The Jaguars earned their first playoff victory in eight years when Josh Scobee's 25-yard field goal sailed through the uprights at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on January 5, 2008.
The Jaguars looked both dominant and dormant in a game in which they jumped out to a 28-10 lead by the end of the third quarter, but trailed by one with six minutes to play. Jacksonville needed Scobee and David Garrard to provide late-game heroics to pull out the victory.
The Jaguars defense was gasping for air as Ben Roethlisberger masterminded a furious comeback, starting on the first play of the fourth quarter. That's when he found Santonio Holmes racing across the middle of the Jacksonville defense and hit him in stride for a 37-yard touchdown.
The Jaguars failed to move the ball and Roethlisberger went back to work on another 10-play drive that finished with tight end Heath Miller exploiting the middle of the defense for a 14-yard score. The Steelers seemed completely in control as Garrard and the offense looked completely lost. Najeh Davenport's one -yard turn with just over six minutes to play gave the Steelers the lead.
It seemed as if the Jaguars season was over. But Mike Smith's defense came through with their first stop of the fourth quarter and Dennis Northcutt's 16-yard punt return gave the ball back to Garrard near midfield.
With their season on the line, Garrard took the field with the chance to define himself as a playoff quarterback. His first down pass to Ernest Wilford fell incomplete and the crowd roared. His second down pass to Reggie Williams came up two yard shy of a first down and his 3rd-and-2 pass to tight end Marcedes Lewis was short.
On fourth down at the Steelers 43 yard line Garrard called his own number, looking for two yards over the left side of his offensive line; he found 32 all the way to the Pittsburgh 11. Roethlisberger and the Steelers faithful couldn't believe what they saw but were forced to acknowledge it when Scobee scored the game winner.
Garrard wore a flashy scarf and sporty fedora as he walked out of Heinz Field to the Jaguars buses after his impressive late-game performance. The Jaguars were headed to New England to face a much more impressive Patriots team that had just finished the season 16-0.
