Relax, the Kid will be just fine

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Monday, November 21, 2011

In this Jan. 5, 2011, photo, Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby(notes) (87) waits for a resumption in play against the Tampa Bay Lightning during an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh. Crosby will make his season debut on Monday, Nov. 21, against the New York Islanders, his first game in nearly a year since being sidelined with concussion-like symptoms. Crosby hasn't played since taking head shots in consecutive games in January against Washington and Tampa Bay. (AP)

When Sidney Crosby retakes the ice Monday for the Penguins, when he skates into that faceoff circle at 7:08 p.m., when he makes the final step in an almost 11-month climb back from a career-threatening concussion, there will rise from the seats a roar so loud, so loving that the combined volume and emotion might blow the rivets off Consol Energy Center's roof.

By about 7:09 p.m., I'm guessing, we'll hear our first gasp.

Then silence.

Then a sigh.

It might come with Crosby's first rush through center ice, with all 18,387 witnesses scanning the rink for any head-hunting Islander.

It might come with his first puck pursuit into a corner, when he gets checked or even nudged.

It might come with his first venture into the slot, as he tries for one of those deflections he had been perfecting just before his injury.

All of those, tonight and maybe for the foreseeable future, will be accompanied by fear of a new injury. Some will cringe, and others will look away. That's understandable. The nature of concussions is that one can lead to another and, the more one has, the worse they get. This is unlike any of Mario Lemieux's many comebacks in that regard, and it shouldn't be minimized.

But you know what?

Relax.

Find your seat, whether at the arena or in front of your TV, then take a deep breath and enjoy a truly great day for hockey, the grand return of one of the most exciting athletes in our city's history.

Be very sure that the Comeback Kid himself will enjoy it.

When Dan Bylsma, the Penguins' coach, called Crosby yesterday after medical clearance was granted, the captain's tone struck Bylsma as familiar.

"I'd only liken it to the sound you hear in the voice of players going to play their first game in the National Hockey League," Bylsma said in a conference call. "He's been looking forward to this for a long time."

Crosby won't speak with the media until after today's morning skate. But in my recent interview with him, he spoke in emotional detail about envisioning this return.

"I've thought a lot about that first game, tried to imagine what it will be like," Crosby said Nov. 1 at Southpointe. "And whenever I picture it in my mind, it's not just one situation. It's probably 10 or 15 that I've visualized ... just about everything. Going to the bench with the guys. Hearing all the chatter. Having your hometown crowd behind you. Maybe, if it's a close game, feeling that intensity again. All of that. Every bit of it. It's going to be a lot of fun."

Right, it's fun.

So let's enjoy it.

Let's remember that Crosby has been symptom-free, as best we know, since August. Every concussion is unpredictable, but that's a promising stretch. He has worked out feverishly for months, he's taken contact for weeks, and his practices have shown that his skill level is back to its usual stratosphere.

"He's been our best player in practice," Bylsma said.

Let's remember that the Penguins offer an exemplary supporting cast. They're 11-6-3, and they have enough team toughness that there apparently was no hesitation in clearing Crosby to return against the same New York Islanders who perpetrated that fight-filled fiasco Feb. 11. Deryk Engelland, Arron Asham and maybe even seldom-used enforcer Steve MacIntyre will take care of that stuff.

"We strongly believe in our ability as a team," Bylsma said.

Let's remember that this is — and should be — a gradual return. Let's not attach our expectations of Crosby to our memories of Lemieux. Crosby told Bylsma he probably will play only 12 minutes tonight.

"There's going to be some time before he totally feels comfortable," Bylsma said.

Let's also remember, as Crosby stressed in that interview, that his recovery period was extended for a reason: He has one hyperdrive gear, and he must be able to play at that speed.

"I'm going to be the player I've always been," Crosby said that day. "That's why it's important that I'm 100 percent when I do come back. I'm going to get hit again. That's part of how I play. And hopefully, I'm going to give hits more than I take."

Now that would bring a gasp of a much more welcome variety.

Highlights: Panthers 3, Penguins 2

Highlights: Lightning 4, Penguins 1

Steelers WR Ward ready to accept new role

By Scott Brown, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Wednesday, November 16, 2011

CINCINNATI, OH - NOVEMBER 13: Nate Clements(notes) #22 of the Cincinnati Bengals dives to stop Hines Ward(notes) #86 of the Pittsburgh Steelers during play at Paul Brown Stadium on November 13, 2011 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Hines Ward didn't pout. He didn't question the limited number of plays he was on the field for Sunday. And he didn't wallpaper the Steelers locker room with his resume in case anyone has forgotten he is the most decorated receiver in Steelers history.

If Ward has been supplanted by two wide receivers who are still behind him on the Steelers' depth chart, he is taking the demotion in stride.

"It's not about me, it's about the team," said Ward, who watched much of the Steelers' 24-17 win in Cincinnati from the sidelines. "The bottom line is, we won the game."

Ward did not start against the Bengals — Antonio Brown got the nod opposite Mike Wallace — and he had just one catch for 10 yards.

Ward said the coaches did not talk to him about a reduced role before the game. The 14th-year veteran said his health was not an issue, even though he had been knocked out of the previous week's game with concussion-like symptoms.

He said the Steelers went into the game with separate packages when they used two wide receivers: one for him and Wallace, and one for Brown and Wallace.

The Steelers mostly went with Brown and Wallace out of the two-wide receiver sets. Jerricho Cotchery played ahead of Ward when the Steelers used three wide receivers.

"Those are questions for the coaches," Ward said when asked about it. "I just have to move forward. I am not going to be angry. I have to go out and continue being the player I am and a leader on this team."

Ward, who is in his seventh season as an offensive captain, is not accustomed to being the odd man out.

Ward is a former Super Bowl MVP, and he holds almost every Steelers receiving record. The 14th-year veteran is on the doorstep of two milestones — 1,000 career receptions and 12,000 receiving yards — but his pursuit of those has turned into a crawl.

Ward would end the season with 999 career catches if he averages three receptions per game, something he did through his first nine games.

If Ward is frustrated about becoming less of a factor in the passing game, he didn't show it yesterday.

"It's a different role," Ward said. "I am still going to be the biggest cheerleader because I want to win. Whatever I can do to help this team win ball games, giving advice or when my number is called (by) making a play. Just continue doing that and have a positive attitude."

His teammates said he has been nothing but positive.

Cotchery, who made his first touchdown catch as a Steeler last Sunday, calls Ward "my biggest supporter."

Wallace said Ward has reinforced the message that nobody is bigger than the team with the way he stayed in the game at Cincinnati.

"As soon as I'd get to the sidelines, he'd be like, 'You should have done this, you should have done that. I saw this, I saw that,' " Wallace said. "He sees everything and knows everything that's going on. He's like an extra coach out there.

"When you have a guy that's been here and the situation he's in and he's still positive about it, how can I come to the sidelines and be down or mad or have anything bad to say?"

Ward, who is 35 and in the next-to-last year of his contract, said it would be premature to write him off.

"I still believe in myself, probably more than most people," Ward said. "I just have to continue being positive, continue working hard."

No. 7 looms as No. 1 in toughness

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

CINCINNATI, OH - NOVEMBER 13: Ben Roethlisberger(notes) #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers throws a pass against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on November 13, 2011 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Steelers won 24-17. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

The news out of Houston is not good. Quarterback Matt Schaub has a fractured right foot and will miss the rest of the season. The Texans, who would be the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs if they started today, are left with Matt Leinart -- a first-round draft bust in 2006 -- to guide their team down the stretch.

The news out of Kansas City is not good. Quarterback Matt Cassel could miss the rest of the season with a "significant" right hand injury. The Chiefs, very much alive in the AFC West Division race despite a 4-5 record, must turn to Tyler Palko, who has played sparingly in just four NFL games and thrown 13 passes since leaving Pitt after the '06 season.

The news out of Pittsburgh is not good. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has a broken right thumb and is expected to miss ...

Not one game.

Not one play.

Amazing.

Even Roethlisberger's harshest critics have to admit he is as tough as any NFL player. If you want to call him the toughest, you'll get no argument here. It's hard to say with any certainty that he would keep playing with Schaub's injury or Cassel's. But would you bet against him?

"You know me, if I can be out there, I'll be out there," Roethlisberger often has said. "I'm always going to fight for my guys right up to the time they carry me off on a stretcher."

That happened once. It's surprising it hasn't happened a bunch of times, considering Roethlisberger has been sacked 336 times -- including postseason games -- and hit countless other times in his 7 1/2-year career. In the final regular-season game in '08 against Cleveland, he was carted off with a concussion. You might remember him giving the thumb's up signal with his left arm to the Heinz Field crowd. He played two weeks later in the first playoff game and ended up leading the Steelers to the Super Bowl XLIII title, winning the game in the final seconds with a pretty sweet pass to wide receiver Santonio Holmes at the end of a pretty sweet drive.

Roethlisberger has missed just six of 134 games because of injury or illness. There have been many times when we've wondered how he picked himself up off the ground -- or a hospital bed -- to play:

• In '06, Roethlisberger had an emergency appendectomy and played against the Jacksonville Jaguars 15 days later. Earlier that summer, he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident.

• In '06, Roethlisberger had a concussion against the Atlanta Falcons and played the next week against the Oakland Raiders.

• In '06 -- it was a really tough year -- Roethlisberger was sacked nine times in a game at Baltimore, including once by linebacker Bart Scott, who bragged he could feel the air rushing out of the quarterback's body. Roethlisberger finished that game and still says it was the hardest he has been hit.

• In '10, Roethlisberger broke his right foot in a game at Buffalo and played the next week at Baltimore.

• In that Baltimore game, Roethlisberger broke his nose on a hit by defensive tackle Haloti Ngata early in the first quarter and finished the game, leading the Steelers to a win late in the fourth quarter. "I look like I went 12 rounds with Pacquiao," he said afterward. Much later he said of that night, "What makes me smile about it is I know people from Homestead, McKeesport, places all over the city ... real Steelers fans everywhere were watching and saw the blood all over the place. I hope they said, 'That's our guy. He's one of us. He never came out. He never quit. He's pretty tough.' "

• This season, Roethlisberger was sacked five times -- six if you count a play that was nullified by a penalty -- in the game at Houston. Teammates said they could hear him screaming after a hit on his right knee in the fourth quarter. He hobbled out of the stadium that day on crutches with his left foot in a walking boot. He played the next week against Tennessee and threw five touchdown passes.

It is worth repeating:

Amazing.

Starting with that Tennessee game, Roethlisberger has played the best football of his career. It's no coincidence the Steelers went 5-1 in that stretch to take first place in the AFC North Division. In those six games, he threw for more than 300 yards three times and had 13 touchdown passes with just four interceptions. The loss hardly was his fault; his 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Wallace on a fabulous play late in the fourth quarter against Baltimore Nov. 6 gave the Steelers a 20-16 lead. The defense allowed the Ravens to drive 92 yards for the winning score in the final 2 1/2 minutes.

There's no reason to think Roethlisberger won't be just as effective when the Steelers next play Nov. 27 at Kansas City.

A broken thumb on his throwing hand would stop a lot of quarterbacks.

Not this guy.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan. More articles by this author

Highlights: Penguins 6, Avalanche 3

Gay's play will be bad for the talk shows

Cornerback's interception secured the 24-17 victory

Monday, November 14, 2011

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

 

William Gay picks off Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton in the fourth quarter Sunday. (Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)

CINCINNATI -- It's going to be a long two weeks for the talk shows. Whom are the fans going to criticize after the Steelers' 24-17 win Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals? How can they rip cornerback William Gay after he played the biggest part in it?

Those aren't my questions.

Steelers linebacker James Farrior asked 'em on his way out of Paul Brown Stadium, the Steelers' home away from home.

"A lot of people were down on William Gay last week," Farrior said. "Nobody in this locker room was, but a lot of people on the outside. That's why I'm so happy for him right now. He played a heck of a game. He gave us a play when we needed it at the end."

Gay made plays all over the field, actually. A week earlier, he took much of the blame for the bad home loss to the Baltimore Ravens and gladly was given more by Steelers Nation. Sunday, he had his teammates bragging about him.

"Funny how things work out, isn't it?" Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau said.

Gay broke up a team season-high four passes from Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. One of his deflections was intercepted by linebacker Lawrence Timmons at the Steelers 33 early in the fourth quarter when the Steelers were fighting hard to protect their 24-17 lead. It was just their fifth turnover of the season.

No. 6 was huge.

No. 6 was all Gay.

The Bengals were driving for the tying touchdown late in the game and had a second-and-9 at the Steelers 25 when Gay jumped in front of a Dalton pass intended for wide receiver Jerome Simpson for the second interception of his career. The Steelers ran out the clock to get their 10th win in 11 games at Paul Brown Stadium and bump their record to 7-3 heading into their off weekend.

"It's about time," Steelers linebacker Larry Foote said of Gay's interception. "He's definitely capable of making those plays. We know he's a good cover corner. He's athletic. He has good ball skills. Hopefully, he makes those plays a lot more often for us."

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger enjoyed Gay's interception just as much.

Shocking, huh?

"It was a game-changer for us," Roethlisberger said. "We love it when the defense gets us turnovers."

It hasn't happened much this season. Steelers linebacker James Harrison marveled that the team is in first place in the AFC North Division heading into its break despite "the fewest takeaways in franchise history." It's astonishing, really. Harrison said he likes to think the two turnovers caused by Gay are "maybe just the start for us, maybe the tip of the iceberg."

Gay didn't have much to offer on that subject or any subject, for that matter. "We won a big division game. That's the only thing that's important. I don't care what I did."

Gay was much more expansive after the Steelers blew a fourth-quarter lead in the 23-20 loss to the Ravens. The defense gave up a 92-yard touchdown drive in the final 2 1/2 minutes. Gay called it the "worst drive of my life" and took the blame for the winning 26-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Flacco to wide receiver Torrey Smith with eight seconds left.

"That wasn't his fault, but the average fan doesn't always understand what's happening so William Gay took a beating all week," Farrior said.

Immediately after the Baltimore game, safety Ryan Clark said he was the man to blame. He said he should have given Gay deep help.

"I thought he handled [the criticism] extremely well," Harrison said. "He's not going to say, 'That wasn't me. That was so-and-so at fault.' That's not how he operates and that's not how we operate."

Added Foote, "Everyone on the defense took that drive personally. When you're playing at home and you let a game like that slip through your hands, it's tough. It wasn't just William Gay. None of us were any good on that drive. Nobody."

The Steelers secondary was an area of concern going into the season. Everyone knew cornerback Ike Taylor was going to be solid. But what about the other corner? Bryant McFadden started the first game -- a 35-7 loss to the Ravens -- before Gay took over the position. Other than that final drive in the second Baltimore game, he and the defense have been solid.

"He's played good football," LeBeau said. "Today was his best game. He and all of our guys made big plays when the game was on the line."

Gay will have two weeks to enjoy it before the Steelers play again Nov. 27 at Kansas City.

Good for him.

Bad for the talk shows.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan. More articles by this author

This finish won't bug Steelers

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Monday, November 14, 2011

CINCINNATI, OH - NOVEMBER 13: Lawrence Timmons(notes) #94 of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates with Brett Keisel(notes) #99 and Ziggy Hood(notes) #96 after intercepting a pass in the fourth quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on November 13, 2011 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Steelers won 24-17. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

CINCINNATI — Think of the Steelers as your shoe raised in the air, ready to squash one of those annoying stink bugs. You want to squash it. You know you can squash it. But the foot never comes down.

In the case of the insect, there's an obvious reason for that: Its demise will smell up the whole house.

In the case of the Steelers, it's safe to say their many shows of mercy this season have been just as malodorous but much harder to explain.

Remember running up 17 points on the first three drives against Jacksonville, only to hang on, 17-13?

Or allowing an equally awful Arizona team to pull within a field goal in the third quarter?

Or Tom Brady's touchdown pass with 2:35 left to get New England within six?

Or Joe Flacco finding guts even he didn't know he had to drive 92 yards?

At some stage of legitimate contention, a team has to slam the door. It has to show some semblance of a killer instinct.

And that's exactly what the Steelers showed Sunday in shutting down Cincinnati, 24-17, at Paul Brown Stadium: Some semblance of it. They whizzed toward unanswered touchdowns on the first two drives, allowed the Bengals to tie the game by the third quarter, then bent, bent, bent ... before ultimately getting it done.

Hey, any finish is a start with this group.

"It feels good," safety Troy Polamalu said. "Feels great, actually. It's nice to get over that hump, especially after last week."

That's when Flacco went the length of the field to lift Baltimore, 23-20. The Steelers had a chance to hold their lead on offense but bumbled their way to a punt. They had a chance on defense, too, but gave up Flacco's 26-yard touchdown pass to Torrey Smith over cornerback William Gay.

Sunday had a similar feel.

These were the two possessions right after the Steelers took that 14-0 lead: First, Polamalu and Ryan Clark inexplicably flanked Cincinnati receiver A.J. Green like the guards at Buckingham Palace, while Green leaped for a 36-yard touchdown catch. Then, Steelers tight end Heath Miller tipped a Ben Roethlisberger pass upward into the hands of Bengals cornerback Leon Hall.

And yet the Steelers later took a 24-17 lead and finally planted a flag in one of those things.

With the Bengals crossing midfield early in the fourth quarter, Gay swatted away an Andy Dalton pass into the hands of linebacker Lawrence Timmons for a ... um ... hang on, I have to look this up.

Oh, right. An INTERCEPTION.

Small wonder defensive end Brett Keisel danced off the field.

"It just felt good to get one, man," Keisel said, grinning through the beard. "It's been crazy how those just haven't come our way."

There would be another, doubling the team's season total to four. The Bengals bullied down to the Steelers' 25 with less than three minutes left, but Gay boldly darted in front of receiver Jerome Simpson for a sweetly timed interception that brought big-time redemption.

"Nothing special, just regular coverage," Gay said. "This was a total team effort."

Only if the offense would do its part this time, and it did: Big tight end Weslye Saunders caught an 11-yard pass for one first down, and Mike Wallace caught a 7-yarder for another.

"Victory formation," Saunders said with a broad smile. "It's always great not to put the defense back on the field. You've got to finish the game the right way."

"Man, that's what we've been looking for all year as a team," nose tackle Casey Hampton said. "We haven't been finishing anything. I mean, you can talk about it all you want, but we went out and did it."

The rest of the locker room seemed as delighted about that as the 7-3 record the Steelers carry into the bye week, right back to being tied for best in the AFC. But, as Roethlisberger and others rightly acknowledged, the Steelers didn't play a great game here. Nor did they face a great opponent. Yeah, I know the Bengals are 6-3, but this was just the beginning of the varsity portion of their schedule.

The Steelers were simply the better team, and they followed through on it.

It's what they should have been doing all season, but maybe all that's fumigated now.

Bengals still learning how to finish like Steelers do

By Paul Daugherty
The Cincinnati Enquirer
http://news.cincinnati.com/
November 14, 2011

CINCINNATI, OH - NOVEMBER 13: Rashard Mendenhall(notes) #34 of the Pittsburgh Steelers rushes for a two-yard touchdown in the first quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on November 13, 2011 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Steelers won 24-17. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

On a day the Bengals hoped to take off the training wheels and ride bikes with the big boys, they swerved ever so slightly. Pittsburgh scored two first-quarter touchdowns and made two fourth-quarter interceptions, mainly by memory. It's what the Steelers do and who they are. But the Bengals are learning.

What's next for them is to get back up on the bike and try again, next Sunday in Baltimore. The baptismal fire is a little late arriving this fall, but the game's on now. And soon enough, the Bengals will figure it out.

Tough game.

Tough loss? Not really,

The Steelers won, 24-17, but it was hardly decisive. If football were a five-quarter game, Cincinnati would have lapped the visitors. The Bengals won the fight on both lines in the second half. What they couldn't do, against the first championship-caliber team they've played this year, is finish.

The Steelers know how to finish. Their winning memory is institutional. That doesn't change the notion that, after four quarters Sunday, it was hard to tell who had the better team.

Marvin Lewis talked at length about "making plays." All coaches talk this way, but it was especially profound Sunday. The Bengals dropped an interception on a drive that ended in a Steelers touchdown. The normally rock-steady Andrew Whitworth committed two killer penalties in the fourth quarter. (Though each was not readily obvious, even after watching TV replays.)

Red Dalton had his poise-ful moments. He also threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter, killing drives that began at the Steelers' 47- and 49-yard lines. These were plays that weren't made, or were made poorly.

Too bad for the Bengals, because the Steelers weren't great. Actually, the Bengals defensive line mauled them. They sacked Ben Roethlisberger five times and held Rashard Mendenhall to 44 yards on 16 carries. "We showed them our D-line ain't fooling around" was how Domata Peko put it. Take away one masterful 81-yard, third-quarter TD drive, Pittsburgh's offense generated 25 yards in the second half.

Meanwhile the Bengals offensive line kept Dalton clean. But Dalton is not yet Roethlisberger, and that was the difference. Roethlisberger's unmatched ability to keep alive plays with his size-16s cannot be exaggerated. He might not run 40 yards in four and a half seconds, but he still has some Fred Astaire in him when he's negotiating the pocket.

As Peko's said, "Ben is real good at scrambling around and just throwing the damned thing up in the air. And it's his guy sitting there waiting for it."

The Steelers scored the first two times they had the ball. The first TD came after Roethlisberger soft-shoed a blitz, stepped up, bought a half-second, then rifled a 16-yard strike to Jerricho Cotchery. The next TD was enabled when Roethlisberger dodged a web of Bengals pass rushers and threw 26 yards to Mendenhall, to the Cincinnati 49-yard line.

Roethlisberger has a field awareness Dalton has to learn, and a winner's penchant for being Big Ben when he needs to be.

Still, the Bengals had a chance. They rallied to a 17-17 tie when Dalton lofted a perfect spiral in the far left corner of the end zone to Jermaine Gresham. The kid threw that one off his back foot with blitzers in his facemask.

Pittsburgh answered with that 81-yard drive, setting up a fourth quarter that could have been triumphant for the Bengals, had they been further along in the know-how-to-win department. The Steelers offense went three-and-out the first three times it had the ball. But Dalton had a pass tipped for an interception, then watched as Steelers corner William Gay jumped a throw intended for Jerome Simpson.

Mix in the Whitworth penalties, and the deal was sealed.

The game worked as a measuring stick for the Bengals, though. It worked so obviously well, you could have almost called it before kickoff. The Steelers beat them, but it was hardly decisive. In what Willie Anderson used to call a "manhood game," the young Bengals had a chance.

Far from pushing the Bengals from playoff consideration, this game elevated them, as well as a loss could. As Bobbie Williams said, "They gotta see us again."

Williams likes to quote a saying that's painted in bold letters across the back wall of the team's weight room: "As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another."

The 12-year veteran guard saw the game as a teachable moment for the kids. "They got sharpened today, in all phases," he said.

The baptism continues Sunday, in Baltimore.

Highlights: Hurricanes 5, Penguins 3

From hardship, Steelers' Gay shares hope

By Scott Brown, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Sunday, November 13, 2011

Go ahead and trash William Gay on a message board. Light up the cornerback who, even in the midst of a solid season, is the most likely Steeler to be torched on sports-talk radio.

But before you eviscerate the player beaten on the Ravens' winning touchdown a week ago, draw back the curtain and look at the man.

Go back to last November, when Gay arrived at a Pittsburgh shelter to serve Thanksgiving dinner.

Look at the arch of his eyebrows when Barbara Nicholas, the development director of the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, informs him he is at a haven for abused women.

Watch Gay tell his story to women with cuts and bruises that are as raw as their psyche is wounded.

Gay tells them how brave they are for leaving a bad situation, something his mother tried to do when she was fatally shot. He tells them how courageous they are for taking refuge in a building where some of the windows are bulletproof.

He later stops at every table, individually talking with the women and children.

He listens to them. He hugs them. He understands them.

"It was just so real," said Nicholas, her voice catching a bit at the recollection. "It was such a genuine moment for everyone."

Moments such as these are why Joe Whitt Jr. wonders whether fans would be so tough on Gay if they knew what he has had to overcome. Whitt was Gay's position coach at Louisville. They have taken different paths to the NFL but remain close.

"People can say what they want about the football player -- that's fine," said Whitt, who is in his second season as Green Bay's secondary coach. "But the character, the man? You can't say anything about the man because I know what he is. I know I couldn't go through the things he's had to work through."

Rising from the depths

Here's something you might not know about William Gay: He graduated from Louisville in 3 1/2 years with a degree in sports administration.

He never took fewer than 15 credits in a semester despite the demands of major college football. And he always picked his own classes.

"I didn't want to be that guy that had to depend on academic advisors telling me what I need to take, telling me what I don't have to take because of football," Gay said.

That need for control may stem from the time he didn't have it.

In 1992, Gay was 7 years old and living in Tallahassee, Fla. His mother was in an abusive relationship with his stepfather. The day she tried to leave, he shot her, then turned the gun on himself.

Carolyn Hall was 30 years old.

The bottom dropped out of Gay's world. He moved in with his grandmother, into an already crowded house where space was so tight that Gay sometimes shared a bedroom with three others.

He lashed out for the next couple of years. He fought constantly and caused enough trouble that he nearly got kicked out of school.

The turning point came when his grandmother and an uncle told Gay he was on a track toward jail. Or worse.

Life is unfair, they told him. Get over it.

"I had to change, actually grow up," Gay said. "I wanted to succeed in life."

He became a good student, excelled in sports and earned a scholarship to Louisville.

He started parts of four seasons. He showed so much football acumen that he called the defensive signals as a senior -- almost unheard of for a cornerback. He also intercepted six passes his final season.

The Steelers drafted him in the fifth round in 2007. Gay has played in every game in five NFL seasons. He will make his 28th career start today in Cincinnati.

He is plugged in enough to social and mainstream media to realize that his 28 starts are 28 too many for some people. Gay is largely indifferent to the criticism; he has dealt with much worse. He will talk about his story, as deeply personal as it is, but he doesn't "broadcast" it.

"I don't want to use it as an excuse or something to say, 'If I don't do this, it's because of this,' " he said. "I hate to make excuses."

Criticism 'unwarranted'

One way to get blocked from Ryan Clark's Twitter account is to trash William Gay on it. And not just because of his backstory.

"I think a lot of the criticism he gets is unwarranted," said Clark, a Steelers free safety. "Yeah, people have made plays. People make plays on a lot of cornerbacks. But I think, as well as he's playing this season, that needs to be recognized also."

Gay, who signed a one-year deal in August, has allowed 23 catches in the 39 times (59 percent) his receiver has been targeted this season, according to STATS, LLC. Only one Steelers player has allowed a higher percentage of completions: Troy Polamalu, who has yielded 23 catches on 36 targets (63.9).

Gay had largely stayed under the radar until last Sunday. Ravens rookie receiver Torrey Smith got behind the 5-foot-10, 190-pounder late in the fourth quarter and caught the winning touchdown before a stunned Heinz Field crowd. Clark had been late in helping Gay on the play.

Gay took responsibility for the touchdown immediately after the 23-20 loss. He did the same thing three days later.

What didn't register much more than a blip was what had happened earlier on the Ravens' winning drive: Smith slipped behind cornerback Ike Taylor, who is having a Pro Bowl-caliber season, but dropped Joe Flacco's pass in the end zone.

"People don't know football. They don't come in on Mondays and watch what we see," said Taylor, who works out with Gay during the offseason. "Gay has gotten a whole lot better. I know how hard he worked in the offseason, and it's showing."

Active off the field

In a five-minute video he participated in for a domestic abuse campaign, Gay talks about going to the hospital after his mother was shot and asking repeatedly why he couldn't see her. He talks about the devastation of losing his mother at such a young age.

"If I had another chance to see my mother today, I would tell her that I love her and I know the courage she had to try to get out of her situation," Gay says. "I would tell her I truly believed in her."

Gay has done what he can to combat domestic abuse, the leading cause of injury among women 15-44 in the United States, according to the U.S. Surgeon General. He has donated his time for several public-service announcements. He is slated to speak to judges, parole officers and counselors, among others, about the need for preventive measures.

Gay has given the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh a face for its campaign to combat domestic abuse. He also provides an example to kids living with domestic abuse and the sense of hopelessness that accompanies it.

"It's just great to have someone who is so thoughtful and considerate and really wise for how young he is to step forward," Nicholas said, "and do something so courageous and so meaningful -- not just for the women, but for the children."

Gay will return to the shelter in the coming weeks to serve dinner. He again will thank the women and children. He will tell them they are braver than they think. He will shine some desperately needed light into their lives.

Moments like these, away from the public, are why Whitt said, Gay "is somebody that I want my son to grow up to be like."

The son who grew up without his mother rolled up the jersey on his left arm after practice recently. He revealed a tattoo of a cross, framed by his mother's name and the date of her death.

"I know she's watching every day," Gay said. "It just brings joy to me that I'm doing things positive, and I know she's smiling. We'll be reunited one day."


In his words

William Gay's testimonial on how domestic abuse affected him can be viewed at http://vimeo.com/19524006.

Some numbers on domestic abuse, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence:

• 1 in 4 women will be a victim of domestic violence.

• 1 in 3 teenage girls will be physically assaulted by a boyfriend.

• Boys who witness domestic violence in their homes are 1,500 times more likely to perpetrate abuse later in life.

Gruden, Dalton have work cut out for them as Steelers come to town

By Paul Daugherty
INSIDE THE NFL
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
November 11, 2011

FILE - In this Oct. 9, 2011 file photo, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, right, gives instructions to quarterback Andy Dalton(notes) (14) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, in Jacksonville, Fla. Cincinnati is tied for first place in the AFC North heading into a showdown with Pittsburgh. (AP)

We use the qualifier "and yet'' a lot in Cincinnati these days, because history suggests the Bengals will stumble at some point and because their road to this Sunday against Pittsburgh has been country-easy. Skepticism has its place when the subject is Bengals football.

And yet. . .

For nine weeks and eight games, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and quarterback Andy Dalton have made it look too easy. Playing quarterback in the NFL is the hardest thing to do in sports, right? Rookies attempting it will be crushed like flies on a swatter. The NFL is just too fast, furious and full of James Harrisons.

Lots of Football Nation expects Gruden, Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals to be undressed by the Steelers on Sunday. A cursory review of Cincinnati's first-half schedule shows the Bengals have been living on the corner of Krispy and Kreme. No Steelers or Baltimore Ravens playing Alfred Hitchcock in their 3 a.m. heads.

That ends Sunday. Pittsburgh is in Cincinnati. And now, we will see about Gruden and Dalton.

And yet. . .

The first eight games have taught football smart people not to underestimate Dalton, the fifth QB taken in the draft last spring. He has been fearless without being reckless. He is smart and clear-eyed. He hasn't done a rookie thing since August. He's completing 61.5 percent of his passes. He has thrown just seven interceptions.

"He has one of the quickest releases in the league,'' says Monday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth. "Right up there with Tony Romo and [Tom] Brady. That's big in that [AFC North] division. You can't dance around like most rookies do, against Pittsburgh and Baltimore.''

Sunday also represents a midterm exam for Gruden, the rookie coordinator who some of us thought was crazy to take this job. Let's see: Carson Palmer retires, and then players are locked out. New system, new coach, new kid quarterback, no practice, no Chad Ochocinco, no Terrell Owens. Have fun, Jay.

And yet. . .

The Bengals have won six of eight. Dalton is in the rookie of the year chatter. And Gruden is coaching the offense like he's been doing it all his life. "It's just football,'' he says.

How?

Gruden will say it starts with Dalton. "I paced the draft room,'' he recalls.

Gruden watched tape of Dalton at TCU, he worked him out multiple times, he talked with him. He was convinced Dalton was by far the best quarterback for the offense Gruden wanted to run. The Bengals took wideout A.J. Green with the fifth overall pick, meaning 30 picks would be made before the Bengals got a shot at the guy Gruden coveted.

"I was really holding my breath. A lot of people [in Cincinnati's draft room] weren't that nervous. They figured if we didn't get Dalton, we'd get [Ryan] Mallett. Big kid, strong arm. Maybe with Mallett we'd be 8-0. I don't know.

"I just knew Andy had mental stability you can't coach. He's not an erratic behavior guy. Some quarterbacks come in and they're hyper cases. Everything happens so fast for them, because their minds are going so fast. This guy, everything happens under control,'' Gruden says. "I don't have to worry if we're down two touchdowns in the third quarter, him being a basket case.''

When Indy and New England passed up Dalton, and the Bengals took him, "If it was me announcing the pick, I would have pulled a hamstring running up to the podium,'' Gruden says.

Then they went to work. Gruden and quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese knew Dalton's mind was a sponge early in training camp, when Dalton literally knew the questions the coaches would ask him, before they asked.

In July, the wonder was whether the rookie would be able to keep up with the veterans, when it came to learning the playbook. Now, Gruden says, "I can challenge Andy all I want. He's the kind of guy who, if we traded him to New Orleans Tuesday, he could play on Sunday.''

Gruden's West Coast style isn't unpredictable. Most often, it's a run off left tackle on first down, followed by the same on second down, Cedric Benson behind Andrew Whitworth, then a quick, safe pass on third down. The wideout Green has been so good that the Bengals deep passing game generally consists of Dalton throwing the ball close enough that Green can make a play on it. So far, Green has caught nearly everything.

And, in fact, Cincinnati's offensive statistics -- 21st in passing, 22nd running -- aren't overwhelming. But the Bengals defense and special teams have been very good. Their offense has had good field position, and Dalton hasn't messed it up.

And yet. . .

Dick LeBeau is in some deep, dark warren at Heinz Field, watching DVDs and pondering surgery. The Pittsburgh defense is where dreamy rookie QBs go to wake up. Here's a nugget courtesy of ESPN:

Rookie quarterbacks over the past four seasons are completing only 48.4 percent of their passes for 4.6 yards an attempt when the Steelers rush four or fewer defenders. During that span, the Steelers have intercepted eight passes from rookies and sacked quarterbacks on 10.9 percent of their drop backs.

If Gruden and Dalton wanted to know where they stand, they'll find out Sunday. "Aggressive,'' says Gruden of LeBeau's defense. "Hard to run against. They say, go ahead and pass, then they come at you from everywhere. Anytime anybody gains a yard, they take it personally.''

Safety Troy Polamalu is the key. Sometimes, even LeBeau doesn't know where Polamalu will line up, or where his instincts will take him. How do you game plan for that?

"The X-Factor,'' Gruden calls Polamalu. "We just have to try to be aware of where he is.''

Polamalu has bad ribs, good news for Dalton, who doesn't need more to think about. Not that Gruden worries about Dalton. "Of all the quarterbacks in the draft, he was the guy most ready to play, right now,'' Gruden says. "I thought that then. I haven't changed my mind.''

Maybe the rookie QB and his coordinator will be the ones to transcend the game's biggest given. Perhaps it isn't impossible for a rookie quarterback to play consistently well. On Sunday, maybe Gruden calls it, Dalton runs it and the Bengals surprise the Steelers, same as they've surprised just about everyone else.

They've made it look easy. Can they do it again?

Don't Fear The Reaper: In Defense Of Ryan Clark

By Chris Ryan
http://www.grantland.com/
November 10, 2011

PITTSBURGH, PA - NOVEMBER 06: Ed Dickson(notes) #84 of the Baltimore Ravens is hit while attempting to catch a pass by Ryan Clark(notes) #25 of the Pittsburgh Steelers during the game on November 6, 2011 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)


"Oh, that guy is dead."

I say that pretty much every time I watch the Steelers play. Almost without fail, it comes after Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark has blown up an opposing receiver. Sometimes the opposing player gets up quickly. Sometimes slowly. And sometimes, as in the case with Willis McGahee in the 2009 AFC Championship game, it doesn't look like he's going to get up at all ...



It's gotten to the point where I'm associating Clark with hits that he wasn't even responsible for. On Sunday night, in what was a typically gladiator-like game with the Ravens, Clark threw a battering ram of a shoulder at Baltimore's Ed Dickson.



Almost immediately after the play I thought to myself, "That's the same kind of beserker hit he put on Pat White from last January." (I always like to point out the date things happen when I'm talking to myself). Except it wasn't Ryan Clark who knocked White out. It was Ike Taylor.



I wonder if Roger Goodell is having the same problem with associating Clark with every concussion-causing, memory-erasing tackle that goes on in football. That's really the only reason I can come up with for why the commissioner fined Clark $40,000 for his hit on Dickson.

I have no doubt Dickson had an out-of-body-experience when Clark hit him on Sunday and I think even Ryan Clark would admit that he plays football on the razor's edge between sound defensive technique and physical assault. But that hit was clean. And more than that, the hit was honest. Just like Ryan Clark.

Players like Clark, an LSU product who played with the Skins and Giants before establishing himself as Troy Polamalu's safety partner in the Steelers defensive backfield, will likely be fined or legislated out of the game. In 10 years you probably won't see hits like that or players like him. And it sounds like Clark knows it.

"Am I supposed to let him catch it and then wait for him and hug him?" Clark recently said. "Should I throw a pillow at him? Should I blow a whistle? 'Hey look, I'm about to tackle you.' No, that's not football." Clark added, "So it's going to turn into if you're going to fine me $40,000, I might as well put him to sleep for real or I might as well blow his knee out."

That statement caused a lot of pearl-clutching, but what Clark was saying, as he clarified on Twitter , was that, given the NFL's condemnation of above-the-chest hits, the knees are the only thing that's available to hit. And that's the problem. "The knees is all I have left to hit to avoid a fine! Full speed and someone can be injured. That was my point."

I'm going to regret writing these words when Ryan Clark or Dunta Robinson or Bernard Pollard or any other heavy hitter ends somebody's career (or worse), but I have nothing but respect for Clark and love watching him play.
As a Philadelphian my heart sank reading about the depression and trauma that destroyed former Eagles safety Andre Waters' life. And I am smart enough to know that there was a direct relationship to what he did on the field and what happened to his life once he left it.

But I'm also smart enough to know that I, and millions of NFL fans, shouldn't get to have it both ways. We don't to let our inner Fox robot out on Sundays, cheering for near-coma inducing hits and then sternly tut-tut the players that dole them out. And I don't think the NFL should have it both ways either.

We're coming to some kind of crossroads with football. Something fundamental is going to change, because something catastrophic is probably going to happen on the field one day. I know that. But that is not on Ryan Clark, or any other defensive player who is playing the game in the exact way he has been coached his entire life.

"This is something we watched in slow-mo as a team — as a team — to say, ‘If you’re gonna try to dislodge the ball from somebody. This is the way you should do it. This is the legal way you should do it," said Clark to 96.1 Kiss Radio in Pittsburgh.

Roger Goodell can fine Ryan Clark and his teammates (the Steelers have been fined 13 times to the tune of $182,000 this season). He can try and legislate hits and make it prohibitively expensive for defenders to play a certain way. But there is something, perhaps tragically, embedded in the DNA in the sport that makes it incredibly violent. Violence has consequences. And none of that is Ryan Clark's fault.

I might regret this, but in the meantime I'm going to enjoy watching him play.

Highlights: Penguins 3, Stars 1

Roethlisberger is airing it out

Steelers thrive with passing game

by Kevin Goheen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
http://news.cincinnati.com/
November 11, 2011

PITTSBURGH, PA - OCTOBER 30: Ben Roethlisberger(notes) #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers passes against the New England Patriots at Heinz Field on October 30, 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Things used to be different when a defense planned to face the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The smash-mouth element of the running game is still there but when it comes to covering the Pittsburgh passing game, the days of daring the Steelers to throw it over your head are over.

"I used to be able to cheat coverage against them a little bit," said Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, recalling his days as a defensive coordinator. "You can't cheat coverage much anymore."

The Steelers come to town for Sunday's 1 p.m. game at Paul Brown Stadium with a passing attack that will challenge a Bengals defense that, for all of its impressive stats this season, has had issues when it comes to giving up big plays through the air.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is averaging a career-high 35.7 pass attempts per game and is third in the NFL with 2,632 passing yards, while receivers Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown have brought an added speed dimension to go along with Hines Ward and tight end Heath Miller.

Roethlisberger's forte of scrambling to extend plays will make it more important for the Bengals secondary to be disciplined in its assignments.

"It's a challenge every week, but this group is a special group," said safety Reggie Nelson. "They're very explosive and that's something we have to eliminate, all of those explosive plays, as DBs. They're faster than they were last year and any other year. It's crazy how fast this whole group is. It's going to be a challenge for the whole secondary."

Wallace, a third-year player, is tied for fifth in the league with 47 receptions. He has 13 catches of 20 or more yards and leads the NFL with six catches of 40 or more yards, including three for touchdowns. Five of Wallace's six touchdowns have been from at least 25 yards out and, according to the web site ProFootballFocus.com, he has dropped just one of the 65 passes thrown his way.

For comparison, A.J. Green of the Bengals has 40 catches, 11 of them for 20-plus yards and four of 40 or more yards.

"He's always been a big-play guy but since the first time I played him a couple of years ago, he has progressed into more of a total receiver," cornerback Leon Hall said of Wallace. "He runs all of the routes. It's not like you line up against him and think that you have to just run deep. I think they've been doing a great job of that and of getting him the ball at every route."

Wallace and Brown have a combined six 100-yard games between them this season while assuming larger roles. Ward is fourth on the team with 26 catches and suffered concussion symptoms in last Sunday's 23-20 loss against Baltimore. He has been cleared to practice and has not been limited this week.

"(Wallace) is a guy that's pretty bold in his desire to be great, but more importantly than that we see day-to-day work habits that are pushing him in that direction," said Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin. "I think (Brown) has done a nice job of coming in and following the example of a young guy who is just a year older than him in Mike Wallace. The same things that I just said about Mike Wallace essentially apply to Antonio Brown as well."

The Bengals are ranked fourth in the league in overall defense (based on yards allowed), 10th in passing yards per game allowed and fourth in points allowed.

Of the eight touchdown passes they have allowed this year, half have been for at least 25 yards. They've also been hit with chunk plays that have set up other scores; Seattle had four pass plays of 31 or more yards two weeks ago, including two on consecutive plays.

Tennessee had three pass plays of 20 or more yards last week, and scored on a 16-yard pass with 14 seconds remaining in the first half when there was miscommunication between Nelson and cornerback Kelly Jennings that left receiver Lavelle Hawkins alone in a corner of the end zone.

Roethlisberger has been sacked 26 times this season, more than any other quarterback, but he keeps plays alive with his ability to elude rushers and get out of the pocket.

"As a defensive back, that's scary when you've got a quarterback that can hurt you with his arm and his running by extending plays," said Nelson. "As a secondary we're going to have to keep tight coverage on receivers until the whistle blows, because you never know. It can look like they've got him down and he's extending the play."

Steelers hit with hard detour

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Monday, November 7, 2011

PITTSBURGH, PA - NOVEMBER 6: Joe Flacco(notes) #5 of the Baltimore Ravens drops back to pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the game on November 6, 2011 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

The ball sailed from Joe Flacco's fingertips, high into the night sky above Heinz Field, and the standing, roaring crowd of 64,851 suddenly fell silent with what I'm guessing was an equally dark thought.

Oh, no way.

The trajectory appeared good. So did the touch. And the receiver, Torrey Smith, was running right under it toward the corner of the end zone.

Touchdown with eight seconds left.

Baltimore 23, Steelers 20.

Yeah, there was a way. And for the home side, the path was a punch to the gut.

"It just hurt," cornerback William Gay was saying late Sunday night, shaking his head a bit. "AFC game. Division rival. For it to come down like that, it hurt."

The game, he meant, not the ball.

See, this wasn't about one play, spectacular as this one was from the Baltimore view. This was about the entire 13-play, 92-yard drive in which Flacco dissected the Steelers' No. 1-ranked pass defense as if he were facing Arizona or Indianapolis. This was about a total disintegration in a two-minute span. This was about an epic deflation after overcoming a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

"Worst drive ever," Gay called it.

This, maybe, was about a changing of the guard in the AFC, too. It's the 6-2 Ravens now tied atop the conference standings with Cincinnati, and it's the 6-3 Steelers suddenly in third place with the Bengals on tap next week.

Moreover, let's come right out and say it: It's about Flacco.

No more Chokin' Joe or Floppin' Flacco, Pittsburgh. The man stood under his team's goal posts with 2:24 remaining and went boom, boom, boom down the field, converting one fourth down and two third downs, even overcoming two drops along the way.

"You have to give Joe Flacco credit," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "He got the job done."

"He won the game," counterpart Ben Roethlisberger said. "He's a good player, and he stepped up when needed."

Is there a scarier thought for the Steelers than that?

Going back over the past decade of the NFL's best rivalry, the Steelers' primary advantage has been at quarterback. Roethlisberger had owned Baltimore, and it appeared he would again last night with that stirring 25-yard bullet to Mike Wallace with 4:59 left for a 20-16 lead. This would raise his personal record to 10-3.

Except that Flacco, the guy at the wrong end of a lot of those, stood tall. Like Big Ben tall.

"I think you love the 50-0 blowouts," Flacco said. "But if you've got to make it tough on yourself, this is probably the most exciting and most fun way to do it."

Ray Lewis, Baltimore's brilliant linebacker, shouted toward Flacco as an NBC camera approached on the field: "What are they gonna say about you now, Flacco? What are they gonna say?"

What, indeed?

I could find an awful lot of reasons to complain. The refereeing was ridiculous, especially the non-call for Lewis head-butting Hines Ward out of the game. The Steelers' late delay-of-game penalty was no better, keeping Shaun Suisham from kicking an insurance field goal. And, man, Mike Tomlin and Bruce Arians make easy targets for passing the ball on the penultimate possession, when the Steelers had the lead. A four-point lead with the Steelers holding the ball used to be a slam dunk.

But this still came down to 92 yards and less than three minutes. And that finger points squarely at the secondary. The pass rush was plenty good enough on that final drive, and it only would have taken reasonable coverage to stall the drive. But Gay came crashing back down after four games, Ike Taylor was tormented all night by Anquan Boldin's slant routes, Keenan Lewis' inexperience was exposed, and the safeties weren't there, either, at the end.

On the final play, Smith was supposed to run a quick out in which he would make a catch and get out of bounds. But he recognized Gay had press coverage and "I was able to run past him," Smith said. Gay grabbed him enough to draw a flag, and Clark was late and ran a bad angle in getting over for support.

Clark praised the Ravens, saying, "We can't sit here and say it was all us because they executed."

Gay did the same: "They made the play, and we didn't."

We'll see what means. For now, the Ravens have swept a season series for the first time in five years, and the road to the AFC title is at the other end of I-70.

Highlights: Ravens 23, Steelers 20

Ravens vs. Steelers: It always comes back to defense

By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Sunday, November 06, 2011

With two minutes, 35 seconds remaining and still in possession of all three timeouts, the New England Patriots thought it was more important to immediately get the ball back for their high-powered offense rather than give Ben Roethlisberger another chance to pass for more yards or convert more third downs.

So, moments after his team had just scored a touchdown to cut the Steelers' lead to 23-17, Coach Bill Belichick ordered an onside kick that told one of his former players all he needed to know about the makeup of the Patriots' team.

And reminded him why he loves the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.

"You have three timeouts and the two-minute warming," former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said. "If you believe in your defense, why would you onside kick? I understand everyone is in love with points, but if your offense has one bad day, you're going to struggle. That's why I believe in having a power defense."

Belichick's decision to attempt an onside kick might have at least looked to be a wise move if his kicker, Stephen Gostkowski, had squibbed the ball the mandatory 10 yards. When he didn't, the Steelers took possession at the Patriots 37 and, after converting one third down, didn't give the ball back to the Patriots until 19 seconds remained.

One play later, defensive end Brett Keisel sack-stripped the ball from Tom Brady's hand, Troy Polamalu punched the ball out of the end zone from 19 yards away for a safety and the Steelers punched out the Patriots with a performance that was as impressive on offense as it was suffocating on defense.

"Look at how New England built their team," Harrison said. "You see them transition more into offense and scoring points and not spending money or bringing in players to be an elite defense.

"I always loved Baltimore and Pittsburgh because they built their team around defense and have players on all three levels. That's the thing I loved about Pittsburgh having great defenses. I always believed having a good defense gave you a chance, especially later in the year when you need a good defense.

"The problem with Tom Brady and New England, yes, with their offense, you will have success during the year. But, in the postseason, they have too much pressure on them because they know the defense is weak."

There are no such worries with the two AFC North teams that will meet tonight at Heinz Field.

Power shift

While the National Football League spent the first couple weeks watching teams pile up points and passing records, the balance of power has shifted to where it always seems to land when the season gets past the midway point.

Defense.

And nobody has played it better for the past decade than the Steelers and Ravens, teams who are to defense what Ali and Frazier were to boxing and Borg and McEnroe were to tennis.

Since 2000, the teams have combined to lead the NFL in total defense six times and scoring defense five times. And this year is no exception.

The Ravens lead the league in total defense (263.3 yards per game) and fewest points (110) and lead the AFC in sacks (25). The Steelers are second in each of the three categories and lead the NFL in pass defense. A year ago, they led the NFL in rush defense, scoring defense and sacks.

Defense has helped the Steelers win four consecutive AFC playoff games -- seven of the past eight -- and get to three Super Bowls in six years. The Ravens might have been to a couple of Super Bowls if the Steelers didn't beat them in the postseason in 2008 and 2010.

"I love going against a team that's like a one-sided team because you don't have to worry about either the offense or defense," said Harrison, a studio analyst for "Football Night in America" on NBC Sports. "The most dangerous teams are teams like Baltimore and the Steelers who are strong across the board. You don't want to see any one of those teams in the playoffs because you're one-and-out."

In a league dominated by teams with high-powered passing attacks, the Steelers and Ravens still adhere to the belief that defense ultimately wins championships, especially in an age when NFL rules favor offenses more than ever.

To keep up, the other teams in the AFC North division -- the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns -- are trying to follow suit.

The Bengals are 5-2 and tied for second with the Ravens because their defense ranks No. 4 in the NFL after being No. 1 just two weeks ago. And the Browns, who are 3-4, rank No. 5 in the league overall and second to the Steelers against the pass.

That's four of the top five defenses in the league, all in the same division.

"I think Pittsburgh and Baltimore have kind of set the blueprint for successful seasons with their defense, and I think the rest of us have copied and try to strive to be like those guys have been for a number of years," said Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, who has used the draft and some key free-agent signings to build his unit that allows just 17.5 points per game. "Defense is important everywhere, but when it gets down to playing those games in November and December in our division, it's going to be really important."

"In this league as a whole, it's a means of survival," said safety Ryan Clark, who has been with the team since 2006. "You're not going to win games with bad defense. It's just the way the games are played in our division. Baltimore and Pittsburgh have historically been very tough defenses, but teams are understanding that's the way to win. Not every team can go out and score 30 a game like Green Bay does. And, even before Green Bay was like that, they had the No. 1 defense to get to that point. That's how you have to play to win games."

Understand, of course, the Steelers didn't make it to their past three Super Bowls until Ben Roethlisberger became their quarterback in 2004. And the Ravens, who won the Super Bowl in 2000, haven't been a legitimate threat to go back since quarterback Joe Flacco and running back Ray Rice arrived in the same draft class in 2008.

But, make no mistake, the Steelers and Ravens survive with the defense. And there has been no greater proof than this year in Baltimore, where the defense continues to bail out an inconsistent offense with seven interceptions, an NFL-high nine fumble recoveries and four defensive touchdowns.

"Defense is a means of survival in every division -- if you don't have the pretty boy from up north," said Ravens defensive end Terrell Suggs, referring to Brady. "If you don't have him, then you better have a good defense. Even that won't get it done for you. If you are 32nd in defense [like the Patriots], you are not going to be a pretty good team at all. Usually you have a chance if you have the NFL's golden boy on your team. But, with that aside, you definitely have to have a defense to make any kind of run."

Uncanny consistency

Since 1999, the Steelers have allowed only 22 players to rush for 100 or more yards in a game, fewest in the NFL. The Ravens are second with 25.

Curiously, heading into this season, the Steelers had allowed just one 100-yard rusher in 55 games, although Rice has two of the past three.

Want more?

When they won the Super Bowl in 2000, the Ravens did so with a run defense that ranked as the best in NFL history since the advent of the 16-game season, allowing an average of 60.6 yards per game. Last year, the Steelers had the third-best run defense in league history, allowing a franchise-best 62.8 yards per game.

The consistency of each team's defensive prowess is as uncanny as it is impressive.

"With our system, you have a good core of guys who have been in the system for a while," said inside linebacker James Farrior, who has been a part of three Steelers defenses that ranked No. 1 in the league (2004, 2007, 2008) since arriving in 2002. "A lot of times, we're able to teach it to the younger guys. That helps out a lot with the coaches. Players listen to players, and that's one of the good things we have around here -- good leadership. All the older guys take in the younger guys under their wings."

The Ravens defense had something of a lull after their defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan, left to become head coach of the New York Jets. They were still stingy, but the unit became less aggressive.

Enter Chuck Pagano, their former secondary coach and a Ryan protégé. He was promoted to defensive coordinator this season to replace Greg Mattison.

Suddenly, the Ravens defense is beginning to look like the ones employed by Ryan -- using exotic blitzes from the corner, slot and just about anywhere on the field. After registering just 27 sacks in 2010, they already have an AFC-high 25 after seven games.

"Baltimore has built their team the same way as us," Clark said. "That's where their stars are -- the Ed Reeds, Ray Lewis, Haloti Ngata, T-Suggs. Baltimore is one of the few teams where the defensive players are the guys."

Harrison said one of the reasons for the Ravens' defensive success is that they have game-changers at all three levels of their defense -- line (Suggs, Ngata), linebacker (Lewis) and secondary (Reed). The Steelers are built the same with five-time Pro Bowl nose tackle Casey Hampton up front, Pro Bowl linebackers Farrior, James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley in the second tier and 2010 NFL defensive player of the year Troy Polamalu in the secondary.

"They're different teams, a different culture," Harrison said. "They try to build their teams a different way."

But usually with the same results -- winning

Ed Yozwick/Post-Gazette Illustration

Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com; twitter: @gerrydulac

Highlights: Penguins 3, Kings 2 (SO)

Ravens/Steelers - "Immortals" Trailer