Enlarge By Steve Mitchell, US Presswire Hines Ward and the Steelers improved to 5-1 with a win in Miami on Sunday. IN 'THE HUDDLE' COMMUNITY IN 'THE HUDDLE' COMMUNITY Get the latest buzz from around the NFL in 'The Huddle,' USA TODAY's football blog READ THE LATEST POSTS READ THE LATEST POSTS Read all posts MIAMI  Put it down as a Ben Roethlisberger fumble into the end zone that nobody officially was credited with recovering. It helped the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 23-22 victory Sunday over the Miami Dolphins. BOX SCORE: Steelers 23, Dolphins 22 "I mean, it has to either be a fumble or a touchdown, but they decided to make the call that they made, and that's what it is," said Dolphins linebacker Ike Alama-Francis, who argued in vain that he recovered the ball in the end zone and that Pittsburgh shouldn't have had the chance to kick the winning field goal on fourth down with 2:26 left. Trailing 22-20, Pittsburgh faced third-and-goal from the two when Roethlisberger ran a quarterback draw and lunged toward the end zone, extending the ball toward the goal line. The ball came loose when he was hit by safety Chris Clemons. BIG BEN: QB says he had TD even with disputed call The field officials ruled the ball had crossed the goal line before Roethlisberger lost it. They ruled it a touchdown. But players on both sides scrambled in an attempt to recover the ball. That included Roethlisberger. "He (Clemons) hit me, and I knew it was going to be close," said Roethlisberger. Miami challenged the touchdown call, arguing Roethlisberger lost the ball before it crossed the goal line and that the Dolphins had recovered. That would have been a touchback and Miami ball at the 20-yard line. After video review, referee Gene Steratore announced that Roethlisberger had indeed lost the ball before it crossed the goal line. "But we could not award the defense … the football because we don't have video evidence of the defense recovering the ball," Steratore said after the game. Alama-Francis said he had the ball. "I got it. It was mine, no doubt," he said. " …. I held the ball, and I wasn't going to let that thing go because I knew I had possession. I even handed it to the ref." But Roethlisberger said that under the pile he also had an arm on the ball. He said he only let go after the officials told him it was a touchdown. "I actually had a whole arm around it until the ref was patting me on the back saying, 'Touchdown,' so I let go," Roethlisberger said after throwing two touchdowns in his second game back from suspension. "I heard. "Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown," said Roethlisberger, who said at least one other Steeler was grabbing the ball. " … I'm not denying that he (Alama-Francis) wasn't holding onto it. But we let go. So that's just a matter of how do you tell who recovered the ball? I don't know how you do it." Steratore on why the officials didn't determine who recovered the fumble at the time of the play: "Because the ruling was a touchdown." The win boosted Pittsburgh to 5-1. Miami fell to 3-3. "The only explanation (of the play) I got was what I got on the field," said Dolphins coach Tony Sparano. "He (Steratore) just told me that even though our guy came up in the end zone and handed him the ball, he didn't know who came up with it. It was a scrum … and he couldn't see evidence of who recovered the ball." On fourth down, Pittsburgh's Jeff Reed kicked the winning 18-yard field goal. The Steelers defense stopped Miami on downs in its own territory to clinch the win. "It was a big play in the game, but it shouldn't have come down to that," said Sparano, whose team got only two field goals out of two lost fumbles by Pittsburgh deep in its own territory in the opening minutes. "So, we had plenty of opportunities to win the football game, and we didn't." We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more