Monday, December 31, 2007
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Charlie Batch drops back to pass against the Ravens yesterday. (at Ravens 12/23/2007)
BALTIMORE -- Despite a season in which he broke Terry Bradshaw's record for touchdown passes and obliterated his own mark for passer rating, Ben Roethlisberger was not voted by his teammates as the Steelers' most valuable player, an award that went to linebacker James Harrison.
But, when coach Mike Tomlin decided to rest several of his top players for a meaningless regular-season finale against the Baltimore Ravens, it was Roethlisberger who was on the bench, along with Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu, and Harrison who played into the fourth quarter.
Any more question about which player is most valuable to the fortunes of the Steelers -- and their advancement in the AFC playoffs -- was on display yesterday at M&T Bank Stadium when the Steelers' offense was well on its way to season lows in yards and first downs without its Pro Bowl quarterback.
It wasn't until Charlie Batch led a Roethlisberger-like rally in the fourth quarter that the Steelers managed to muster some offense in a 27-21 loss to the Ravens. But, in the end, all it really did was make the final score appear not as lopsided as the game was for three quarters.
"The way we fought back speaks volumes to our team," Ward said. "Hopefully, it carries over to our next game."
Perhaps, but the way the offense performed without Roethlisberger, who was rested to prevent further injury to a sprained ankle, speaks volumes to his value.
The Steelers finished with 14 first downs and 264 yards of offense, their third-lowest output of the season, but only after Batch threw for 151 of his 218 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Until then, the only touchdown -- a 1-yard run by Najeh Davenport -- came because a pass interference penalty in the end zone against Ravens cornerback Corey Ivy gave the Steelers possession at the Baltimore 1.
"I don't think we put a legitimate drive together at all," said receiver Cedrick Wilson, whose only catch was a diving 7-yarder for a touchdown with 3:36 remaining. "We made some plays, but we didn't execute as well as we could. We wanted to win the game."
"We just can't get ourselves in a hole like that," said receiver Nate Washington, who had four of his five catches in the second half. "The way we fought back was the biggest boost for us."
None of this, though, is to blame quarterback Batch, who was making his first start since the 2006 opener and had attempted only five previous passes this season. What's more, he was playing without Ward, Pro Bowl running back Willie Parker and left tackle Marvel Smith, three vital components of the offense.
Still, he would not blame his slow start on his inactivity, or his two interceptions. Instead, Batch blamed himself for not converting enough third downs (4 of 10) and not making enough plays in the passing game before the final quarter.
"I wasn't able to get things going early and keep our defense off the field for three quarters," Batch said. "I don't think [rust] was necessarily the case. I didn't hit a couple passes when we had a chance to sustain drives and that kind of hurt us.
"If we could have converted a couple third downs, if I was able to convert them, it would have helped the defense a little bit and we wouldn't have had to wait till the fourth quarter to get something going."
After completing just 5 of 11 passes for 41 yards in the first half and 3 of 5 for 26 yards in the third quarter, Batch came to life in the fourth quarter, nearly bringing the Steelers back from their largest deficit this season.
He hooked up with Santonio Holmes on a 59-yard catch-and-run touchdown to cut the lead to 27-14, then threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Wilson that made it 27-21.
When he threw a perfect 28-yard pass to Holmes on third-and-19 from his 2 with 1:14 remaining, it appeared as though Batch was ready to conjure another Roethlisberger-like comeback. But, on the next play, rolling from the pocket, Batch threw a pass he said he would like back -- overthrowing Holmes down the field. Cornerback David Pittman intercepted the pass at the Ravens' 11.
"You want to win the game," Batch said. "You want to have some momentum heading into next week's game, heading into Jacksonville. We weren't able to do that. But next week is a new season."
Parker and Smith will not return for Saturday night's wild-card playoff game against the Jaguars at Heinz Field. But Ward will, and so will Roethlisberger, who finished the regular season with 29 touchdown passes and a passer rating of 104.2, breaking his own club record of 98.6 set in 2005.
Roethlisberger could have played against the Ravens, but Tomlin elected to designate him the third quarterback to make sure he is healthy for the Jaguars.
"The playoffs are here," Ward said. "Now we got to turn it up another notch."
With their MVP quarterback.
Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1466.
First published on December 31, 2007 at 12:00 am
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