.

Measure this game by Steelers safety Ryan Clark, who was trucked by 265-pound New York tailback Brandon Jacobs in the second quarter, and then tried to tackle Jacobs again three plays later and looked like a beach ball being run over by an 18-wheeler. Clark watched the finish of the game from the sideline, his arm in a sling, the result of a shot he delivered to New York receiver Steve Smith. It was that kind of day for the Steelers.

This kind of day, too: By game's end, the Steelers were using a punter with one good leg, and their long snapper was also a starting linebacker. Pittsburgh had wanted to use an offensive lineman at long snapper, but that experiment never got past the sideline.

The Steelers' situation at long snapper turned this game upside down. They led 14-12 shortly after Greg Warren, the Steelers' snapper for four years, was knocked down by a member of the Giants' special teams in the third quarter and didn't get up. After a few minutes with the training staff, Warren rose and started to walk off the field. He made it two steps before his left leg buckled gruesomely outward. Minutes later the Steelers announced, unnecessarily, that Warren was done for the day. My guess is he's done for the season.

That sent the Steelers into emergency snapper-search mode. NFL rules limit active rosters to 53 players, so few teams carry a qualified backup emergency snapper. Most teams have a player ready, just in case, but the Steelers weren't prepared.

Their first choice was starting guard Darnell Stapleton. I watched him warm up, and it was even more gruesome than watching Warren go down. Stapleton's first sideline snap was so wide, it was caught by kicker Jeff Reed -- lined up three yards to the side and behind holder Mitch Berger. Stapleton's second snap rolled to Berger. Didn't bounce -- rolled.

There was no third snap.

Defensive end James Harrison became the long snapper, and I watched him sail two consecutive snaps over the head of Berger, lined up at punter. Then I watched Harrison jog onto the field and do the same thing, parachuting a snap over Berger's head and through the end zone for a game-tying safety with 6:48 to play.

"I guess I was the best guy we had available at the time," Harrison said later.

Guess so.