Both defenses controlled the game early on, and with just over four minutes left in the first quarter, the Steelers had to punt the ball from their own 13-yard line. Josh Miller appeared to bail his team out with a 64-yard punt, but Steelers receiver Troy Edwards was penalized for going out of bounds before tackling Troy Brown on the return. This turned out to make a big difference, as the punt was redone and on the second attempt, Brown returned it 55 yards for a touchdown. Pittsburgh responded by driving 65 yards in 10 plays, one of them a 34-yard run by quarterback Kordell Stewart, and scoring with a 30-yard field goal from Kris Brown, cutting the score to 7–3.