It was week 10 back in 2002 when the Pittsburgh Steelers’ kicker Todd Peterson went down with an injury, and the Steelers were forced to quickly hold a 4-man try-out at Heinz Field to find his replacement.
The Steelers settled on a relatively unknown rookie named Jeff Reed out of the University of North Carolina. In his first career game, Reed would hit 3 field goals in a narrow victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. (Fun fact: That was my first Steelers game in the city of Pittsburgh).
Reed kicked well in the un-friendly confines of Heinz Field for the rest of that season, causing the Steelers to cut Peterson that off-season and keep Jeff around for 8 more seasons.