Pittsburgh steals one as Eagles fall on last-second field goal

After winning three of their first four games by a margin of just four points combined, the Eagles got a taste of their own medicine.

Looking like they would survive another sloppy effort, the Steelers responded from an excellent fourth-quarter Eagles drive to put together on of their own. It led to the game-ending field goal that dropped the Birds to 3-2 on the season, as they suffered a 16-14 loss to the Steelers in Week 5 of the NFL season.

Neither team wanted to score in the first quarter, particularly the Eagles. On their second drive of the game, Michael Vick appeared to fumble the ball and lose it to Lawrence Timmons. A challenge would reverse this call as the Eagles moved into the redzone on a pass interference call. Two plays later, Vick ran forward trying for the endzone and fumbled the ball again. The ball rolled into the endzone and was recovered by Larry Foote for the turnover.

That would be the haunting play. The Steelers didn't score on their drive that followed, but after punting the ball away, would recover another Vick fumble to take over in good field position. Again, the Steelers didn't score.

But the Steelers couldn't be stopped all game. After superb defense through the first 25 minutes, the Steelers managed to work through the Eagles for the game's first score, a 13-yard run by Rashard Mendenhall for a touchdown.

A Sean Suisham field goal from 20 yards out sent the game to halftime with the Steelers leading 10-0.

The Eagles responded in the second half with a revived offense that started to make plays. The Eagles first drive of the second half culminating with a seven-yard screen pass from Vick to LeSean McCoy for a touchdown.

The Steelers could only manage a 34-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to extend the lead. The Eagles began working on a way to grab the advantage.

They did that on a drive that lasted 17 plays, eight minutes and 18 seconds, featured two fourth-down conversions and ended with a two-yard touchdown from Vick to tight end Brent Celek to give the Eagles a 14-13 lead with 6:33 to play. 

But the defense was silent for much of the second half, and was mostly lucky because of bad passing by Ben Roethlisberger and nine Steeler penalties.

Still, the Steelers continued to drive against the Eagles defense all the way down to their own 16-yard-line and stopped the clock with three seconds left.

Sean Suisham made his third successful field goal of the day, a 34-yarder at the buzzer for the win, sending the Eagles to the 16-14 final.

The player of the game was by far Mendenhall. He would rush for 81 yards on 14 carries and the game's only touchdown for Pittsburgh. Antonio Brown had a solid game as well, grabbing seven catches for 86 yards. 

Michael Vick was not terrible from a passing standpoint. He completed 20 of 30 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns. It was his three fumbles, and two lost fumbles, which accounted for the only turnovers of the game. The Eagles fumbled the ball four times as a team. The Steelers fumbled three times. The only lost fumbles were the two by Vick.

This was a turnovers game, and the Eagles finally got burned. You can only turn the ball over so many times before it costs you a game. This time it did. Instead of somehow surviving again and going to 4-1, the Eagles finally got bit with a loss.

The Eagles will be back in action next Sunday at 1 p.m. when they host the Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field in Week 6. This is the Eagles last game before a bye week in Week 7.

Kevin Durso is a contributor for Eagledelphia. You can follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.