Pittsburgh Defeats Miami 3-0 on Monday Night Football

On the stage that is Monday Night Football, the winless Miami Dolphins gave the Pittsburgh Steelers a game - as sloppy and as soggy as it may have been on the waterlogged field - but in the end, the Steelers won it on a field goal with 17 seconds remaining. The score: 3-0.

It was the lowest scoring Monday Night Football game ever and the first 3-0 game in the NFL since the New York Jets defeated the Washington Redskins 3-0 on December 11, 1993.

The 59 minutes, 23 seconds played without a score was the longest scoreless streak in a game since November 7, 1943 when the Detroit Lions and New York Football Giants played to a scoreless tie in conditions apparently not unlike those seen by the fans in Pittsburgh. The next closest the NFL has come to a scoreless tie since that Lions-Giants match up was the December 12, 1982 match up between the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins in Schaefer Stadium, Foxboro, MA.

Pittsburgh 3 - Miami 0
November 26, 2007

With 4:13 remaining, the Dolphins were forced to punt out of their end zone which resulted in a short field for Pittsburgh. With a drive that consumed 3:56, the Steelers made 1 third down conversion, but failed to convert a second when Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was sacked at the Miami 6 yard line. The Pittsburgh kicker, Jeff Reed, had missed an earlier attempt, but connected this time for a 24-yard field goal.

New England 3 - Miami 0
December 12, 1982

A blizzard had engulfed the area. The field conditions were so horrendous that the players were unable to gain any sort of footing. In the strike shortened season, the Patriots were perilously close to being eliminated from playoff contention. With 4:45 remaining in the game, on 4^th down and on the Miami 16-yard line, Ron Meyer, Patriots Head Coach, called for a time out to give his kicking team some time to clear a spot for the kick. Meanwhile, throughout the game a snow plow was used to clear off the line markers.

On a signal from the holder, the plow operator swerved to the spot behind the line of scrimmage and plowed out a path for the kick. The kick was made and the score held up for the remainder of the game. The next season, the NFL made such a move illegal.

New York Jets 3 - Washington 0
November 11, 1993

The most recent 3-0 game was far less dramatic: the Jets simply outplayed an over matched Washington Redskins team, yet only managed a first quarter field goal. New York gained 308 yards in total offense, had a 150-yard rusher, converted 17 first downs, and possessed the ball for 41-minutes of the 60-minute contest. Yet somehow managed only that first quarter field goal.

REFERENCE:

Pro Football Weekly, URL: http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/
Commentary/Columns/2007/campbell2218.htm

NFL Game Recap, Steelers/Dolphins, URL: http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/recap?game_id=29370
&displayPage=tab_recap&season=2007&week=REG12

Pro Football; Johnson's Cutbacks Cut Down the Redskins, NY Times, URL: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html
?res=9F0CE6DC1339F931A25751C1A965958260

"The Snowplow Game", URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowplow_Game

The Convict and the Snowplow, URL: http://everything2.com/index.pl?
node=The%20Convict%20and%20the%20Snowplow