updated 12:12 a.m. ET Jan. 6, 2008

PITTSBURGH - David Garrard’s legs made up for his mistakes.

Garrard looked as if he was about to have his worst game of the season at the worst possible time for Jacksonville. Garrard threw two second-half interceptions — the first time he’s thrown two in a game this season — and helped the Pittsburgh Steelers overcome an 18-point deficit in their AFC wild-card playoff game Saturday night.

But Garrard gained 32 yards on a fourth-and-2 draw play at the Pittsburgh 43, setting up Josh Scobee’s 25-yard field goal with 37 seconds remaining that gave the Jaguars a 31-29 victory and their first postseason victory since 1999.

Garrard believes he learned a lot in his first career postseason start.

“That I can make mistakes. I can throw turnovers, I can throw interceptions and rebound from them,” he said. “That’s what’s important. It’s how you come back from them when the chips are on the line and you’ve already made some mistakes.

“How do you handle them? How do you withstand their surge? How do you handle the crowd noise? How do you have poise when bullets are flying, when guys are trying to rip your head off? We showed it tonight. It wasn’t just me. Those other guys allowed me to get that big run.”

Garrard was 9-of-21 for 140 yards and a touchdown. And thanks to the one big run, he was the team’s leading rusher with 58 yards on five carries.

But his two interceptions almost sent the Jaguars home with their third consecutive loss in the playoffs.

Garrard had been so poised and polished all season. He ranked second in the NFL in passer rating while making few mistakes in his first full season as a starter.

Everyone told him how different things would be in the playoffs. He found out in the second half.

The Steelers stacked the line of scrimmage, vowing to take away Fred Taylor and the running game that burned them for 224 yards in their meeting three weeks ago, and forcing Garrard to beat them.

Garrard was fine in the first half, completing four of eight passes for 74 yards and a touchdown. He threw a perfect wheel route to Maurice Jones-Drew for a 43-yard touchdown and played most of the game with a lead, thanks to big plays from Jacksonville’s defense and special teams.

Rashean Mathis returned the first of three first-half interceptions 63 yards for a touchdown, Jones-Drew returned a kickoff 96 yards to set up a score and the Jaguars led 28-10 to start the fourth quarter.

Then came the near-collapse.

It started with two missed tackles on a fourth-down play and then really got going with Garrard’s second interception.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, taking short drops and making quick throws, hooked up with Santonio Holmes for a 37-yard play on fourth down that made it 28-17. Mathis and fellow cornerback Terry Cousin missed tackles on the play.

“That could have killed their momentum,” Mathis said. “I’m glad we came out with a win because that play would have haunted me.”

Garrard couldn’t get anything going on the ensuing drive. He misfired on two throws, then got sacked on third down.

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Roethlisberger drove the Steelers for another touchdown, a 14-yard strike to Heath Miller that made it 28-23. Two plays later, Garrard badly overthrew tight end Marcedes Lewis near midfield. Ike Taylor was waiting for the ball and then weaved his way to the Jacksonville 16.

Pittsburgh went ahead on Najeh Davenport’s 1-yard run, but a 2-point conversion failed. Then Garrard went to work.

“It didn’t go our way a lot of the time,” Fred Taylor said. “They made some plays, but we made the last one. That’s all that matters.”

Jaguars 31, Steelers 29 Jags blow huge lead, rally to win Garrard bounces back from big mistakes Backups play key roles in Jacksonville victory Video: Hardships never stopped Garrard Opinion: Steelers always act with class   Discuss: What did you think of game? Team pages: Jaguars  |  Steelers

Garrard completed two short passes to get the Jaguars in fourth-and-2, then dropped back to throw on what could have been the team’s final shot. Instead, he ran.

He juked Tyrone Carter several yards downfield and ended up with the team’s second-longest play of the game.

“Those are winning plays and that’s what it takes in this league,” Jaguars coach Del Rio said. “I was very proud of our guys for responding after watching that 18-point lead evaporate.”

Garrard’s run was the key. It was just enough for him to erase his mistakes and for the Jaguars to avoid a loss.

“I thought I was going to score, but my slowness caught up to me and everybody else caught up to me,” Garrard said. “As long as I got in field-goal range, that’s all that I needed. When I got tackled, I felt the guy trying to knock the ball out from behind. But he wasn’t going to do that. I was holding that like it was my baby boy.”

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