Amazing 2003 comeback remembered as Steelers renew playoff rivalry with Browns
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Check out my Triblive story on the greatest playoff comeback in Steelers history. It just happened to be against the Browns.https://t.co/p0pPVVsJqV pic.twitter.com/3EGJCMgUpX
— Paul Guggenheimer (@PGuggenheimer) January 10, 2021
The play was called “Green 40.”
On Jan. 5, 2003, the Pittsburgh Steelers were trailing the visiting Cleveland Browns by five points with less than a minute left in their wild-card playoff game. They had been behind for the entire game, but now they were on the Browns’ 3-yard line with a chance to finally take the lead.
The Steelers had two plays ready when they broke the huddle — either a pass to wide receiver Hines Ward or a run play featuring fullback Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala. It all depended on what the Cleveland defense showed and what Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox was going to audible to.
“I saw the strong safety rotate over to take away the pass, and I was calling for the run play, which was a draw,” Fuamatu-Ma’afala said. “I was pointing at the safety and yelling ‘Green 40, Green 40,’ making sure (Maddox) saw it. I didn’t want him to miss that call.”
Maddox didn’t miss it and handed the ball to Fuamatu-Ma’afala, who barreled into the end zone for a dramatic game-winning touchdown that sent 62,000 Steelers fans into a frenzy. They followed it up with a two-point conversion on a pass from wide receiver Antwaan Randle El to tight end Jerame Tuman.
The Steelers had overcome a 17-point Cleveland lead in the second half to win 36-33 at Heinz Field. It set the record for the largest deficit overcome by the Steelers in the franchise’s storied playoff history.
Sportscasters were calling it “The Heinz Catch-Up.”
And while it wasn’t quite like the Immaculate Reception of 1972, it was one of those wild postseason finishes no one seems likely to forget, especially those who played in that game.
“I’ve got a lot of great memories through my career, and being able to cap it off by being a part of a Super Bowl team (2005) was an awesome feeling. But there was nothing in my career to ever get to that point,” Maddox said. “To be that far down with that little time left and to keep fighting, more than the win, I think, just as a team being able to go through something like that with your teammates and feel that feeling, it’s pretty special.”
In many ways, the 2002 Steelers season seems like ancient history. The year culminated in the last playoff berth of the pre-Roethlisberger era. They were led by Maddox, a journeyman quarterback whose professional football career to that point had been, well, quite a journey.
After playing for four NFL teams in five seasons, Maddox was cut by the Atlanta Falcons during training camp in 1997 and took a hiatus from football to become an insurance agent. He revived his football career in the Arena League in 2000 and then signed on with the XFL’s Los Angeles Xtreme and was named the league’s MVP.
When the XFL folded, Maddox signed with the Steelers and, in 2002, became their starting quarterback. But that first playoff game against Cleveland got off to an ugly start. Maddox threw two costly first-half interceptions, and the Browns raced to a 10-point lead at halftime.
But in the locker room, there was no panic, just a sense of urgency.
“There was never a sense that we were out of it, that we were going to give up or that we were going to pack our bags and get ready for the offseason,” Tuman said. “It was such a great group of guys. We all wanted to play for one another. We weren’t going to let each other down.”
However, Cleveland scored on its first possession of the second half: Quarterback Kelly Holcomb threw for one of his three TDs that were part of a 429-yard passing performance. With a 24-7 lead, the Browns looked unbeatable.
“You know it’s bad when the stadium is silent and all you can hear are the idiot Cleveland fans that are cheering in our stadium,” Fuamatu-Ma’afala said. “But the guys were like, ‘Damn it! C’mon, we got to go!’ ”
If anyone knew how to overcome adversity, it was Fuamatu-Ma’afala. His season had been an extremely rough one both physically and mentally. Earlier in the year, his older brother Nick had died of leukemia. The death coincided with the birth of his daughter Alayna.
On the field, there were a series of injuries. Fuamatu-Ma’afala fractured four ribs in the third regular-season game against the Browns and later tore a pectoral muscle in a game at Baltimore. Going into the Cleveland playoff game, he wasn’t expecting to play much except on special teams.
But in the second half, after reassuring the Steelers they could come back and win, coach Bill Cowher decided the team needed to have Fuamatu-Ma’afala as the third-down running back, mainly to pick up the blitz after Maddox had been sacked twice.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” Fuamatu-Ma’afala said.
The Steelers started chipping away at Cleveland’s lead. Maddox threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress to reduce the deficit to 10 points by the end of the third quarter.
After a Cleveland field goal to open the fourth quarter, Maddox hit Tuman on a 3-yard scoring pass to cut the lead to six.
“It just kind of snowballs. You start to feel that momentum kind of switch and move onto your side,” said Maddox, who completed 30 of 48 passes for 367 yards and three touchdowns. “I think the best thing that we were able to do was not go, ‘Oh, finally it’s starting to go our way,’ but to have the resolve to just keep playing harder and harder knowing the job wasn’t finished yet.”
Indeed it wasn’t. Holcomb threw his final touchdown pass to Andre Davis to put Cleveland ahead 33-21. With 3:06 left, Maddox tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ward to make it 33-28.
On their ensuing possession, Cleveland faced a third-and-12 situation at their 21-yard line. Holcomb threw a pass over the middle that Browns receiver Dennis Northcutt had in his hands but famously dropped. If Northcutt had held on to the ball, it would have given the Browns a first down with 2:42 remaining and the Steelers might not have gotten the ball back.
But they did. Maddox then led the Steelers on a 61-yard drive in six plays, completing four of five passes for 58 yards to set the stage for Fuamatu-Ma’afala’s career-defining moment. However, his go-ahead score with 54 seconds left wasn’t as easy as it might have looked.
“When I got the ball, I started to my right. That’s where I saw a little crease,” Fuamatu-Ma’afala said. “But then the hole quickly closed, and I went back to the left and slipped past the linebacker. It was exciting. I had a tough season. I lost my brother, and I was dedicating the season to him. After I scored, I pointed straight up just before (Steelers guard) Alan Faneca pile-drived me into the ground.”
For many Steelers, it was a career highlight.
“It was my favorite play of all time. And we’re still talking about that moment, so I guess it was something good.” Fuamatu-Ma’afala said.
As for the Browns, it was a loss that took 18 years to recover from. They made it back to the playoffs this year for the first time since that season. And as fate would have it, they’re back at Heinz Field to play the Steelers at 8:15 p.m. Sunday.
Maddox, Tuman and Fuamatu-Ma’afala each said they will be tuning in.
Maddox now teaches computer business classes at a high school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Tuman, who coached at North Allegheny High School for six years, now runs an athletic training facility in the Pittsburgh area. And Fuamatu-Ma’afala is a youth sports director for the U.S. Army bases on his native island of O’ahu in Honolulu County, Hawaii.
His daughter Alayna, an infant when that 2003 game was played, has just committed to attend UNLV on a soccer scholarship.