PRO FOOTBALL : Patriots Try, but Steelers Sneak a Victory : AFC: Pittsburgh defense stops Bledsoe on fourth-and-goal play at end of game to preserve the 17-14 win.

With a goal-line stand on the final play, the Pittsburgh Steelers saved not only the game, but possibly their season as well.

A defensive wave led by Levon Kirkland’s leaping tackle stopped Drew Bledsoe’s quarterback sneak on fourth and goal from the one, and the Steelers held on for a 17-14 victory Sunday over the New England Patriots.

Not according to Bledsoe, however.

“All I had to do was break the plane of the goal line, and I’m sure I did it,” he said.

The Steelers, playing without injured All-Pro running back Barry Foster for the third game in a row, had lost consecutive and possibly could’ve fallen out of playoff contention with a loss. Pittsburgh remained a game behind Houston (8-4) in the AFC Central.

The Patriots (1-11) lost their seventh in a row. The last six defeats were by a combined 20 points.

Bledsoe committed six costly turnovers, but the rookie drove the Patriots (1-11) from their own five toward the Pittsburgh end zone in the final minutes.

The Patriots stopped the clock with 17 seconds remaining, and rather than ask erratic kicker Scott Sisson to try a tying field goal, Coach Bill Parcells went for the win. Bledsoe took the snap and jumped over the middle, but Kirkland met him in midair and stopped him.

Parcells said he never considered going for the tie on the final play--or giving the ball to 235-pound Leonard Russell, who ran for 147 yards last week in a 6-0 loss to Jets. Russell had 54 yards and a touchdown in 19 carries Sunday.

“I thought we had the play, and it looked like he scored to me,” Parcells said. “I’ve got to try to get these guys a win. Maybe Russell gets the ball on the one or two, but not the six-inch line. It was so close.”

Bledsoe was intercepted five times in the second half, and was picked off on all four possessions previous to the last drive. He was 18 of 46 for 296 yards and a touchdown. At one point he threw 11 consecutive incompletions.

Bledsoe’s roller-coaster rookie season was condensed into one contrasting game. He was exceptional as New England took a 14-0 lead--its biggest of the season. He completed a three-yard touchdown pass to Ben Coates and set up Russell’s three-yard touchdown run with his passing.

But his second-quarter fumble led to the Steelers’ eventual winning score, Neil O’Donnell’s one-yard touchdown pass to Merril Hoge.

“That game typifies our whole season--up and down, up and down, then winning when it looked like we might lose,” Steeler safety Carnell Lake said. “That quarterback made a lot of mistakes, but, wow, what a great future he has.”

Hoge, a virtually forgotten man in the Steelers’ offense the last two seasons, caught two touchdown passes in the second quarter after scoring only two since 1991.

The Steelers, with the Dolphins and Oilers awaiting the next two weeks, knew they had to have this one.

“Just before that last play, we talked about it being an insult for New England to go for it and not even kick the field goal,” defensive end Kenny Davidson said.