It's tough to win on the road. It's even more difficult to do so in the bitter cold and snow when you are a team based in warm and sunny South Florida.
Greatest on the road ...
Charles Clay, Miami Dolphins
It had to be a soul-crushing defeat for the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose reputation has been built on supposedly being tougher than their foes. That is apparently more myth than reality. On a day seemingly built for the once-rugged Steelers, it was the team from Florida than came away with a win in the cold and snow in a crucial game in the AFC playoff chase.
En route to the pivotal 34-28 win, the Dolphins tallied the most points they've posted all season and racked up 360 yards of total offense. This happened in the cold and snow, and against the once-formidable Steelers. Helping lead the charge was Charles Clay, the "Claymaker" if you will. Clay caught two touchdown passes in the win, including the score that put the Dolphins up for good on the Steelers. On that 12-yard score, Clay fought through the tackle attempts of Cortez Allen and Troy Polamalu to burst toward the end zone. That high-effort play capped an 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter that gave Miami a 31-28 lead with 2:53 remaining. A last-ditch attempt to claim victory -- a five-lateral comedy of desperation -- by the Steelers was a failure and with that the team's playoff hopes have almost totally vanished.
The Dolphins, meanwhile, are in the thick of the AFC wild-card race after the team's first win in Pittsburgh in 23 years.
