Dolphins return to Heinz Field brings back Mud Bowl memories against Steelers

A punt is what is most remembered.

It became one of the oddest moments in the history of Heinz Field, which has hosted four AFC championship games. Counting the preseason, Pitt and WPIAL games, there might be more than 4,000 punts in the 18-year-old facility.

How many of them left an unforgettable legacy?

“That punt…” Pittsburgh Steelers radio sideline reporter Craig Wolfley said amidst incredulous chuckles this week, “I remember looking at the astonished faces around me — whether it was coaches or players — and we’re all looking at the same thing going, ‘I’ve never seen that before!’ ”

The same could be said about the rest of the Nov. 26 2007 game — the most recent time the Miami Dolphins visited for “Monday Night Football.” Miami’s return brought back memories of one of the most Heinz Field’s most unforgettable games — albeit for the wrong reasons.

That Monday night meeting between the Steelers and Dolphins was played during a rainstorm on a freshly-rolled playing surface that made it almost unplayable.

“I was made an honorary captain for coin toss. So I went out there, and it was like slogging through ankle-deep mud,” Wolfley said. “I’m like going, ‘Gadzooks!’ I’m sinking into the turf as we are walking out. And I am thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this is going to be a problem tonight.’

“Little did I know I would see the first 9-iron punt that I would ever see in my life.”

That punt came off the right foot of Miami’s Brandon Fields as he stood in an end zone late in the third quarter of a scoreless game. It landed with a splat in front of the Steelers’ bench at the Dolphins 48-yard line.

“It was like it landed in quicksand,” former Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden said.

The ESPN announcing trio of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser laughed and talked over each other in disbelief. A press box packed with dozens of writers and radio and TV types burst out laughing in unison.

As Tirico put it, “If you teed the ball up, you couldn’t put it any better.”

“You could take out that 9-iron, go straight for the pin, drop it down …” Kornheiser said, “Unbelievable!”

The punt was far from the only unbelievable moment in what ended up a 3-0 Steelers win that wasn’t decided until a Jeff Reed 24-yard field goal with 17 seconds left. It was the longest an NFL game lastest without a point scored in 64 years. It is the league’s lowest-scoring game over the past 25 years.

And it was because of a re-sodding that a Tribune-Review story from that day described as “2 1/2 acres worth in 4-feet-by-25-feet pieces (of sod) was placed over… the original surface.”

Putting new sod on top of old sod was necessary because WPIAL championship games were played three days prior to the scheduled Steelers game, and Pitt hosted South Florida two days before.

That was exacerbated by a rain storm so heavy water seaped through seams of tarps covering the field.

. @TimBenzPgh bets this #Steelers find a way to win ugly anyway. Rain or shine. https://t.co/vffKHOXXBl

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) October 22, 2019

“I never had a game like that,” said McFadden, who works as a football analyst for CBSSports.com.

McFadden played for the Steelers for six seasons and played in adverse conditions, including the 2005 game against the Chicago Bears that took place during a blizzard. He called the 2007 Mud Bowl, “The one and only when it comes to the worst conditions.

“The mud, the rain, the footing — it was all horrible.”

The bright spot for the Steelers defenders?

“Statistically speaking,” McFadden said, “we dominated. We always prided ourselves in being in the conversation of being one of the best defenses in the NFL. That was a consensus throughout my time in Pittsburgh, and we were able to provide a shutout.”

Keith Butler remembers that aspect of the Dolphins’ last Monday night visit, too. The Steelers defensive coordinator, he was their linebackers coach back then.

“The ball was slipping around, and it was very hard to throw the ball,” Butler said. “It was a Mud Bowl. If you’re a purist, you loved the game. If you like to see a lot of points, you hated the game. I liked it because it was just three points scored, and we got a shutout.”

Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner was the team’s receivers coach at the time. He recalled how the wide receivers wondered how the team could consider or execute passing plays.

Astonishingly, Ben Roethlisberger completed 18 of 21 attempts — albeit for only 165 yards.

Both teams combined for 375 yards.

“It was one of those games,” Fichtner said.

The type of game that those who took part in it don’t forget.

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