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Oct 25, 2009 11:45 pm US/Eastern
Steelers Win 27-17, Hand Vikings 1st Loss
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ―
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Ben Roethlisberger No. 7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers tries to avoid a sack by EJ Henderson No. 56 of the Minnesota Vikings at Heinz Field on Oct. 25, 2009 in Pittsburgh.
Rick Stewart/Getty Images
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Brett Favre #4 of the Minnesota Vikings readies to throw against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Oct. 25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Rick Stewart/Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Steelers handed the Minnesota Vikings their first loss of the season at Heinz Field Sunday afternoon.
The Steelers turned three major defensive stands into a 27-17 victory over Brett Favre and the Vikings.
In the fourth quarter, LaMarr Woodley returned a Favre fumble 77 yards for a touchdown.
"They did a great job blocking… I looked to my left one time and I saw a offensive lineman coming; I said, 'I can't let this dude catch me, this is gonna be embarrassing tomorrow on film.' And my guys just set up the block and I got in there," said Woodley.
But just second later, the Vikings' Percy Harvin ran a kickoff return 88 yards for a touchdown cutting the Steelers new 10 point lead to only 20-17.
On that same play, back judge Richard Reels was injured when Vikings tight end Jeff Dugan collided with him at the 15-yard line.
Reels was attended to by medical personnel for several minutes, but walked off the field under his own power.
But the Steelers win was preserved in the closing minutes of the game when Keyaron Fox ran back an interception 82 yards for another score.
"I'm fine with that. Like I said, we got to be able to pick each other up and they did it today and I'm really happy the way they played and it was fun," said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, when asked about the defense scoring twice to the one touchdown the offense scored.
The Vikings threatened to tie the game late in the third quarter, but a goal line stand by the Steelers forced Minnesota to settle for a field goal to cut the lead to 13-10.
With just over 11 minutes to play in the third quarter, Jeff Reed drilled his second field goal of the game, this time from 27 yards, to give the Steelers a 13-6 lead.
He also connected from 39 yards in the first quarter for the game's first points.
Just before halftime, Roethlisberger found Mike Wallace streaking over the middle and hit him in stride for a 40-yard touchdown pass to give the Steelers their second lead of the game.
With just over five minutes to play in the second quarter, running back Adrian Peterson knifed his way into the end zone from two yards out to give the Vikings a 7-3 lead.
"It's tough," said Peterson of his team's first loss of the season. "But at the end of the day, we had opportunities. We were inside the red zone twice with the opportunity of taking the lead and we knew there weren't gonna be any handouts. We had the opportunity to take it and unfortunately we gave it away. So, it's gonna be a learning experience."
Near the end of the first quarter, the Steelers appeared to have scored a touchdown when Roethlisberger found Santonio Holmes for a seven-yard score.
However, an offensive pass interference call nullified the touchdown and forced the Steelers to settle for a 39-yard field goal from Jeff Reed to take a 3-0 lead.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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