The Tampa Two: Cardinals, banged up Steelers ready for Super battle

By Peter King
Monday Morning Quarterback
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/
January 19, 2009


A vicious block by Steelers wide receiver Limas Sweed (14) left Ravens defensive back Corey Ivy knocked out cold.
Damian Strohmeyer/SI

PITTSBURGH -- We have 13 days to hype the Super Bowl, and I'll even do some of that here. But first a few words on what we saw last night in the Baltimore-Pittsburgh Texas Cage Match.

This is now officially the best rivalry in football. It just passed New England-Indianapolis in my book. The thing is, it's a little bit like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, or Balboa-Creed. I'm not sure how often I want to see it. I'm afraid someone's going to get maimed. If I've ever been to a game with more intense hitting, I don't remember it. This was primeval.

There were three hits in this game that made the Hines Ward season-ending jaw-breaker of Cincinnati linebacker Keith Rivers look like flag football, and one of them left Baltimore running back Willis McGahee laid out on the field. He had to be strapped to a gurney to be carted off. All signs point to him being fine. Late last night, I asked the sport truck who hit him, Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark, what will hurt when he wakes up this morning. "Everything,'' Clark said. My fingers hurt just typing about this game.

If I'm Larry Fitzgerald or Kurt Warner, I'm saying a prayer the night before the Super Bowl. First, to give great thanks for one of the more incredible ascensions to a conference title ever. And second, to humbly ask, "Please do not let me get killed out there." The women and children and football players with birds on their helmets should be safe in Tampa, though, because it's not Baltimore on the other side of the field from Pittsburgh. Ravens-Steelers seems to bring out the MMA brawler in the players, as happened earlier this season, when Ray Lewis broke Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall's shoulder standing him up on a jarring straight-ahead tackle.

There was much more of that Sunday in Pittsburgh's 23-14 AFC Championship win, starting on the opening kickoff, when Baltimore safety Daren Stone was concussed flying into the Steeler wedge. Later, string-bean Steelers receiver (and nearly one of the biggest goats in franchise history) Limas Sweed decleated Baltimore cornerback Corey Ivy with a semi-blindside hit and knocked him out. Clark delivered a crushing blow to McGahee later.

"That was just ... so violent," the Pittsburgh backup quarterback, Byron Leftwich, said. "These two teams play violently. You look out there and can't believe the hits you're seeing."

The spiritual leader of the Ravens, Lewis, is 33 and not long for the rivalry, obviously. But the youth all over the place points to this being borderline Yankees-Red Sox for a long time. The coaches are 46 (John Harbaugh) and 36 (Mike Tomlin). The quarterbacks are 26 (Ben Roethlisberger) and 24 (Joe Flacco). Each team has some young keepers of the flame from recent drafts, like 24-year-old Pittsburgh sacker LaMarr Woodley and 24-year-old Baltimore defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, assuming they can survive the rivalry.

"Seems like this was 10-times worse than the regular season against them,'' Woodley said. "They had a chip on their shoulder out there, maybe because we beat them twice during the regular season. Whatever, it was rough out there.''


LaMarr Woodley (56) hits Joe Flacco

Four Steelers in the locker room last night mentioned -- without being prompted -- that they were thankful to have the usual Super Bowl bye week so they wouldn't have to play this weekend all beat up. We'll see what sort of impact the physicality of the game has on the Super Bowl. With the exception of a strained right-knee ligament suffered by Ward and some bruised ribs for Roethlisberger, the Steelers came out of the game pretty well. Ward and Roethlisberger will be ready to play in two weeks.

***

With the Super Bowl matchup set, let's attack the myriad topics on and off the field:

Can you count on anything -- like regular-season records -- in the postseason anymore?

Think of this: The Arizona Cardinals scored one more point than they allowed this year (427-426), and lost by 28, 21 and 40 in the last six weeks ... and are going to the Super Bowl.

Last year, the Giants, the fifth seed in the NFC, won three straight road games and shocked the previously 18-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl. Three years ago, it was another six-seed, these Steelers, winning three road playoff games and then the Super Bowl.

What exactly does the regular season mean anymore? And why are so many low seeds winning the title?

"If the NFL has now arrived at a strange point where regular-season performance does nothing to predict playoff performance, and every team has an equal chance to win if they make the tournament, is that bad for the league?'' Football Outsiders president Aaron Schatz said in an e-mail last night after watching the Cardinals win. "It's honestly feeling like we've reached that point.''

My feeling: So much is determined on health. If you're the Ravens, and you play an intensely physical style of football, you're going to have to be lucky to reach the Super Bowl, because it's likely you will have left some bodies by the side of the road during the course of the season. And without question, they were physically spent as they left Heinz Field last night. They hadn't had a weekend without a game for the last 18 weeks, while the Steelers had a bye in Week 6, a game with no playoff implications in Week 17, and a playoff bye in Week 18. "We're as healthy as we've been all year,'' Tomlin said the other day.

The Ravens talked brave in that next-man-up kind of way, but with their two starting corners out and vital cogs Terrell Suggs and Derrick Mason both playing with strapped-down shoulders, it didn't exactly give them the fairest chance in the title game. But them's the breaks.

It's never been truer that the hottest teams, and the healthiest teams, are the ones with the best chance in January. That's why it might be tempting to hand the Steelers their sixth Lombardi Trophy right now, but you can't underestimate a hot team with the best receiver on the planet right now, Larry Fitzgerald.

***


In his second season as the Cardinals head coach, ex-Steelers assistant Ken Whisenhunt will face his old team in Super Bowl XLIII.
Peter Read Miller/SI

Ken Whisenhunt is coaching against the Steelers in the Super Bowl. How sweet it is.

To refresh, when the Steelers made the very bold pick of a 34-year-old, one-year defensive coordinator, Tomlin, to succeed Bill Cowher, they left two longtime and loyal Steelers offensive assistants, Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm, out of luck. Whisenhunt got hired by the Cardinals as the head coach, and he took Grimm with him to be the Cards assistant head coach.

Now it's the man the Rooney family picked, Tomlin, against the two they spurned, Whisenhunt and Grimm.

I got Whisenhunt on the phone as he watched the final minute of the Steelers' win. He didn't pour any fuel on the fire, but it was clear that making the Super Bowl as a head coach is the sundae, and facing the Steelers in it the cherry on top. "It's personally going to be very meaningful to me facing the Steelers,'' he said. "I'm here because of the training I got there. That's a great football team. I'm proud of the guys we coached there. I'm proud of Ben and how he's grown. It's really going to be a lot of fun.''

With big fourth-quarter play, Polamalu poses safety hazard for Ravens

By Mike Preston
Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com
January 19, 2009

PITTSBURGH


(Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam / January 18, 2009)
Steelers safety Troy Polamalu (left) runs in for the score after intercepting a Joe Flacco pass and returning it 40 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The NFL's two best safeties were on display last night, and it was the Pittsburgh Steelers' Troy Polamalu who made the game's biggest play.

Polamalu intercepted a pass by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown with 4:24 left in the AFC championship game.

That play gave the Steelers a 23-14 lead and pretty much sealed the game.

It was the kind of play Ravens safety Ed Reed has been making all season. Flacco stared down his best receiver, Derrick Mason, on a third-and-13 from the Ravens' 29. As Mason started to come back, Polamalu jumped the route, reversed his field on the interception and scored the biggest touchdown of the game.


Could have been worse

The Ravens made it close until late in the game, but they didn't deserve to win this one. In fact, they should have been blown out.

The Steelers shut down the Ravens' running game, and Flacco didn't have a good game. When he was on target, his receivers dropped numerous passes.

The game was similar to the Tennessee Titans game Jan.10, in which the Ravens were dominated on the field but forced enough turnovers to win.

The bottom line, though, is that coach John Harbaugh and his staff got as much as possible out of this team. Most teams that rely on a starting rookie quarterback and first-year head coach finish around 6-10.


Biggest hits

The best hit of the game was Steelers safety Ryan Clark on Ravens running back Willis McGahee late in the fourth quarter. McGahee was taken off on a cart, and Clark was wobbly as he was helped to the sideline.

Among other big hits in this physical contest: Pittsburgh receiver Limas Sweed cracking back on Ravens cornerback Corey Ivy with 23 seconds left in the first half. That was nasty.

Another good shot was Pittsburgh's Carey Davis running over the Ravens' Daren Stone on the opening kickoff as Stone sprinted downfield. Stone got rocked (pun intended).


(Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin / January 18, 2009)
Steelers wide receiver Limas Sweed drops what could have been a touchdown pass late in the second quarter

Missed opportunities

The Steelers led 13-7 at the half but should have been ahead 24-7.

Pittsburgh running back Willie Parker dropped a possible touchdown pass down the right sideline in the first quarter, and Sweed dropped a possible 50-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline late in the second quarter.

The Ravens were low on cornerbacks, but they didn't really need any.

The Steelers couldn't catch.


Hands of stone

Ravens running back Le'Ron McClain might have a bad ankle, but that shouldn't affect his catching the ball. McClain seems to drop a pass every week, and he dropped one again last night.

McClain, the usual starter at running back, started at fullback last night with McGahee the starting halfback. McClain might be still struggling with the ankle injury. As a fullback, he does a lot more blocking than running and doesn't have to cut as much.


Suggs guts it out

The Ravens started injured outside linebacker Terrell Suggs (shoulder), but he played sparingly. By midway through the second quarter, Suggs was spending more time on the sideline than on the field. Edgar Jones took many repetitions for Suggs.

Suggs, though, returned and played well in the second half. He had two sacks, which is remarkable considering he played with one good arm. Many players have trouble taking quarterback Ben Roethlisberger down with two arms.


Stopped short

The Ravens got stopped on a fourth-and-one at the Pittsburgh 34 with 43 seconds left in the first quarter because Steelers defensive linemen Aaron Smith and Casey Hampton were able to get under guards Chris Chester and Ben Grubbs and center Jason Brown and push them backward.

The Ravens failed to get a yard on two straight plays, one a run by McGahee and the other a sneak by Flacco.


Not respecting Reed

Other teams had stopped throwing over the middle against the Ravens because of Reed, but the Steelers didn't. In the first two minutes, Roethlisberger threw a 45-yard pass over the middle in front of Reed to Hines Ward.

So much for respect.


Mismanaged

Pittsburgh really deserved to lose the game. Not only couldn't Pittsburgh catch, but the Steelers' clock management at the end of the half was horrendous.

How could Roethlisberger throw a 9-yard pass over the middle from the Ravens' 21 with 16seconds left in the second quarter and no timeouts?

The Steelers couldn't stop the clock and failed to get their field-goal unit on the field.

Dumb, dumb and dumb.


Holding? What holding?

The Ravens' offensive line did a great job of holding the Steelers. Some of it was pretty blatant stuff. But if there is no penalty, then there is no holding.

AFC Championship: Rigid culture defines defense

THE GAME: Marvin Lewis molded the league's top defenses and credits each team's relentless pursuit of success. But tonight, one has to give.

Sunday, January 18, 2009
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/steelers/

No one knows the Steelers' defense better than Dick LeBeau. No one knows Baltimore's defense better than Rex Ryan.

And no one knows both defenses in today's AFC championship game like Marvin Lewis.

As head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals since 2003, Lewis must prepare for each of the two AFC North Division teams twice annually. It almost seems unfair because not only are the Steelers and Ravens normally among the NFL's best defenses, this season they ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

Some of that is Lewis' fault -- he coached both teams' defenses and helped formulate the style of play each uses to this day.

Lewis coached the linebackers on Bill Cowher's first Steelers staff, which included Dick LeBeau and Dom Capers, when they installed the defense still in use: the 3-4 zone blitz that LeBeau devised. Lewis left the Steelers in 1996 to become defensive coordinator of the Ravens, where he had built one of the greatest defenses in history, a defense still led by Ray Lewis, by the time the team won the Super Bowl after the 2000 season.

Marvin Lewis will watch today's game on television, but he has had a front-row view of these defenses for more than 15 years. Not surprisingly, he believes defense wins championships, and the winner tonight has a great chance to take home the next Lombardi Trophy.

"I think most teams that stay at the top think defense is the way to go," said Lewis, who graduated from Fort Cherry High School in McDonald and coached at Pitt before joining the Steelers' staff. "If you can run the football and play good defense, you have a chance to make your own way in November and December and deep into January."

Lewis declined to pick a winner today or even say if he's rooting for one over the other -- "Oh, I can't pull; they're my second- and third-favorite teams," he said. He made it clear, though, why both defenses have dominated in the league for so long: consistency and culture.

The consistency in Pittsburgh comes from ownership's ability to keep a head coach -- and LeBeau -- in place. In Baltimore, Rex Ryan, who worked under Lewis with the Ravens, has been defensive coordinator since Lewis left.

Culture is not as easy to pin down. It's something that develops and passes from player to player. Ray Lewis has had the major impact in Baltimore while the Steelers of today benefit from a baton that began in the Chuck Noll era -- from players such as Rod Woodson, Greg Lloyd and Carnell Lake down the line.

"In Pittsburgh, the [defensive] system has stayed in place," Lewis said, "so when you lose a player, you can plug others in and keep going. Look at the evolution at outside linebacker and inside linebacker, and the secondary has evolved. Aaron Smith and those up-front guys are probably the next evolution that has to occur.

"When only one or two new guys come in, you don't have to make wholesale changes if you don't change coaches and systems."

Lewis noted that what helped Greg Lloyd get better was the addition of Kevin Greene on the other side in 1993.

"Greg stepped up and wasn't going to let Kevin outdo him. I could talk until I was blue in the face and Greg didn't hear me until Kevin came. That's what happens and makes things go the way they go."

That developed in both cities and prompted a devotion to study that Lewis said is a primary reason each defense has succeeded.

"When you walked into the classroom and saw Lake and Woodson take notes, how could you not take notes? Those are the things that breed and they multiply."

It's like Santonio Holmes or Nate Washington watching Hines Ward block; how can they not want to block?

The same holds true with the Ravens. Ray Lewis, a first-round draft choice in 1996 off a 4-12 team, helped set the tone for what would follow. When Lewis invited teammates over to his house for extra study time at night, who was going to not show up?

"It's so important to him," Marvin Lewis said. "What he does and how he does it -- the way he trains, it's very, very important to him and that's never changed. Ray was the youngest of [former Ravens] Peter Boulware and Jamie Sharper. They got Bart Scott and he was able to come along and learn the right way, and they continue to plug guys in.

"Adalius [Thomas] was a puppy, a fly on the wall and learned from them. He was able to teach those other guys and went on and passed the torch.

"It's like those guys in Pittsburgh -- from Greg to Kevin to Jason [Gildon] to Joey [Porter]."

And now to a new generation of linebackers: James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons. In Baltimore, they added a big piece with linebacker Terrell Suggs in 2003 (and another starter, end Jarret Johnson) and with nose tackle Haloti Ngata in 2006. Suggs followed in the footsteps of defenders such as Boulware and Thomas; they could play end or linebacker, and the Ravens could switch between a 3-4 and 4-3 on the fly without changing personnel.

Both defenses have evolved, but the culture of greatness continues in both locker rooms and will be displayed at Heinz Field this evening. Lewis can't wait to watch it, although he prefers his coaches' tapes to television so he can witness the whole thing in all its intricacies.

The man who coached with LeBeau and Ryan and now against them knows he's in for a treat tonight.

"It'll come down to who makes the most plays on offense," Marvin Lewis said. "Someone will have to make some plays on offense, in the passing game down the field. Someone has to make a third down, and someone has to run the football."

Oh, really?

Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 18, 2009 at 12:00 am

In Pittsburgh, the Super Bowl is the standard ... Nothing else will do

Sunday, January 18, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/steelers/


Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette
Josalyn Davis, from Rochester, Pa. cheers along at the Roast Ravens Rally held around the Terrible Tree in the courtyard of the Allegheny County Courthouse on Friday.

The Steelers ride into their third American Football Conference championship game in five years tonight, their fourth in seven years, their sixth since 1994, and their 14th since the original cast of football icons led by Franco Harris himself mapped out a sporting empire in the 1970s.

This is an athletic opulence few cities even aspire to with any practicality. The Arizona Cardinals, who play the Philadelphia Eagles in today's earlier National Football Conference title game, have not mounted such a grand stage since the Truman administration, or approximately two decades before anyone so much as thought of a Super Bowl.

And still modern Championship Sundays in Pittsburgh deliver a seismic coupling of pride and wariness, something realist short story master Alice Munro might call "a terrible amount of luxury and unease."

The Steelers lost both championship games in the short history of Heinz Field. They've lost the last three title games played in Pittsburgh and four of the last five. But because they took the hair-raisingly uncharted Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Denver route to Super Bowl XL just three years ago, and because a victory tonight against the Baltimore Ravens would put them in a seventh Super Bowl (more than anyone except the Dallas Cowboys), they retain the perpetual civic burden of capacious expectations.

"We're used to this in Pittsburgh," said Hines Ward, the dean of Pittsburgh's stars. "No disrespect to the Pirates or the Penguins, but the standard around here is the Super Bowl every year. That's just what's expected."

Expectations are only part of the Pittsburgh/Steelers equation. On the other side is identity, as there is likely no fan base so intense, so far flung, so proud of something even as often indefinable as Pittsburgh ethos.

"I was at the Thursday night home game against Cincinnati [Nov. 20]," said Todd Eckert, the globe-trotting North Side film producer and video game developer, "and I was sitting next to two people from Alabama, a really hot girl who was maybe 25 and this guy she was with, he was maybe 35.

"So it was right after halftime, and I was just talking to them. 'Who are you?' 'What do you do?' That kind of thing. Not only were they in town purely to see the game, but it was as though by becoming Steeler fans, they felt they were subscribing to a certain ideology about the world. They were learning to be Steeler fans because they wanted to behave like Pittsburghers.

"More than any other sports franchise I can think of, there's a kind of work ethic about them, and I don't know if it's branding, because that gets oversimplified into black and gold or whatever, but it's something about the Steelers that is recognized in London, in Manchester; there's a Steelers bar in Leon, France."

Consequently, Pittsburghers, regional expatriates and converts the world over have an implied license to take this simple game hyper-seriously, regardless of the debatable global urgency of an event like tonight's. It's all predictably manic, if not a little bit comic.

"I've found what epitomizes Pittsburgh, what sums up what we're all about, and it's right there in the main terminal at the Pittsburgh airport," said Bill Crawford, the gifted young Pittsburgh comedian. "There are two huge statues there. One is of George Washington, and one is of Franco Harris. People from Pittsburgh pass them and think, 'Yeah, that's normal, let's get our flight,' or 'Yeah, that's totally all right, let's go to Brookstone.'

"But people from outside the city see that and think it's ridiculous. They're like, 'What? Wait, this guy's the father of our country, and this other guy caught a football off somebody's helmet 35 years ago.' You can hear the argument, right?

"Dude, he was the first president."

"Oh yeah? Well Franco was a first-round draft choice in 1972."

"But Washington beat the Redcoats."

"Hey, Franco beat the Raiders -- it's pretty well documented. It was Immaculate."

"C'mon; he was the leader of the Continental Army!"

"Franco had Franco's Italian Army, it was his army, so in my mind, Franco's up one."

Small wonder that our own view of world history, even as it's unfolding, often gets seen through a black-and-gold looking glass. On the front page of this newspaper, the morning of Dec. 29, an all-capital letters, five-column headline read, "BIG BEN DOWN, PROBABLY NOT OUT." The one-column head next to that said, "Israel pounds Gaza by air again."

Steelers nose tackle Chris Hoke, who spent two years after college at Brigham Young University banging on doors in Eastern Europe spreading the Mormon word, has to wonder at the way the Steelers' gospel spreads with such fluidity and penetration.

"Kids grew up watching the great Steelers of the '70's, when the Steelers were really made, and it's just become their life," Mr. Hoke said the other day. "It's so much better than where I'm from, Southern California. There, people go to the games just to be seen. They don't care about them much. People in Pittsburgh, they live and die with it, and I mean literally live and die. Remember during the Super Bowl, people died?"

People died during the Super Bowl, but whether it was game-related knows no documentation. Mr. Hoke had to be referring to Terry O'Neill, the then-49-year-old union man who toppled to the floor of a South Side tavern when Jerome Bettis fumbled near the goal line in Indianapolis in the divisional playoff in 2006. Mr. O'Neill was defibrillated back to life.

You wonder sometimes if the younger Steelers, and even second-year coach Mike Tomlin, fully understand the depth of feeling for days like today outside the locker room and the stadium.

"I don't, and I know that I don't," Mr. Tomlin said candidly last week. "I lead a kind of insulated life here in Pittsburgh. I go to work and I go home. But it's not that I don't appreciate it, not that I don't cherish the opportunity. I'm humbled to know that what we do is important to people. We take a real sense of pride from that."

As the next Steelers cataclysm draws within hours, additions to the faith are fervently sought and dutifully recorded. The Steelers have never lost to a division opponent such as Baltimore in a postseason game. They're 7-0. When they beat an opponent twice in one season, as they have the Ravens this year, they've never lost a third meeting such as this. They are 7-0.

In the compound Pittsburgh equation though, there is something more than, again, "a terrible amount of luxury and unease."

"The reason we watch sports is the uncertainty of the outcome, but it's particularly compelling in a framework of success, like in Pittsburgh," Mr. Eckert said. "Look at San Francisco. There is a history of bohemia, which is generally enough to color a future of bohemia to a certain extent.

"With Pittsburgh, the Steelers are the embodiment of everything the city has ever done right, presented today in the urgency of a live event, a live event that can color the question of whether we can continue to do so."

Kickoff: 6:30 p.m.

Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1283.
First published on January 18, 2009 at 12:00 am

Games that shaped a rivalry: Steelers vs. Ravens

The Steelers own a 17-10 edge in the series vs. the Ravens since the franchise moved to Baltimore from Cleveland after the 1995 season. But it has been anything but easy gaining that advantage.

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/steelers/


Roberto Borea/AP
No recount of Steelers-Ravens history would be complete without Joey Porter. Here, he sacks Trent Dilfer in 2000.

Dec. 1, 1996: Ravens 31, Steelers 17 ... The high-flying Steelers visit the lowly Ravens for the first time since their move from Cleveland. The 3-9 Ravens deny them the chance to clinch the AFC Central. "I think, finally, we got that Pittsburgh stigma ... off our back," says coach Ted Marchibroda. Think again.

Sept. 6, 1998: Steelers 20, Ravens 13 ... Who better to christen Baltimore's new stadium. And in the strange fashion that will become commonplace in the series, the game turns on Ravens snapper Harper Le Bel's inability to do his job. Bad snaps cost them one FG and directly lead to one Steelers TD.

Oct. 29, 2000: Steelers 9, Ravens 6 ... It would be the last time the Ravens lose that season. They reel off 11 consecutive victories right through Super Bowl XXXV. Only three of their victims score more than the Steelers' 9 points.

Dec. 16, 2001: Steelers 26, Ravens 21 ... Referred to as "Plexiglass" all week by Ray Lewis & Co., Plaxico Burress, pictured below, catches 8 passes for 164 yards to help the Steelers clinch the AFC Central. Says Lewis: "OK, he's Plaxico now. He can have his name back."

Jan. 20, 2002: Steelers 27, Ravens 10 ... The only playoff meeting between the teams. Of the Ravens' 51 snaps from center, 29 result in plays of 1 yard or less. Says Hines Ward: "They can swagger themselves back to Baltimore."

Oct. 27, 2002: Steelers 31, Ravens 18 ... Tommy Maddox gets his foot stepped on. Plaxico Burress gets his head stepped on. Otherwise, the Steelers do the rest of the day's stomping. "Those 11 kicked the [stuffing] out of us," an unamused Ravens coach Brian Billick says.

Sept. 7, 2003: Steelers 34, Ravens 15 ... A now-legendary pregame confrontation between Baltimore's Ray Lewis and Joey Porter turns the flame up even before the national anthem on opening day at Heinz Field. Lewis mocks Porter's "sack boot" and tells Porter he owns "this house." The final score says he doesn't. "Says Porter: "It was kind of stupid for him to do that."

Sept. 19, 2004: Ravens 30, Steelers 13 ... A bad Steelers loss, yet a day that will forever live in the collective memory of Steelers Nation. Tommy Maddox is knocked from the game in the second half and is replaced by a rookie named Ben Roethlisberger.

Nov. 5, 2007: Steelers 38, Ravens 7 ... In front of many Steelers legends, James Harrison has a Monday night performance worthy of any of them. He has 9 tackles, 31â?„2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery and 1 interception.

Sept. 29, 2008: Steelers 23, Ravens 20 (OT) ... It is a game decided on a Jeff Reed FG but that will be remembered for its vicious hitting and Terrell Suggs' statement later that a bounty is involved in a season-ending shoulder injury to Rashard Mendenhall.

Dec. 14, 2008: Steelers 13, Ravens 9 ... In keeping with the series' memorable moments, Santonio Holmes catches a controversial (and much reviewed) TD pass from Ben Roethlisberger with 43 seconds to play to clinch another AFC North title.

First published on January 18, 2009 at 12:00 am

Steelers' Harrison has Ravens' attention

By John Harris, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/archive/
Saturday, January 17, 2009


James Harrison helps drop Ravens running back Le'Ron McClain.
Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review file

The Baltimore Ravens added an extra offensive tackle on Steelers linebacker James Harrison's side when the teams played in December.

That's a heck of a compliment for an opponent whom Baltimore defensive lineman Trevor Pryce claimed wouldn't be heard from. This after Harrison had racked up nine tackles, 3 1/2 sacks, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception against the Ravens on Monday Night Football last season.

Pryce was wrong. Boy, was he wrong.

Harrison became the star attraction on the Steelers' top-ranked defense this season. He had a franchise-record 16 sacks during the regular season despite double- and triple-teams and the more-than-occasional hold.

He wasn't drafted out of Kent State. He was cut four times, including once by the Ravens. He's been disrespected by opponents such as Pryce. Yet, he's now the reigning NFL defensive player of the year.

That's Harrison telling his critics to stick their doubts where the sun doesn't shine.

"Actually, stuff like that motivates me. It makes me want to prove somebody wrong," said Harrison, who starts in the biggest game of his life against the Ravens on Sunday night in the AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field. "When I hear what somebody tells me I can't do, it drives me to want to do it even more to prove them wrong."

Harrison's numbers in two home games against Baltimore since becoming a starter in 2007 are staggering: 19 tackles, six sacks for 55 yards in losses, one interception, four forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Harrison's big plays in those two home games have directly led to five touchdowns.

In the Steelers' 23-20 overtime win against Baltimore on Sept. 29, Harrison's sack of quarterback Joe Flacco resulted in a fumble and LaMarr Woodley's 7-yard touchdown return for a 17-13 lead in the third quarter.

Harrison's presence makes his teammmates better, if only because of the extra blocking attention tilted his way. He was held somewhat in check with four tackles and a sack last week against San Diego in the divisional playoffs. So what was the result? Woodley crashes in from the left side for two big sacks, three tackles for losses and three quarterback hurries.

Baltimore's players have since come to their senses regarding Harrison's playing ability. Ravens tackle Willie Anderson, a 13-year veteran, compared Harrison's forceful playing style to former Steelers linebacker Greg Lloyd, whom Anderson faced while with the Cincinnati Bengals.

"I don't really pattern myself after anybody," Harrison said. "I go out there and try things that I may have seen somebody else do and see how it fits into my game. If I feel like I can do it, well, then I'll keep it. If not, then I'll throw it away."

Given how Harrison has taken the league by storm, more linebackers have been patterning their games after him, rather than the other way around.

Tough coach keeps Steelers’ success alive

By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl
Jan 15, 2:36 pm EST


DECEMBER 28: Head coach Mike Tomlin (R) and James Harrison #92 of the Pittsburgh Steelers look on while playing the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field December 28, 2008 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh won the game 31-0.(Getty Images)


PITTSBURGH – The slight sting is still there, but with another AFC championship game on the horizon, Mike Tomlin’s veterans seem to appreciate the endured pain just a little bit more.

Don’t get them wrong, they can still spin some tales about their head coach from late last season, coming in and looking on the ink board in the practice facility and seeing the announcement that a fully padded practice awaited them. There might have been some curses under their breath, or some hushed chatter about how “B.C.” – former coach Bill Cowher – had done things differently.

“At the time, we were practicing in full pads in like Week 13 or something, still hitting each other,” offensive lineman Max Starks said with a grin. “But that was part of him putting his stamp on this team, showing us how it was going to be. … It’s definitely easier to come in like that and loosen up than the other way around.”

And maybe that has been what has delivered Tomlin to this impressive moment. Only two years into a job with the highest of expectations, he has delivered back-to-back AFC North crowns and leads the Steelers into the conference championship game this week against nemesis Baltimore. Should he get Pittsburgh into the Super Bowl, he’ll have done it in an unprecedented time span, besting the four years it took Cowher, and the six it took Chuck Noll.

To be fair, his predecessors took over with the franchise in less-than-stellar states. In 1969, Noll inherited a team that had won only two games the previous year and hadn’t been to the postseason in 21 seasons. In 1992, Cowher got the call when the franchise had been to the playoffs only once in the previous seven years. Tomlin’s bunch had won a Super Bowl less than one year before his arrival.

But maybe that actually makes Tomlin’s two-year run even more impressive. At 34 years old, he was taking over a veteran roster that was anything but desperate, and taking a chair at the head of the table in a franchise that genuinely pushes for a “family” bond between players and coaches. In fact, after doing things the “B.C.” way for so many years and experiencing such recent success, it was arguably a more hard-headed locker room than most any in the NFL. Hell, linebacker James Farrior had even played some of his college football against Tomlin, when Farrior was at the University of Virginia and his new head coach was a wide receiver at the College of William & Mary.

And of course, there was that one little thing – walking into an office that was a slight breeze away from a trophy case holding five Lombardi trophies. Pregnant reminders that he walks by every day, screaming of past greatness and pressures that have been transferred directly onto his shoulders.

“I love the high expectations that come with this job,” Tomlin said. “I’d rather have high ones than low ones. It’s a sense of pride. The tradition is awesome. You can’t put a price tag on it. It’s inspiring not only to me, but I think everybody that’s a part of our football team and in this organization. Standards are great. As parents, we try to hold our kids to high standards. Those that have come before us set the standards for us. We understand that when we come in the building. We understand that when we take the field. We hope how we do our business honors those guys.”

In a way, that business is the other thread Tomlin shares with Pittsburgh’s rare coaching lineage. Like Cowher and Noll before him, he quickly put his imprints on his Steelers, wasting no time taking ownership of this current group. Speaking in blustery terms about “a violent game” and “attrition” and the beloved “Steeler way” of playing football, he seemed to fit the blue-collar nature of the town that wrapped around his team.


Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers coaches against the San Diego Chargers during their AFC Divisional Playoff Game on January 11, 2009 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.(Getty Images)


But to his credit, the bristling press conferences about toughness and discipline haven’t been counterfeit. In his two years, he has taken on the sacred cows on his roster, making his expectations crystal clear.

Last summer, he clashed with veteran defensive tackle Casey Hampton in training camp when the lineman couldn’t finish a set of 100-yard runs that were part of mandatory physical conditioning. Tomlin deemed the effort below team standards, placed Hampton on the Physically Unable to Perform list, and effectively barred the four-time Pro Bowler from the practice field until he got into shape.

And Hampton was hardly alone. From the very moment he arrived, Tomlin spared no one. In the months following his first NFL draft, he made no secret that he was disappointed with the nagging offseason injuries of his touted rookie linebacker picks – LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons. And once the 2007 season started, he resisted the grumbling of veterans, who were used to Cowher’s generous habit of stripping off the pads late in the season, or occasionally giving players an unscheduled day off. This year, he subtly criticized quarterback Ben Roethlisberger about not getting the football out of his hand quickly enough. And his ire has often fallen on the offensive line, which got sparing praise even after last week’s strong rushing performance against San Diego.

“It’s definitely different at times,” linebacker Larry Foote said. “Days where you used to be able to take it off, he didn’t give them off. When it rained, we still practiced. He’d take us outside when it was cold. He was purposely being hard on us. We were in pads for a long time, coming in on Mondays late in the season. From Day One, he didn’t blink. He didn’t compromise. It was his way and we got on board. What other choice did we have?”

Even now, Foote seems somewhat skeptical of teammates who term Tomlin a “player’s coach.”

“Oh, that toughness with us is still his way,” Foote chuckled. “No doubt about that.”

But that’s where his players have seen him make strides as a head coach. While some can take over a team as an overbearing taskmaster and never let up, Pittsburgh’s players said that they’ve seen Tomlin’s relationship with his veterans grow by leaps and bounds this season. Whether it’s the practice regimen, the handling of injuries or the chemistry in the locker room, some players feel like the veterans have had Tomlin’s ear this season. And they credit that reality at least partially to this season’s run to the conference title game.

“No question about it,” Hampton said. “Last year, it was his way or the highway. Him being a young coach and coming into a team that wasn’t really a losing team, he had to kind of put a stamp on the team himself. He kind of did things his way. This year, he kind of listened to the players more, and I think that’s the reason we’re in the situation we’re in right now. … I think he kind of saw that we were beat up late last year and he kind of learned from it – took bits and pieces from things like that and kind of listened to the older guys, and that helped out.”

Added linebacker James Harrison: “This year, you’ve got a close bond where you definitely feel he’s more than just the boss. It hasn’t always been like that.”

Not that Tomlin cares. Only a week ago, he was asked about his improvement as a coach, and he somewhat graciously responded by admitting, “It is no big revelation that I am a better football coach this year. I better be better next year. It is not always displayed in the win-loss record. I think that regardless of what you do for a living, you have to get better; and that is every day. I know when I walk through those doors, that is my intent every day. I am not making a bigger deal out of it than what it is.”

Yet when he was told this week by a reporter that his players have said he’s a better coach today than he was one year ago, Tomlin’s reaction returned to that bluster.

“I’m not interested in evaluating my performance, and particularly I’m not interested in my players’ evaluation of my performance,” he said. “I’m paid to evaluate them.”

In a way, those two comments could serve as Tomlin in a snapshot – reluctant to administer self-praise, quick to react when such praise or growth could be construed as weakness.

Perhaps Foote put it best when he said, “What he has, you can’t cheat. He won this division in his two years as a head coach and now he’s in the AFC championship in his second year. You can’t knock what he’s doing when things like that happen.”

Ray Lewis: The heart and soul of Baltimore

In 13th season, Lewis still devotes time, energy to lead Ravens' defense

Friday, January 16, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Gail Burton/Associated Press
Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, center, leads the team off the field after practice yesterday in Owings Mills, Md.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- There is one overwhelming reason why Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan is certain to become an NFL head coach, perhaps as early as next week with the New York Jets or St. Louis Rams.

Ray Lewis.

You know Ray-Ray, right? No. 52 in the purple-and-white uniform. One of the great middle linebackers in NFL history. A 10-time Pro Bowler, two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and MVP of Super Bowl XXXV. "A shining star of a leader," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.

The kind of player who makes his coaches seem awfully smart. "He's a once-in-a-lifetime guy," Ryan said.

When last seen on a football field Saturday in Tennessee, Lewis, 33 and in his 13th NFL season, showed Polamalu-like quickness to get to the sideline and Lambert-like ferocity to send Titans fullback Ahmard Hall flying one way and his helmet another. When last seen on Heinz Field in September, Lewis put such a lick on Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall that he broke Mendenhall's shoulder.

"If he's slowing down, I can't see it," Ryan said. "He still has range. He's still hitting. He's still the top middle linebacker in the game."

Heinz Fields fans won't have any trouble finding Lewis when the Ravens and Steelers meet Sunday in the AFC championship game for the right to go to Super Bowl XLIII. Right from the start, when the Ravens leave the tunnel from their locker room to take the frozen lawn, Lewis will be front and center, dancing and preening, the ultimate look-at-me player of his time.

Silly? Sure, his little routine looks silly. The home crowd will hiss and boo. But the Ravens will love it. They love everything about the passionate Lewis, their emotional leader. Much like when Joey Porter was with the Steelers, Lewis' value to the squad goes far beyond what he does on the field.

Lewis had a total of 20 tackles -- including 17 solo stops -- in the Ravens' playoff wins against Tennessee and Miami the past two weeks. During the regular season, he had a team-high 160 tackles, three interceptions, 31/2 sacks and two fumble recoveries.

Those close to Lewis, as well as the man himself, will tell you none of it happens by accident. "He doesn't just show up on Sundays," said Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, who was on the Ravens' staff when they won the Super Bowl after the 2000 season and Lewis was the MVP. As Ravens offensive tackle Willie Anderson put it, "When your best player is your hardest worker, good things happen for your team."

Lewis' game preparation is legendary at Ravens headquarters. "Football never changes. It's whatever you put into it," Lewis said.

Ryan called him "such a student of the game," adding, "The practices and meetings we have are only part of it. If you want to be great, you've got to study the tapes yourself. Ray probably puts in as many hours as most coaches do."

Lewis' teammates are convinced his hours of video study and ability to recognize an opponent's formations and tendencies give them a sizable advantage. "With Ray, no one is going to know an offense better than we do," linebacker Jarret Johnson said.

Then there's Lewis' intensity.

"What you see on Sunday, you get every day at every practice," Cavanaugh said. "He takes every play, whether it's during the season or at fall camp or at mini-camp, as a challenge. He's got the same focus all week long. It becomes infectious for the rest of the team."

Case in point: All-Pro safety Ed Reed.

Like Lewis, Reed played at the University of Miami. Again like Lewis, Reed is adored by his teammates because of the preparatory work he puts in each week.

"I know Ray took that young kid Ed under his wing," Cavanaugh said. " 'This is how we do it here. This is the only way we do it.' "

The result has been lights-out defense, year after year, during the Lewis era. The Ravens ranked second against the pass this season, third against the run and third overall, right behind the Steelers' defense in each category. The Ravens certainly are capable of leaving Heinz Field Sunday night with that prized Super Bowl trip.

Lewis said it's all about chemistry. "The togetherness and the brotherhood we have is kind of more overwhelming than anything."

Chemistry and accountability.

"Play for the man beside you, bottom line," Lewis told the Baltimore media earlier this season. "When the ball is snapped, find it. Don't ever get caught loafing. ... You won't have to answer to the coaches; you've got to answer to us."

Would you want to have to answer to Ray-Ray?

Didn't think so.

There's a concern in the Baltimore organization that the Ravens' defensive dominance will end soon. It's not just because Ryan could be leaving for that head job. Lewis and fellow linebackers and noted Hines Ward fans Terrell Suggs and Bart Scott all will be free agents after the Super Bowl. Although it's hard to imagine Lewis playing elsewhere -- of course, it was hard to imagine Hall of Famers Franco Harris and Mike Webster leaving the Steelers, wasn't it? -- the Ravens aren't likely to keep all three. Scott seems the most likely to move on.

Ravens fans aren't the only ones hoping Lewis sticks around for a few more seasons. A Steelers-Ravens game just wouldn't be the same without him.


Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 16, 2009 at 12:00 am

James Farrior: The Quiet Riot

Steelers linebacker James Farrior doesn't have Baltimore star Ray Lewis' flamboyance, but he's every bit the competitor

Friday, January 16, 2009
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
James Farrior stops the Bengals' Cedric Benson for no gain Nov. 20.


You see him preening. You see him thumping his chest. You see him ranting and raving and raising his Baltimore team. All skullcap and stare and roiling passion, Ray Lewis is an image seared into the NFL consciousness, a freeze frame of the game's most menacing middle linebacker.

Now picture the Steelers' James Farrior.

You know, the guy they call Potsie.

Never saw him dance or gesticulate or do much more than quietly, efficiently steer the league's leading defense. Never saw him hoist his unit, his team, with an overt display of emotion, though teammates maintain they wouldn't be as sturdy without their restrained inside linebacker. Never saw him gain the same wide-eyed attention as Lewis, either.

"I got to work on my dance moves," Farrior joked earlier this week, his Steelers preparing to confront Lewis and the Ravens Sunday for the AFC championship and a ticket to the Super Bowl. The joke lasted, oh, five seconds. "That's not me. That's not me."

"Complete opposite," added defensive end Aaron Smith, whose locker is next door. "Potsie's very reserved and laid back."

"He's not as animated as Ray Lewis," continued Larry Foote, Farrior's inside-linebacker sidekick for the past five seasons. "But, you know, that's just their personalities. Farrior's a quiet, consistent guy. And he's been leading this defense since I've been here."

Since 2002, when Foote arrived in the draft and Farrior via free agency after five seasons with the New York Jets, the Steelers' defense has been called, conducted and controlled by the same man in the middle. He has topped the team in tackles four of the past five years, the other being 2005 when he missed two starts to injury -- and still finished second.

He has topped the acclaimed Lewis three of the past four years in tackles and sacks and surpassed him three of the past five years in forced fumbles and fumbles recovered. But Farrior's number of Pro Bowls? Counting this year's, two, compared to Lewis' 10 in 13 seasons. Farrior's number of Defensive Player of the Year Awards? He finished No. 2 to Lewis' Ravens teammate Ed Reed in 2004, compared to Lewis' two first places.

Not that Lewis is undeserving. Not that Farrior is under-heralded, if not unheralded. It's just that some Steelers believe there shouldn't exist such a gulf in perception between them.

"Aw, ain't no doubt about it," Foote began. "I mean, I'm a little better than [Farrior], but people don't see it that way." The joke lasted, oh, two seconds. "But he's definitely one of the top linebackers, right along with Ray Lewis."

Farrior, who owns 931 career regular-season tackles to Lewis' 911 in one less season, places Lewis on a considerably higher pedestal. And, to him, there's good reason.

"No doubt about it. He's kept that team intact for the past so many years," Farrior said of the 13-year veteran drafted in the first round in 1996. "He's always been the leader of that team. Offensively, defensively, he's the guy. The work that he's put in is pretty remarkable. He's a Hall of Fame player. I really admire his game. I think he's one of the best middle linebackers to ever play the game."

Here they are, confronting one another Sunday through their respective first- and second-ranked defenses in the NFL to see which gets the opportunity to play in a second Super Bowl. Lewis is 33. Farrior turned 34 last week.

"Both of them are old," said Foote, 27. "I always sort of modeled myself after [Farrior], that's how long I want to play. But I don't know if I want to go quite as long as he's going.

"That's why he got that [five-year, $18.2-million] contract at that age," Foote added of Farrior's extension in August. "Because he ain't slowed down yet. You got to slow down before the negotiation table starts to go against you."

It's something Farrior admittedly learned at his advanced inside-linebacker age.

"It's hard, it's hard. But you got to do a better job in the offseason taking care of your body," he said. "You know, that's one of the things I've done over the years, taking great care of my body and trying to get in the best shape I could in the offseason. That's probably been a key for me." And you see that No. 51, in turn, has been a key to the Steelers' drive.

"[No.] 52 and his crazy dancing?" tackle Max Starks joked of Lewis. "I'd just like to see some different moves. It's kind of stale."


Chuck Finder can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 16, 2009 at 12:00 am

Mentioning Ward heats up rivalry

Friday, January 16, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Hines Ward runs the ball against the Baltimore Ravens on December 14, 2008 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. The Steelers defeated the Ravens 13-9.(Getty Images)


OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- There are any number of unpleasant incidents that define the Steelers' long, bitter, hateful rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens, but the most recent involving Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward and Ravens linebacker Bart Scott seems like the perfect place to start this morning.

When the teams last met Dec. 14 in Baltimore, Ward tried to throw a crackback on Scott during a scramble by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. At the last instant, Scott saw Ward coming and ducked. Ward missed him.

"They put a bounty on me and then he ducks," Ward said with just the right amount of disdain after the Steelers' last-minute, 13-9 win.

"He saw Hines coming and he was scared!" teammate Santonio Holmes piped in from two lockers down.

You're probably shocked to learn that someone asked Scott about that this week with the teams to meet again Sunday in the AFC championship game at Heinz Field.

Hey, I couldn't help myself.

"Yeah, I'm scared of a 200-pound man," Scott said. "I deal with the big guys every play, but I'm scared of him. Yeah, right. Put that down. I'm scared of him."

Scott's smirk matched Ward's best on any day.

"It's almost comical," he said.

Thing is, Scott wasn't laughing. He never laughs when Ward is the topic of the conversation. He refuses to even call him by name. The two have become the faces of the nasty rivalry, arguably the meanest in the NFL. It was Scott who threatened to "kill" Ward after Ward sent him flying with a block in the game at Pittsburgh last season, telling him "that payback is a [bleep]."

Scott stopped short of that this week.

Just short, actually.

"His time will come. He'll get his," Scott said of Ward. "He'll come across the middle one day and someone will hit him or take out his knee. The guy will be fined and [Ward] will be gone. No one will care. No one will even care. No one will send him any cards saying they're sorry. Not to that guy.

"You reap what you sow."

Over the years, the Ravens have worked up a good case of dislike for a number of Steelers. Former linebacker Joey Porter comes to mind. "He's [a bleep]," cornerback Chris McAlister called him after he pushed down Ravens injured tight end Todd Heap in '04. Former wide receiver Plaxico Burress also was despised here. "Plexiglass," then-Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe called him after he maligned the Ravens' great defense in '01 by saying, "They've got one good player" -- linebacker Ray Lewis -- "and the rest are just followers."

But the Ravens' hatred for Ward is off the charts.

It goes back to the '01 season when Ward popped Hall of Fame-bound safety Rod Woodson with a block, bloodying his nose. After the game, Woodson threatened to get even and was so angry that he temporarily scuttled a proposed business deal he had for Ward to promote his Pittsburgh automobile dealership.

It was during that season that Ward first spoke of an alleged bounty the Ravens had on him and Burress. Just this season, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs went on a national radio show and said his teammates had a bounty on Ward and Steelers rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall. The ferocious Lewis ended Mendenhall's season when the teams played Sept. 29 in Pittsburgh by breaking his shoulder with a brutal -- but clean -- hit.

"Hines Ward is definitely a dirty player, a cheap-shot artist," Suggs said in that radio interview.

With so much at stake Sunday, the Ravens tried to be politically correct this week, downplaying their animosity toward the Steelers in general and Ward in particular. Linebacker Jarret Johnson went so far as to say he'd like to have Ward on his team. "Anybody who's that competitive and wants to win that badly, you'd love to have him as a teammate."

What a crock, you know?

But Scott didn't play those games. "I have no comment about [Ward]," he growled, initially. But, after being reminded of Ward's block attempt in the last game and Holmes' colorful description of the play, he had plenty to say.

"My little son could stand behind you and poke you in the eyes when you turn around and hurt you," Scott said. "Is that being tough?

"Is hitting someone when they're not looking being tough? To me, that's no better than taking out a quarterback's knees."

Scott mentioned Ward's block on him last season. "I had pulled up because [running back] Willie Parker was going out of bounds. I'm sure he's glad I did because I could have taken a cheap shot at him. I chose not to, but [Ward] chose to take a cheap shot at me. That's the way he is."

In that same game, Ward knocked All-Pro safety Ed Reed on his fanny with a block. "That block on Ed had nothing to do with the play," Scott said. "The play was over. [Ward] hit him anyway because he wasn't looking. He likes to hit people when they aren't looking …

"Go ask Keith Rivers what he thinks about that."

Rivers, a rookie linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals, had his season end when Ward broke his jaw with a crushing block Oct. 19.

Scott didn't want to hear that Ward wasn't penalized on that block or on the ones on him and Reed last season.

"Tell me, do you think they were legal hits?" he asked. "Is it a legal hit when a receiver comes across the middle and I hit him when he's defenseless? If you think it is, tell it to the league so I don't have to send them my money the next time it happens."

This is just a guess, but Scott probably would welcome getting a shot at Ward Sunday.

Not that he's anticipating one.

"He's a wide receiver. He's on the outside. I'm a linebacker. I'm on the inside," Scott said. "He only comes into my world when he chooses to …

"That's the difference between him and Joey [Porter]. Joey's in the box with the men. He's not on the outside looking to hit people only when they aren't looking. If Joey wants to be tough, he has to deal with [former Ravens All-Pro offensive tackle] Jon Ogden. Now that's tough. So what if Joey pushes down Todd Heap? He has to answer for it.

"Who does [Ward] have to answer to?"

Not to an angry linebacker, that's for sure.

Sadly, for that angry linebacker.

"That's OK," Scott said. "The more [Ward] does, the more we'll just turn it up on their other guys. We'll make it tougher for Willie Parker."

Or maybe Roethlisberger.

Somehow, though, it just won't be the same.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 16, 2009 at 12:00 am

Turnovers equal disaster when you play Ravens

Friday, January 16, 2009
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


NASHVILLE, TN - JANUARY 10: Cornerback Samari Rolle #22 of the Baltimore Ravens intercepts a pass alongside wide receiver Justin McCareins #19 of the Tennessee Titans in the second quarter during the AFC Divisional Playoff Game on January 10, 2009 at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)


The thousands of man hours devoted to game-planning for the Baltimore Ravens in these NFL playoffs haven't exactly been the defining illustration of time well spent.

The Miami Dolphins and the Tennessee Titans, proud possessors of some of the best football minds in the industry, brainstormed into development two viable attack blueprints the Ravens instantly snatched into the shredder known as Rex Ryan's defense.

Genius is great, but it gets trumped by fumbles and interceptions every time, and surely Mike Tomlin and his staff have noticed that the Ravens already have knocked the ball loose seven times in these playoffs, recovering three, and passed the time between fumbles by intercepting the ball five times.

"The team that makes the least mistakes will win," Hines Ward explained to a glut of media this week. "The winner is whoever doesn't turn the ball over."

That, of course, is fixed analysis, which has nothing to do with the Ravens, whose 337 takeaways since 1999 are the most in the NFL over the past 10 years, whose 34 takeaways topped the league in 2008, whose three forced turnovers at Tennessee put them in the AFC championship game Sunday at Heinz Field.

"I hope I've done a good enough job, or at least that's my thought process right now, that it's innate," Tomlin said of the ball-protection imperative. "Still, that's not going to keep us from stating the obvious. We'll point out that this is a team that rips at the football, and that January football is decided by turnovers."

From a coaching standpoint, few aspects of a game with this urgency can be more discouraging than the fact that no amount of planning can overcome the devastating results of a ball dispossessed.

Jeff Fisher's Tennessee staff put a brilliant plan in place, one that resulted in the Titans outgaining the Ravens by almost 2 to 1, but no amount of specialized preparation could keep the ball in Alge Crumpler's hands when Baltimore's Jim Leonhard crashed into him at just the right spot to trigger an ejection.

"I didn't see replays of the Crumpler play," Steelers tight end Heath Miller said, "but it looked like he had the ball tucked away pretty good. These guys are always trying to rip the ball out. If you're in any traffic at all, you've got to put two hands on it."

Crumpler was separated from the ball at the Ravens' 6. If he scores, Tennessee wins.

LenDale White was separated from it at the Ravens' 15. If not, Tennessee likely wins.

Leonhard smacked into Titans' quarterback Kerry Collins, sending his pass fluttering into the hands of Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle at the Ravens' 9. Without that, Tennessee likely wins.

Tennessee lost.

None of this is to suggest any carelessness on the part of the top-seeded Titans. Remember, the Dolphins, who'd given the ball away a league-low 13 times all season, opened the playoffs with five giveaways against the Blackbirds. It's not so much that people who are trained to protect the ball suddenly forget their training. It's more a matter of the ball coming loose from raw violence or raw fear, or both.

Dec. 14 in Baltimore, Santonio Holmes fumbled twice, Ben Roethlisberger once. The Ravens recovered two of the three. The Steelers negated that by intercepting two of rookie quarterback Joe Flacco's passes on a day his passer rating was a season-low 22.2.

Inside Heinz Field Sept. 29, Roethlisberger threw one of Baltimore's league-leading 26 interceptions, but the Steelers' LaMarr Woodley recovered James Harrison's forced fumble and ran it into the end zone.

So, in two games, the takeaway-giveaway tussle between these teams is even. Should it tip either way Sunday, well, see the Ward quotes above. Avoid the statistics, if you're wondering which way it might tip.

"Those guys can get the ball out," said running back Gary Russell. "Once you take your mind off the ball for a second, they'll rip it out of there."

The Steelers are 9-0 when they prevail on the turnover issue.

"From our perspective with [wide receivers coach] Randy Fichtner, we practice ball security every day," said Nate Washington. "I mean from the spring. Ball security is just part of who we are, part of what we do. It's not something we have to think about."

"You have to pay a little more attention to detail this week," Ward warned. "Actually, a lot more attention to detail. The Ravens do a great job of trying to rip the ball out. You don't want to give them an easy touchdown because of it."

All things being equal, touchdowns have been next to impossible when these teams met this year, and the Steelers are 2-0. Any game in which Baltimore safety Ed Reed runs into the end zone, however, is another matter.


Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 16, 2009 at 12:00 am

Keep it simple, win the game

By Mike Prisuta, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Friday, January 16, 2009


Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians talks to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Joe Apple/Tribune-Review


Although he wound up inspiring his offensive linemen, it was really information Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was seeking when he began the Steelers' playoff opener against San Diego with three scripted running plays.

That's how it works sometimes in the playoffs.

As much as anything else, Arians wanted to get a handle on the Chargers' substitution patterns. But his offensive linemen took what they saw when the 15-play script was unveiled Saturday night as a collective challenge.

The line responded, the Steelers ran for 22 yards on their first three snaps and 165 overall and the Chargers were conquered.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was looking to inspire his troops, at least in part, when he dialed up a fake punt on fourth-and-1 from the Steelers' 48-yard line with just more than 5 minutes left in the first half of a 7-7 game.

The play backfired, putting San Diego in position to move a short distance and boot a 42-yard field goal for its second and, as it turned out, last lead of the day.

It works out that way in the playoffs sometimes.

"I wanted to get our guys going and let our guys know we were playing to win," Tomlin said.

Hopefully, the Steelers will be aware of such details well in advance of Sunday's AFC Championship Game.

Knowing the Ravens as they do, they ought to have a handle on what Baltimore is capable of.

And if a shot at the Super Bowl against a hated rival at home isn't enough to get the Steelers going, will another fake punt or some such gimmick really alter their emotional state enough to make a difference?

Sunday shouldn't be about such things.

Sunday should be about determination rather than inspiration or trickery.

The Steelers can beat the Ravens, as they've proven twice already.

But to do it again, they're going to have to outslug the Ravens, and they're going to have to ensure that they don't somehow beat themselves.

The blueprint for success is pretty simple. But the execution of the required game plan will demand patience, perseverance and pain.

The script on offense can be whittled down to this: When running the ball, don't fumble it. And when passing, don't throw the ball to Ed Reed.

The rest is just details.

That's atypical, but then again, that's Steelers-Ravens, as Steelers safety Troy Polamalu has come to realize.

"In other games, against the Indianapolis Colts, a 4- or 5-yard gain is nothing," Polamalu said. "But a 5-yard gain in this game is like a 30-yard reception for the Indianapolis Colts.

"It means so much more because the style of the game is played so much differently."

That being the case, the idea isn't so much to beat the Ravens as it is to outlast them.

Concede nothing.

Risk nothing.

Wait them out.

Let them make the first mistake and pounce upon it.

And this week, don't gamble on surrendering a cheap three points or passing three up in the name of aggressiveness, because this week, that might get you beat, 10-7.

The game itself need not be especially artistic or inspirational.

A score of 10-7 in the Steelers favor still gets them to Tampa, Fla.

Ward: most hated man in Baltimore

Longtime Steeler calls distinction 'a big honor, I guess'

By Bill Ordine
bill.ordine@baltsun.com
Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com/
January 15, 2009


"There's just something about Baltimore where you want to ... give it all you've got," said Steelers receiver Hines Ward, here against the Chargers. (Getty Images / November 16, 2008)


PITTSBURGH - In Pittsburgh, Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward is known for his beaming smile.

In Baltimore, he's despised for his wise-guy smirk.

In Pittsburgh, Ward is admired for always playing the game hard.

In Baltimore, he's criticized for taking cheap shots.

In Pittsburgh, the fans love Hines Ward.

In Baltimore, well, they don't.

"But I love Baltimore, why would they dislike me?" Ward said, smiling and/or smirking, yesterday. "I love the crab cakes there.

"It's a big honor, I guess," he continued about the distinction of being a player Ravens fans love to hate. "I'm just playing football; I don't know why a whole city would dislike me. Maybe I smile too much and they don't like that I'm happy all the time.

"For me, I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to win a ballgame, and Baltimore has been our rival for years. There's just something about Baltimore where you want to get up and give it all you've got. And if the city of Baltimore is mad at me for doing that, then I'm sorry to the city of Baltimore."

However, don't expect that sort-of apology as a sign that Ward, 32, has any intention of easing up on the furious way he takes on Ravens defenders in Sunday's AFC championship game at Heinz Field

Among the examples of Ward's talents was a hit he laid on Ravens safety Ed Reed in a 2007 Monday night debacle when the Steelers crushed Baltimore, 38-7. The safety was helped from the field trying to collect his wits.

Reed, who has been putting on a superstar performance this season with 11 interceptions in the regular season and playoffs, brushed aside the Ward factor yesterday.

"We just play football within the whistle and let everything else take care of itself," Reed said. "We can't get caught up in that part of the game. We know it's there, and we'll handle it as men as the game goes."

In the first meeting between the teams this season, a 23-20 Steelers win in overtime, Ward caught just two passes but one was for 49 yards. In the second game, a 13-9 Pittsburgh victory, he had eight receptions for 107yards.

Over the course of 11seasons, Ward has 86 catches, including six touchdowns, against the Ravens. Along the way, he has become an integral part of one of the most heated rivalries in the NFL. And, Ward said, it's not a pretend rivalry; there is genuine dislike between the teams.

"Me and Ray Lewis won't go out and eat together after the games; you can count on that," Ward said.

Still, Ward holds the Ravens in high regard as a football team. Just as the Ravens said they were rooting for the Steelers in last weekend's game against the Chargers, Ward said the Steelers were rooting for the Ravens to beat the Titans. In part, because the elimination of No. 1-seeded Tennessee meant a home game for Pittsburgh, but also because just having Baltimore as an opponent puts more of an edge on the championship game.

"It's going to be an all-out war. This game is definitely going to be a war," Ward said. "As a player, these are the games that you appreciate and want to be a part of."

"There's no helping each other up," he added later. "There's going to be a lot of trash-talking on the field. At the end of the day, it's still respect. They have some great players."

Although Ward's style might infuriate opposing teams and their fans, his all-out approach inspires teammates. Pittsburgh tight end Heath Miller, who has had a front-row seat the past few years for Ward's battles with opposing secondaries, said the veteran wide receiver's ferocity makes him one of Pittsburgh's leaders.

"We try to be a physical team around here, and when you have a receiver who blocks as well as he does and cares about blocking as much as he does, that sets the tone for the rest of the team," Miller said, "because as an offensive lineman or even as a tight end, you don't want a receiver blocking better than you do. So you just try to keep up with his pace."

Although Ward has won a Super Bowl with the Steelers and, in fact, was the Most Valuable Player of that game, a 21-10 triumph over the Seattle Seahawks in 2006, the Steelers had lost both previous AFC championship games they had played at Heinz Field.

Ward has bitter recollections of both those setbacks to the New England Patriots, and he insisted the Steelers need to make sure that doesn't happen again Sunday - especially against the Ravens.

"I can vividly see the New England Patriots celebrating on our field as we lost the game," Ward said. "That's something that you've got to go into the whole offseason and look at the whole time. You definitely don't want to have Baltimore celebrating on our field here. I don't know how long I'll be getting over that."

Roethlisberger takes play to higher level

By John Harris, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Thursday, January 15, 2009


Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger called out signals against the Chargers Sunday.
Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has always praised quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's improvisational skills and play-making ability. But rarely has Tomlin lauded Roethlisberger's pregame preparation or his knack for deciphering defenses in their two seasons together.

Times are changing. Tomlin couldn't say enough good things about Roethlisberger following his flawless performance against San Diego in the AFC divisional playoffs.

Tomlin saluted Roethlisberger -- who completed 17 of 26 passes for 181 yards, one touchdown and a 98.4 passer rating in the Steelers' 35-24 win -- in special terms reserved for Peyton Manning, whose quarterback excellence extends beyond the playing field and into the film room.

Tomlin's response to Roethlisberger's best playoff performance since going 21 of 29 for 275 yards and two touchdowns against Denver in the 2005 AFC Championship Game spoke of a growing bond between the coach and the most visible player on the team.

"Ben has been at his best not necessarily what you see in the stadium," Tomlin said. "I like the way he's been preparing. I thought he had a great week of practice last week."

Roethlisberger's decision to throw himself into preparations for San Diego has Tomlin expecting a similar effort against Baltimore, Sunday's opponent in the AFC title game at Heinz Field.

Roethlisberger picked apart San Diego's defense as though he had prior knowledge of the Chargers' playbook. He went through his progressions and consistently made the correct read.

"He was extremely sharp on his deep balls, play-action and communication," Tomlin said. "I believe the guys feed off that. I expect it to continue this week."

Taking his cue from Tomlin, Roethlisberger broke down his performance against San Diego in clinical terms.

"The line did a good job of protecting," he said. "That gave me time. Backs stayed in to chip, the receivers did a good job of getting open. We did a good job, (center) Justin (Hartwig) and I communicating and the rest of the line being able to slide and picking some stuff up."

Roethlisberger explained his thought process on a clutch 18-yard, third-down pass to tight end Heath Miller in the third quarter.

"He is a last read on that play," Roethlisberger said. "He was just blocking, and then he leaked out. I'm glad he let the guy go, because I had nowhere else to go with it."

Roethlisberger said the Steelers tested San Diego's secondary with long passes, because that's what the defense dictated.

"We saw some single coverages," he said. "We saw some things on tape that we tried to take advantage of."

Against Baltimore, Roethlisberger said Wednesday, you never know what to expect.

"We're watching tape, and we're putting new things in for practice we've never seen before," he said.

Roethlisberger sounded like he couldn't wait for practice to start.

Keisel counts blessings after injury scare

By Scott Brown, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Thursday, January 15, 2009


Steelers' Brett Keisel sacked Chargers' quarterback Philip Rivers at Heinz Field Sunday.
Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review

Brett Keisel is much friendlier to reporters than he is to opposing quarterbacks. So it was no surprise to see the outgoing defensive end holding court in front of his locker the first time the Steelers' locker room was open to the media this week.

The scene -- a smiling Keisel answered questions about Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens -- stood in stark contrast to one that played out less than two months ago.

Keisel experienced as lonely a feeling as an athlete can have while sitting in an MRI machine. As pictures were taken of the left knee that he feared had betrayed him, Keisel said prayers to keep from thinking the worst: that his season had come to an end.

If the Steelers' 35-24 win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday was any indication, Keisel's knee is better than ever.

Keisel recorded a sack against the Chargers and figured prominently in one of the game's pivotal moments. On the only play the Chargers ran in the third quarter, Keisel batted a Philip Rivers pass into the air and linebacker Larry Foote intercepted it.

If that game bodes well for Keisel against the Ravens, so does the fact he starred the last time the Steelers played in the AFC Championship Game.

The 6-foot-5, 285-pounder, in fact, staged his coming-out party in the Steelers' 34-17 win over Denver in January 2006. He sacked Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer twice.

Keisel cracked the starting lineup the following season and didn't miss a game until this season when calf and knee injuries sidelined him for six contests.

Keisel returned from the knee injury in the Steelers' next-to-last regular-season game, and he seemed to finally have his legs under him against the Chargers.

"I know Brett is one of those guys that had a different bounce in his step when he came back from his injury," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.

There is a simple reason for that: Keisel feared the worst had happened after he hurt his knee while making a tackle in the Steelers' 27-10 win over the Bengals on Nov. 20.

"I thought right off the bat I was done for the year," Keisel said. "I never really had leg problems at all, but when I got hit I just felt it. People always talk about a popping sensation, and I felt that. The whole ride to the hospital, I'm like, 'It's over.'"

He pondered that reality for a sleepless night before getting word from Steelers trainer John Norwig that the injury was not as serious as initially thought. Keisel said the Steelers' trainers "worked his butt off," and it has paid off for him as well as the No. 1 defense in the NFL.

The seven-year veteran may get overshadowed by some of the stars on the Steelers' defense, but Keisel has established himself as a key member of it.

Keisel finished fourth on the Steelers' in quarterback pressures (12) despite missing almost half of the regular season. And he plays with the kind of selflessness that reflects the defense's mindset that no one player is bigger than the group.

"We really just see 11 guys out there," strong safety Troy Polamalu said. "We've all just stuck together and we're just one stroke of a big painting."

That is just fine with Keisel.

"We're such a tight group of guys where we genuinely enjoy coming to work," Keisel said. "We have a great family atmosphere here; we win, it's a lot of fun."

Aggressive Tomlin sets tone for Steelers

Wednesday, January 14, 2009
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/steelers/


Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin shakes hands with fans as he leaves the field after the Steelers win over San Diego in the first playoff game.


Mike Tomlin described himself as being aggressive Sunday, even if his name did not appear among the Steelers' tackle statistics from the playoff game.

He went for it on fourth down at the San Diego 1, and that failed. He called for a fake punt that lost 4 yards. He called for a deep pass into the end zone from backup quarterback Byron Leftwich on third down with the Steelers ahead by 18, on his 34, with three minutes left and the Chargers out of timeouts. Limas Sweed dropped it, and the Steelers lost a chance to run off at least 40 seconds.

Five plays later, the Chargers scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 11 with 1:57 left. They let Tomlin off the hook when their onside kickoff try went out of bounds. Leftwich took a knee on three consecutive plays with no more deep passes to run out the clock on the Steelers' 35-24 victory.

If Tomlin makes similar "aggressive" decisions Sunday against Baltimore in the AFC championship game, it could cost his team a trip to the Super Bowl. It also could help put his team into it. The thinking may be unconventional, but there's no rule it cannot work.

"I had no second-guesses whatsoever," Tomlin said.

Tomlin has evolved as a coach in his second season. He is more animated on the sideline, he has made better decisions and he's more guarded with information during his weekly news conferences (Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll once remarked after one of his own news conferences that it was a success because "no information was passed.").

Tomlin might go for it on fourth down too often to suit more conservative tastes. The Steelers had a remarkable lack of success on fourth down this season; they were 3 of 12 in the regular season, a 25 percent rate of success that ranked last in the league by a wide margin. Next to last was Carolina at 37.8 percent. More than half the teams (17) converted at least half their fourth-down plays.

The Steelers added to their woeful rate by going 0 for 2 on fourth downs Sunday.

Tomlin was asked yesterday if he debated such choices or if he always leans toward being the aggressor.

"There is a debate, and, no, I don't always go on the side of aggression. Specifically, about last Sunday, I thought our opponent had momentum. They had the momentum that was required for them to get into the playoffs. They won a game against a football team that was extremely hot, as hot as any team in football, the Indianapolis Colts.

"We were coming off a bye. I wanted to get our guys going and let them know that we were playing and playing to win. I wanted them to have that same kind of momentum and energy that our opponent had and that's why I chose to take the approach that I took on some of the decisions I made in that football game, particularly in the first half."

It likely is safe to say he would not go for a 2-point conversion early in the fourth quarter after a penalty moved the ball back to the 12 as he did against Jacksonville in the two-point playoff loss a year ago.

And he has become more judicious in another area -- throwing the red challenge flag. Last season, Tomlin used that red flag as if it were a disposable coffee cup. He tossed it seven times and had the call reversed twice. This regular season, he was a perfect 4 for 4 and made it 5 for 5 on his first challenge Sunday. He later lost a challenge, though, when he disputed an incomplete San Diego pass -- he thought Ike Taylor intercepted it -- with about 2 1/2 minutes left and his team ahead by 18.

Tomlin has acknowledged his improvement as a coach from his rookie season to this one.

"I've got too many examples to pick one," he said last week. "It's no big revelation that I'm a better coach this year. I'd better be better next year. It's not always displayed in the win-loss record. I think regardless of what you do for a living, you've got to get better. And that's every day. I know when I walk through those doors, that's my intent every day. So I'm not making a bigger deal out of it than what it is. I'm just better because I am."

The idea that some of his players believe he is a better coach a year later elicited a different response.

"I'm not interested in evaluating my performance and, particularly, I'm not interested in my players' evaluation of my performance." Tomlin said to a reporter at his news conference yesterday. "I'm paid to evaluate them."

Pause.

"How's your editor doing?"

Sometimes, he's even the aggressor off the field.


Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 14, 2009 at 12:00 am

Woodley reasserts his dominant form

By Scott Brown, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Tuesday, January 13, 2009


LaMarr Woodley won't be surprised to find a letter from the NFL in his locker this week.

The Steelers' outside linebacker opened himself up to the possibility of a fine by slamming Philip Rivers to the turf while sacking the San Diego quarterback in Sunday's AFC divisional playoff game.

"I thought it was a great hit," Woodley said. "Hopefully, they don't do anything about it."

The Chargers couldn't do anything with Woodley, which is one reason the Steelers beat San Diego, 35-24, to advance to the AFC Championship Game against the archrival Baltimore Ravens.

Woodley led the Steelers with two sacks and three quarterback hurries and also made five tackles, including three for losses.

His dominance revived the kind of talk at which Woodley had bristled leading up to the Chargers game: whether starting for an entire season had caught up with the second-year man and whether Woodley had benefited as much as any player from the first-round bye the Steelers received in the playoffs.

"I tease him about that," coach Mike Tomlin said when asked if Woodley had hit a proverbial wall, "but really he has not. The thing that we need from him is consistent pressure. I think he provides that. It doesn't always manifest itself into sacks."

It did for much of the season when opposing quarterbacks found themselves caught in the middle of a personal competition between Woodley and fellow outside linebacker James Harrison.

The two set a Steelers record for most sacks in a season by a duo (27 1/2). Woodley, however, could not maintain the blistering pace set by Harrison as the latter finished with 16, breaking a team record that had stood since 1984.

Harrison could relate to what Woodley, who did not record a sack in the Steelers' final four games, went through in the final month of the season.

Harrison, after all, didn't have a sack in the Steelers' final five regular-season games last season, his first as a starter.


Steelers linebacker James Harrison celebrates with LaMarr Woodley after Woodley sacked Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers during the fourth quarter of their playoff game this past weekend at Heinz Field.
Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review

"Once you're in that first year as a starter, you hit that wall a little bit," Harrison said, "but we had a little time off, he got rejuvenated and came in and played like he had."

Woodley refused to concede that the extra time the Steelers had off helped him — "That still sounds like I hit a wall," he said — and the 6-foot-2, 265-pounder added that he never got frustrated when his sack total remained stuck on 11.5.

Perhaps the reason for that is plays such as the one he made in the Steelers' 20-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 7.

Deshea Townsend returned an interception 25 yards for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown, but the pressure Woodley applied to Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo forced an ill-advised throw that led to the turnover and score.

Steelers coach Dick LeBeau said quarterback hurries are a better barometer than sacks when gauging the effectiveness of pass rushers.

"Sacks are kind of like interceptions," LeBeau said. "You may have three or four in one game, you may go a couple of games without any but more importantly you should have constant pressure."

Tomlin said that has never been an issue with Woodley, who was credited with 20 quarterback hurries during the regular season.

What bodes well for the Woodley as they prepare for an AFC Championship showdown against the Ravens is that he appears to thrive while playing on big stages.

The former Michigan standout has four sacks in two postseason games.

"He has played at a high level," Tomlin said. "He is a young guy who is going to continue to get better."