Looking back at that 2001 AFCCG, you wonder if they would have played the end game any different now. Tebucky Jones’ interception got them to the 34 and it was basically the same situation as the end of this year’s Super Bowl. A first down or a FG gives them the win, essentially. They ran twice to make the Steelers use time outs then Bledsoe threw one away going for a deep play. Vinatieri missed the 50 yarder that would have put it away.
The thing was, Heinz field had only been open for half a year and while I’m sure kickers in warmups knew about the difficulties kicking there I doubt anyone understood just how hard 50+ is there. You definitely can’t take a sack in that situation but now I think you’d see some trapping or screens to try to get the kick a little more manageable if they couldn’t get a first down. I think they were probably thinking, well we are in range so we just need a first down, not more yards. But in that stadium you have to add 5 or 10 yards to your expectations. As it was, he just barely missed it.