Week 5: Steelers 38, Titans 17

New faces

Daniel Sepulveda. Ryan Mundy. Jonathan Dwyer. David Johnson.

Not exactly the Steelers' Mount Rushmore.

But this quartet played a big role in chiseling out the Steelers' 38-17 win over the Titans Sunday at Heinz Field. These guys pretty much turned a 7-3 game into a 21-3 game, helping to slow down the run on ulcer medication in Western Pennsylvania this week.

The Steelers led 7-3 early in the second quarter and were about to punt from the 50. Instead, Sepulveda threw the ball to Mundy, a backup safety, for a 33-yard gain. Two plays later, Ben Roethlisberger threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward for a 14-3 lead.

Ward, who caught two TD passes Sunday, needs 26 receptions to become the eighth player all-time with 1,000. 

Johnson reached the 10-catch milestone for his career later in the second quarter when he hauled in a 1-yard TD pass from Roethlisberger to give the Steelers a 21-3 lead. It was the first career touchdown for the blocking tight end. Dwyer set that up with a 76-yard run to the Titans' 14. 

With guys like Dwyer and Isaac Redman getting carries in summer-like weather, this might have seemed like a preseason game. But thankfully, this win counts. It was the Steelers' third victory of the season, and the first without a "yeah, but" element to it.

Guys who fight for their jobs in August answered the call Sunday because of injuries that, curiously, seem to be just what the doctor ordered in the Steelers' problem areas.

The Steelers haven't been able to run the ball this season. Then Rashard Mendenhall gets hurt and they ground and pound their way to 174 yards on 28 carries. Dwyer ended up with 107 yards on 11 carries despite not getting the start. Redman started and had 49 yards on 15 carries. That's just over three yards a carry, which is less than impressive, but he just seemed harder to take down than Mendenhall has been.

Mendenhall was in uniform Sunday. He stood on the sideline with his helmet off, looking like a restless kid in church. Do the Steelers now have a running back controversy? My guess is Mendenhall gets his job back when he's healthy. Hopefully seeing that the Steelers can run the ball without him is the jolt he needs.

Another reason the Steelers were a .500 ballclub entering Sunday's game was their inability to stop the run. Then Aaron Smith and Casey Hampton go down, and look what happens, they stopped the run.

Sunday brunches turned around and made their way up the esophagus of many a Steelers fan when Titans' running back Chris Johnson gained 21 yards on the game's first play from scrimmage. But that was as bad as it got. Johnson had just 51 yards for the day, 34 of them on that first drive. Chris Hoke filled in well at nose tackle and Brett Keisel returned to the defensive line after being hurt for a couple of games. And a lot of bacon, eggs and pancakes resumed their normal digestive process.

Speaking of digestive systems that get a lot of action, tell me again why Max Starks hasn't been at left tackle all season?

OK, so Starks might have put on enough pounds to have his own TV show, The 400 Club. He was cut during the preseason but signed out of desperation this week. Even with a spare truck tire around his waist, it seems the Steelers could have used him for the first four games.

Roethlisberger was sacked 14 times in those games, but was sacked just once Sunday despite moving around like his left foot was in a bucket. Could Starks rescue the O-Line the same way Flozell Adams did last season? Better yet, let's start Adams on the Max Starks Diet and get him back at right tackle.

The offensive line helped pave the way Sunday for just the second five-touchdown game of Roethlisberger's career. The last of those touchdowns was a 40-yard connection to Mike Wallace that made it 38-17 with less than three minutes left in the game. One of the few weapons the Steelers have been able to count on this season is a bomb to Wallace. The speedy receiver has caught a pass of 40 yards or more in four straight games, and the Steelers needed his touchdown Sunday to quiet rumblings of a Titans comeback.

The Titans recovered an onside kick late in the third quarter after pulling to within 28-10. Then LaMarr Woodley, who decided that Sunday would be a good time to start earning his money, immediately intercepted a Matt Hasselbeck pass to squash any momentum from the onside kick. Woodley also had a sack in the game and shared another sack.

While that takeaway couldn't have come at a better time, it was the only one forced by the Steelers Sunday. The defense still has forced just two this season, but somehow the Steelers are 3-2.

There's always a chance the aging Steelers' defense paralleled the weather Sunday and experienced an Indian summer phenomenon. Maybe it was one of those "that old dog can still hunt" kind of days. But they've allowed 89 points through five games. The only other team that's played five games and allowed fewer points is the 49ers with 78. So this Steelers defense has to be doing something right.

Let's not forget, too, that three of the Steelers' first four games were on the road. Now, three of their next four are at home. Their next two games, home to Jacksonville and at Arizona, are against 1-4 teams. Hopefully the Steelers can ace those pop quizzes and bone up for mid-term exams at home against the Patriots (Oct. 31) and Baltimore (Nov. 6).

Wins in those two games might have a way of making the Steelers seem a few years younger.

Week 4: Texans 17, Steelers 10

No takers

By Mike Batista

Let's not kid ourselves. Sunday's seven-point margin of defeat was quite flattering for the Steelers. It doesn't tell the tale of just how badly the Texans outplayed them.

Even in the Steelers' two wins this season, red flags have been raised. They couldn't get the ball in from the 1-yard line against the Seahawks. They made Curtis Painter look like, well, Peyton Manning in the fourth quarter last week.

This team has so many weaknesses that it's hard to know where to begin. So I'll do my best and start with the inability of the Steelers' defense to force turnovers.

The Steelers have just one takeaway in the first four games of the season. The dubious record for fewest takeaways in a season is held by the 1982 Baltimore Colts, who had 11 in going 0-8-1 during a strike-shortened season. The 2006 Redskins are saddled with the record for a 16-game season with 12. They went 5-11 that year.

At the quarter pole, the Steelers are on pace to force four turnovers in 2011.

This year's Steelers are one of just seven teams since at least 1940 to force one turnover or less in the first four games, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. The others are the 2010 Bills, the 2005 Texans, the 1998 Eagles, the 1998 Redskins, the 1994 Buccaneers (still wearing the creamsicle unis with Bucco Bruce on their helmets) and the 1977 49ers.

Let's take a look at how these charitable foundations fared.

• 1977 49ers 5-9 (0-4 in first four games)
• 1994 Buccaneers 6-10 (1-3)
• 1998 Redskins 6-10 (0-4)
• 1998 Eagles 3-13 (0-4)
• 2005 Texans 2-14 (0-4)
• 2010 Bills 4-12 (0-4)

Sure, the Steelers (2-2) are off to a better start than any of those teams, and they've allowed fewer yards of offense through four games than any of them. But this isn't good company to keep. If you roll around with pigs, flies start swirling around you.

A 6-10 or 5-11 clunker of a season wouldn't surprise me. The Steelers are heading in a scary direction, and the lack of turnovers is symptomatic of deeper troubles for the Steelers defense, which can't seem to stop the run anymore and can't get to the quarterback. The Steelers have just seven sacks this season, tied for 20th in the league, and barely touched Matt Schaub Sunday.

Ben Roethlisberger, meanwhile, was subjected to his customary battering. He was sacked five times. We always take for granted that Roethlisberger will take his lickin' and keep on tickin', but he ended up in a walking boot on his left foot Sunday and was to undergo an MRI. He's been sacked 14 times this season, putting him on pace to be sacked 56 times, which would make the 50 sacks he took in 2009 seem like a Swedish massage.

It's a wonder Roethlisberger hasn't had a season-ending injury playing behind such a turnstile offensive line all these years. We'll see what the MRI shows, but let's hope the Steelers' luck doesn't run out.

At least Roethlisberger's weekly pounding was delayed for a while as the Texans (3-1) consumed 11 minutes in taking a 7-0 lead on the game's opening drive.

Arian Foster picked up 40 yards on that drive and became the first running back not named Ray Rice to gain 100 yards on the Steelers' defense since the Jaguars' Fred Taylor in 2007. Foster's 155 yards were the most against the Steelers since Curtin Martin's 174 in 2003.

Yes, Foster was the NFL's rushing leader last season, but he was supposed to be easing his way back from a hamstring injury. The Steelers used to allow 100-yard rushers with about the same frequency of a total solar eclipse, but they've allowed two in four weeks.

The Texans committed three penalties on that opening drive and were flagged nine times in the game. Two of those infractions wiped out touchdowns. They did all they could to give this game away, but the Steelers haven't been in a taking mood all season.

The Steelers also couldn't take advantage of first-half injuries to running back Ben Tate, who had a 20-yard gain on that opening drive, and Andre Johnson, the Texans' leading receiver.

That tattered defense had a chance to lick its wounds when the Steelers had the ball for the last 2:33 of the first half and the first eight minutes of the second half. The Steelers wrested the momentum from the Texans and got on the board with a 3-yard Rashard Mendenhall touchdown run in the third quarter.

Mendenhall, however, left the game with a hamstring injury after his touchdown. Did anyone really miss him? He had just 25 yards on nine carries. Meanwhile, Isaac Redman gained 40 yards on six carries and fueled the game-tying drive with 32 of those yards. Shaun Suisham's 26-yard field goal to open the fourth quarter knotted the game at 10-10.

It seemed like the Steelers had gone from decrepit old geezers in the first half to cagey and wily veterans finding a way to win in crunch time.

Then, as if the Steelers' dominant third quarter were just some sort of recess from reality, the Texans needed just five plays to cover 85 yards and take a 17-10 lead on Foster's 42-yard touchdown run, the longest TD run against the Steelers since the Broncos' Javon Walker had a 72-yarder in 2006.

The Steelers' defense turned in three-and-outs on the rest of the Texans' second-half possessions, but we have to accept the fact that this aging unit is prone to senior moments every now and then, and their only one of the second half proved costly.

Then again, turnovers have a way of touching up the gray.

Week 3: Steelers 23, Colts 20

By Mike Batista

It's becoming a Sunday-night spectacle. Troy Polamalu rescues the Steelers late in the game with what coach Mike Tomlin calls a "splash" play on defense.

It was enough for the Steelers to beat the Ravens last December for the AFC North title. But somehow they needed more than Polamalu's heist to beat the Peyton Manning-less Colts Sunday night.

The warning signs of Super Bowl Hangover III seemed to be developing.

With 5:21 left in the game, the Steelers were tied 13-13 with the Colts. All of the Colts' points came off turnovers, including a fumble return for a touchdown. Hair-pulling reminders of 2006 and 2009.

Then James Harrison, who looked all night like his back is just fine, introduced himself to Colts' third-string quarterback Curtis Painter. The Steelers' first sack of the night turned into their first forced turnover of the season.

Not since 1938, when they were still the Pirates, have the Steelers forced just one turnover in the first three games of a season.

With loose balls now like golden eggs for the Steelers defense, Polamalu wasn't going to miss the chance to turn this fumble into points. He picked the ball up on a hop, almost like a basketball dribble, and ran 16 yards for a touchdown and a 20-13 Steelers lead.

Unlike last December in Baltimore, however, Polamalu's Superman moment was fleeting. It morphed into a role as one of the 11 Keystone Kops defenders who allowed Painter to drive 80 yards in three minutes to tie the game.

Polamalu was all over the place on that drive, and he damn near blew up Joseph Addai's 6-yard touchdown run before it started. But every Steeler on the field deserves a share of the blame for yielding a fourth-quarter comeback drive to a guy who came into the game with a career 9.8 passer rating. Yes, the decimal point is in the right place.

For the Steelers' defense, this is more of a red flag than a girl telling you on a first date that she's got 27 cats.

Painter was in the game because Kerry Collins, who would have been watching this game with his feet up in his living room were it not for Peyton Manning's injury, was being evaluated for a concussion stemming from a play in which he was leveled by James Farrior, a play that would have drawn a yellow hanky if it were No. 18 hitting the turf.


The Steelers barely played well enough in this game to beat a retread and a clipboard carrier. Imagine if Peyton Manning didn't have a pain in the neck?

Tomlin said after the game that they "just want to get out of stadiums with wins."


The Steelers (2-1) got out of Lorenzo's (I know, it's Lucas) Oil Stadium with a win, but they had to hide it under their coats, because they shoplifted this one.


Sure, there was Ben Roethlisberger's 81-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace that gave the Steelers a 10-0 lead (I got a feeling the Wallace faux-hawk will be part of a lot of Halloween costumes in Pittsburgh this year). As picturesque as that play was, the rest of the Steelers' performance was about as scenic as a landfill.


Both offensive tackles, Marcus Gilbert on the right and Jonathan Scott on the left, were directly responsible for strip sacks in the first half. One led to an Adam Vinatieri field goal and the other was returned 47 yards by Jamaal Anderson for a touchdown, tying the game 10-10 late in the first half.


Both Gilbert and Scott were hurt during the game, although Gilbert had to go back in during the fourth quarter when the Steelers were down to four offensive linemen. Doug Legursky also was hurt during the game. It might be time for Flozell Adams to put down the chips and dip.


The Steelers' Gem Puzzle offensive line also could not open holes against the Colts' traditionally porous run defense. Rashard Mendenhall gained just 37 yards on 18 carries. Isaac Redman, who probably should have seen the ball more, especially in the first half, had just six yards on three carries.


Then, just in a nick of time, the Steelers remembered that Mewelde Moore is still on the team.


After Painter brushed a couple of coats of Embarrassment Red on the Steelers' defense, the offense had 2 minutes and 9 seconds to get into field goal range. It was Moore who got the Steelers into Colts territory by catching a screen pass from Roethlisberger and taking it 22 yards to the Colts' 41.


After Roethlisberger got the Steelers into field goal range with an 11-yard scamper, Moore got them into Shaun Suisham field goal range with runs of five and four yards. 

Before the Steelers had Antonio Brown to return punts, Moore often was used as a punt returner deep in their own end because of his sure-handedness. That's why he was called upon Sunday once the Steelers were in field goal range. No way was Butterfingers Mendenhall getting the ball. Suisham's 38-yard field goal gave the Steelers the 23-20 win.


Since joining the Steelers as a third-down back in 2008, Moore has been like a Batman utility belt gadget for the Steelers. It seems there's been at least a half-dozen times in which Moore has taken the Steelers out of a tight spot with a long gain after a screen pass. He probably can't handle the load of every-down play, which is why we don't see more of him.


Moore did his job for the Steelers Sunday night. The answer to the Steelers' ailing running game isn't for him to get more carries. It's for Mendenhall to do more with his carries, and he could use some help from the offensive line.

And on defense, they have to force more turnovers and turn in a lot of bad-ass performances to make us forget about Painter's Drive.


Sure, this is the kind of win the Steelers get away with once or twice during their Super Bowl seasons, but it's not enough to convince me they are a good team.

Week 1, Ravens 35, Steelers 7

A 'WTF?' kind of day

By Mike Batista

The Steelers spent a ton of money during the offseason re-signing key players on defense.

Now they're stuck with those guys.

It looked like life couldn't get any better when the Steelers re-signed Troy Polamalu to a four-year contract a day before the season started, putting all their major contract concerns to rest.

The Steelers now have Polamalu, LaMarr Woodley, Lawrence Timmons and Ike Taylor locked up long-term.

Maybe the Steelers should have let some players go into the final year of their contracts, because on Sunday they looked like a bunch of guys who had nothing to play for.

The Steelers defense forced no turnovers, while the Ravens forced seven in their 35-7 win.

Laid-back Camp Tomlin doesn't seem like such a great idea now, does it? Steelers coach Mike Tomlin takes it easy on his aging players during training camp, and this is what happens.

I hope Tomlin's a little tougher on the Steelers this week in practice. No shuffleboard. No drinks with little umbrellas. It's time to get to work because, in case the Steelers didn't know, the season has started.

No one needed to remind Ravens running back Ray Rice that the season has started. At the moment, Rice is the transcendent talent that controls which way the pendulum swings in this bitter rivalry, just like Polamalu was in 2008 and last season.

Without Polamalu's pick-six, the Ravens probably drive for a game-winning touchdown or field goal in the 2008 AFC championship game. Without Polamalu, the Ravens win last season's game in Baltimore, and the Steelers have to go the wild-card route to get to the Super Bowl.

Rice has the same uniqueness on offense that Polamalu does on defense. Defenders don't get a lot of practice tackling 5-foot-8 guys. In the last three years, only Rice has figured out how to gain 100 yards on the Steelers defense, and he's done it twice, including his 107 yards on 19 carries Sunday.

Rice is just as dangerous as a receiver. He caught four balls for 42 yards and hauled in a touchdown pass to go with his rushing TD.

Steelers fans who saw the game from the beginning knew what kind of day it would be right away when Rice picked up 36 yards on the first play from scrimmage.

I knew what kind of day it would be without even being aware of that play. This game, as well as few others, kicked off while names of those who died on Sept. 11 were still being read at Ground Zero in New York.

Having moved from New York to New Jersey last month, I found a Steelers bar where I could watch the game. When I walked in about 20 minutes before 1 p.m., CBS was showing the Sept. 11 memorial live. It went past 1 p.m., and since Steelers-Ravens was being televised locally in this area, DirecTV wouldn't play the game when the staff switched the channel.

If the Jets were playing at 1 p.m., I wonder if CBS would have switched to the game or stayed with the ceremony. It would have been a nice touch if the NFL could have waited for every name to be read before kicking off. Not every game started right at 1 p.m., so it looked like they waited a few minutes. Why couldn't they wait a few minutes longer?

So by the time the game came on at Danny's in Red Bank, the Steelers were down 7-0. Not long after that, Rice scored on a 1-yard run to make it 14-0.

Just like in their last game that mattered, the Steelers spotted their opponent 14 points. Unlike the Super Bowl, however, the Steelers responded with a touchdown instead of a wimpy field goal when Ben Roethlisberger threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders, making it look like this would be a game.

Still, Sanders managed to show just how clueless the Steelers were on this day. On the ensuing kickoff, the Ravens' Lardarius Webb caught the ball in the end zone for a touchback. Sanders said something to Webb. Whatever it was, it was enough for Webb to look at Sanders as he ran by and for an official to calm Webb down.

The Ravens still had scoreboard at that point. Sanders should have kept his mouth shut.

Taylor, one of those Steelers defenders who signed a comfy contract this summer, also had some behavioral problems on Sunday.

Late in the third quarter, with the Steelers down 32-7, they stopped Rice on a third-and-1 at the Ravens' 25. The Ravens were going to have to punt and maybe, just maybe, the Steelers could get something going.

But Taylor was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, giving the Ravens a first down and allowing them to burn more time off the clock. The Ravens added a field goal in the fourth quarter to ensure that this would be the Steelers' biggest margin of defeat since the 1997 season opener, when they lost 37-7 at home to the Cowboys.

Sunday's loss was the Steelers' first in a season opener since 2002, when they got hammered 30-14 by the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. They entered Sunday's game with the NFL's longest active winning streak in season openers, which made it easy to forget just how bad they were in openers during the Bill Cowher era.

For some reason, it seemed losing openers at home to the Cowboys was part of a twisted formula to success in the 1990s. Despite that 30-point loss in 1997, they reached the AFC championship game. They also made it to the AFC title game in 1994 after losing 26-9 to the Cowboys in Week 1 that year.

In this day and age, however, reaching the AFC title game isn't enough for the Steelers. Anything short of a seventh Super Bowl victory this season will be a disappointment. While none of the Steelers' eight Super Bowl teams opened the season with a loss, a couple of Super Bowl champions in the past decade have started the season just as hideously as the Steelers did Sunday.

The 2003 Patriots opened with a 31-0 loss at Buffalo and went on to win Super Bowl XXXVIII. The 2007 Giants started 0-2, including a 35-13 loss to the Packers at home in Week 2. They ended up beating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

So a season-opening loss, even one as humbling as the one suffered by the Steelers Sunday, doesn't necessarily doom a season.

Still, it's not the way you want to start.

Game-by-game look at the Steelers' 2011 season

By Mike Batista

What's Wink Martindale doing these days?

How about Chuck Woolery?

Or Ben Stein?

Hell, I'd even settle for Rolf Benirschke. That's right, the intestinally challenged former Chargers kicker hosted Wheel of Fortune for a few months in 1989.

I need someone to host this year's version of everyone's favorite game show, the Win-Loss Game, where contestants look at their favorite team's schedule, and predict a win or a loss for each game.

It's like Wheel of Fortune with only "W"s and "L"s, and maybe an occasional "T" if you really got some balls.

The 2011 Steelers schedule is tied for the fourth-weakest in the NFL.

That scares me.

In 2009, the Steelers also were coming off a Super Bowl appearance and had a piece-of-cake schedule on their plate. We all know how that turned out.

And with the exception of the Bengals, it's not like any of those teams in 2009 were better than expected. During the five-game losing streak that blew their season to bits, the Steelers lost to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns, all of whom were as shitty as advertised.

My head tells me the Steelers are a damn good team this year, even if they are the oldest team in the NFL. However, 2009 won't easily be forgotten. Nor will 2006, when they famously flopped after winning Super Bowl XL the year before. I can't help but have those two seasons in the back of my mind as I play the Win-Loss Game this season.*

And now, it's time to play.

Week 1, at Baltimore: This is like waking up to a slap in the face instead of a cup of coffee. This is the Steelers' most intense opener since 2002, when they opened on a Monday night in New England the year after the Patriots upset them in the 2001 AFC championship game. This will go a little bit better, as long as Rashard Mendenhall can avoid all the objects Ravens fans throw at him on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11. W, 20-16

Week 2, Seattle: Tarvaris Jackson is starting at quarterback for the Seahawks. Steelers defense, start your engines. W, 38-7

Week 3, at Indianapolis: If Peyton Manning plays at all this season, it certainly won't be by Week 3. Still, let's not take this one too lightly. Kerry Collins is a capable backup, and hard-core Steelers fans will remember the name Cody Carlson. W, 20-13

Week 4, at Houston: Manning possibly being out for the year might be what it takes for the ultimate "Wait 'Til Next Year" team to finally so something in the AFC South and make the playoffs. The Steelers never tempt perfection with long winning streaks to start the season, and I can't help but think that someone will sneak up on the Steelers during this yawn-inspiring Houston-Tennessee-Jacksonville leg of their schedule. Not exactly the most dynamic NFL cities. L, 19-13

Week 5, Tennessee: Munchak and Hasselbeck. Sounds like some kind of cheesy, early 80s cop-show duo. W, 23-12

Week 6, Jacksonville: According to ESPN, quarterback David Garrard was released hours after being introduced as the Jaguars' starting quarterback at a chamber of commerce luncheon. Maybe he can tour the country as a Seal impersonator and see if he can hook up with a model like Heidi Klum. W, 28-21

Week 7, at Arizona: Between not getting the Steelers head coaching job and losing to the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII, Ken Whisenhunt will want to win this game so bad that he'll kick every single one of his players in the balls if they lose. L, 34-17

Week 8, New England: Tom Brady comes to Heinz Field dressed in drag on Halloween Eve. Then we realize that's really his hair. We also realize that's not a mask Bill Belichick's wearing. That's really his face. Unlike last year's Patriots visit, this one will be a game. Unfortunately, the Patriots will win the shootout. Yeah, I know this is 76 points allowed in the past two games. But the Steelers defense will show its age with a mid-season swoon. L, 42-35

Week 9, Baltimore: Joe Fucko has never beaten the Steelers when Ben Roethlisberger plays. W, 14-6

Week 10, at Cincinnati: Steelers finish up with the Ravens early and get two games each against the Bengals and Browns, and a bye, in the last eight weeks of the season. W, 37-13

Week 11, Bye

Week 12, at Kansas City: The NFL is just busting the Steelers' balls here. They also had a late-November game at Kansas City in 2009, in the midst of their infamous slide. Look for the Chiefs to plateau a bit this year after their rise last year. W, 31-20

Week 13, Cincinnati: Who knows if he'll still be the starter this late in the season, but Andy Dalton is the Bengals' first rookie quarterback to start a season opener since Greg Cook in 1969. I know. Who cares. W, 45-3

Week 14, Cleveland: Aww, c'mon NFL. Really? A Thursday night game in early December against the Browns? That doesn't remind Steelers fans of anything, does it? At least this one's in Pittsburgh. W, 27-15

Week 15, at San Francisco: Chalk this up as a "haunted by 2009" pick. L, 20-17

Week 16, St. Louis: Please don't flex this one to a night game, NFL. It's going to be tough enough planning Christmas Eve around a 1 p.m. game. W, 22-9

Week 17, at Cleveland: I wouldn't be surprised if most of those votes Peyton Hillis got for the Madden cover were cast by Steelers fans so he'd get jinxed. The Browns have their quarterback in Colt McCoy. They'll be better this year, and I just don't see the Steelers going 12-4 again. L, 17-16

Now for the Bonus Round. Or in this case, playoffs.

Here's how I see the AFC playoff picture shaking out:

1. Patriots (13-3)
2. Chargers (12-4)
3. Steelers (11-5)
4. Texans (10-6)
5. Ravens (10-6)
6. Jets (10-6)

Wild-card: Steelers 25, Jets 17; Texans 13, Ravens 7
Divisional: Chargers 16, Steelers 13; Patriots 37, Texans 13
Championship: Patriots 21, Chargers 7

I think the Steelers start to show their age toward the end of the year and get beat in the playoffs by the Chargers. But no way Norv Turner is getting the Chargers into the Super Bowl. So, I regret to inform everyone that the Patriots get back to the Super Bowl.

Since the season's already started in the NFC, I can't really pick records or playoff seeds. Or maybe I'm just too damn lazy. I say the Packers get back to the Super Bowl, not based on Thursday night's game but based on the fact that they got to the Super Bowl last year despite all those injuries. You'd have to think they'll be healthier this year and maybe get a home playoff game or two.

Unlike last year, I'll actually be rooting for the Packers in the Super Bowl. Sure, the Packers were added to my NFL shit list after beating the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, but the Patriots have earned my unconditional hatred. I'll be quite relieved when the Packers beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Of course, my predictions are usually wrong, and I hope this year is no different.

*-When I was thinking of game-show hosts to mention, one of the names I wanted to use was former Remote Control host Ken Ober. Then I saw that he died at 52 on Nov. 15, 2009. You know what else happened that day? The Steelers lost to the Bengals at home, starting their infamous five-game losing streak. Spooky stuff, huh?

Preseason: Redskins 16, Steelers 7

Ike Taylor breaks thumb in preseason opener

By Mike Batista

I didn't watch the Steelers' preseason opener on Friday night. I watch very little preseason football. During the game, however, I happened across a photo of Ben Roethlisberger with his leg wedged under diving Redskins cornerback Kenny Barnes. Roethlisberger appears to be awkwardly trying to get rid of the ball.

I thought the Steelers' season was over right then and there, 30 days before kickoff in Baltimore. In that still photograph, it looked like Roethlisberger's knee could have been torn up. So I scoured the Internet for any news on the play. I must have refreshed the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steelers page more times than Nayda Suleman refreshes diapers.

Fortunately, Roethlisberger's leg and knee did not make any news. But that doesn't mean the Steelers escaped their first preseason game with a clean bill of health.

The most serious injury was Ike Taylor's broken thumb. Not that big a deal, considering Taylor can't catch anyway. He'll likely need surgery but should be back in time for the season opener.

What I found a little annoying, though, were the rest of the injuries. Ryan Clark left with a stinger and Roethlisberger dinged his hand and hip. Neither injury was serious, but those scrapes, combined with all the Steelers who have sat out practices with various ticky tack injuries, make me think that maybe the Steelers really are getting old. They seem like duffers getting hurt at the company softball game.

That's why signing Jerricho Cotchery is a good move. This team could use any insurance it can get at any position. In my mind, the best thing I read about Cotchery is that he knows where the first down marker is. I like that.

On Cotchery's Wikipedia page, it says he was born with six fingers on his left hand. Maybe he can loan Taylor one.

NFL lockout ends

By Mike Batista

It's been almost exactly six months since we as Steelers fans played this in victory. The Packers stifled it on Feb. 2. Now, (via scifiradioguy) we have reason to break it out again.



The NFL lockout is over.

The season is saved.

If you're one of those people who has had nothing to read at the beach this summer because the Athlon NFL Preview you bought in June was useless, or if your friends thought you were the coolest dude ever because of your kickass Hall of Fame Game parties, you're shit out of luck.

For everyone else, it's time to dance in the streets.

Those Athlon guys are going to have to work around the clock to put this year's magazine together. Free agency starts at 10 a.m., Tuesday. That's when teams can sign rookies and negotiate with their own free agents and free agents on other teams. At 6 p.m., Friday, teams can sign free agents from other teams.

In my best Forrest Gump, here's all I have to say about that: The Steelers should re-sign Ike Taylor.

I know Taylor is 31, and the Steelers tend to let guys walk when they're on the north side of 30. But the Steelers are never going to have a championship window like they have now. As long as Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu are healthy, they have a chance to win the Super Bowl every year. But without Taylor, those chances aren't as good.

Not only is Taylor an elite NFL cornerback, he's the only decent one the Steelers got. Bryant McFadden hasn't been the same since his exile in Arizona. William Gay is a nickelback, nothing more. Supposedly Crezdon Butler, who was drafted in the fifth round last year, has potential, but who knows? I figure Keenan Lewis, drafted in the third round in 2009, will be handing in his playbook this summer.

The Steelers drafted Curtis Brown in the third round of this year's draft and Cortez Allen in the fourth round. It would be nice if one of these mid-round picks had a surprising Mike Wallace-like impact as a rookie, but with the lockout scuttling rookie camps, these guys already are behind.

This generation of Steelers already has won two Super Bowls, but they can win more, even if Taylor only has a couple of good years left.

Taylor or no Taylor, this much we know: There will be a 2011 season.

Starting Over

By Mike Batista

I can't listen to "Black and Yellow" anymore. It hurts too much.

The Steelers' loss to the Packers in Super Bowl XLV is like a painful breakup. And Wiz Khalifa's tune, adopted as an unofficial Steelers anthem during this thrilling season, reminds me of the good times that have come to an end.

After the 2009 season, it was easy to look forward to 2010 because the Steelers didn't even make the playoffs. But it's not so easy to look ahead to 2011, even if there is a season.

This is the first time since 2007 the Steelers have made the playoffs and lost.

When this happens, I think about how far they've come, and how they have to start over again.

The Steelers' 3-1 start without Ben Roethlisberger seemed like a huge accomplishment at the time, but from the vantage point of the Super Bowl, it doesn't seem like a whole lot.

The Steelers might have taken control of the AFC North with their win in Baltimore. But after playing in the Super Bowl, the AFC North seems like baby stuff.

Such regular-season highlights are like people on the ground when you're looking down from the side of a mountain. They look like they're the size of ants.

The Steelers almost made it to the top of that mountain. Now the climb has to start all over again.

Super Bowl XLV:
Packers 31, Steelers 25

Not your father's Steelers

By Mike Batista

I've watched my last Steelers game.

My last Steelers game before turning 40, that is.

If you're a Steelers fan younger than 40, you probably didn't really get a chance to witness the Steelers' dynasty of the 1970s. Or if you did, you probably couldn't describe the difference between a free safety and a strong safety.

A win in Super Bowl XLV would have provided this generation of Steelers fans with an experience similar to the glory days of the 1970s. I gladly would have accepted three championships in six years as a feat comparable to four in six years.

But these aren't your father's Steelers. They just don't make Steelers Super Bowl teams like they used to. In the post-Steel Curtain era, the Steelers sometimes lose the Super Bowl.

Out of miracles

A lot has happened since Ben Roethlisberger threaded the eye of a needle for the game-winning touchdown to Santonio Holmes in Super Bowl XLIII. The Saints succeeded the Steelers as champions, and we learned (if we didn't know already) that Roethlisberger is not exactly a saint.

Even if Roethlisberger has changed his ways, here's why he still falls short of sainthood: You need two miracles to qualify as a saint. And there would be no second Super Bowl miracle for Roethlisberger.

Sure, it was great theater to see Roethlisberger again assigned the task of leading the Steelers the length of the field with two minutes left in the Super Bowl. But if you keep putting yourself in that spot, sometimes you're going to lose.

A lot has to go right for these epic, career-defining drives to come together. Like Thomas Edison's inventions, some of them just don't work out.

It wasn't a good sign when Mike Wallace, the Steelers' top receiver Sunday with nine catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, had no idea what he was supposed to do on second-and-five from the Steelers' 33. Roethlisberger had to throw the ball away. Then on third down Roethlisberger threw a ball that wasn't close to anyone. The grace of that winning drive in Tampa just wasn't there.

On fourth down, the Packers' sealed their championship when Tramon Williams broke up a pass to Wallace.

The final drive seemed doomed from the start when Keyaron Fox was called for a personal foul on the kickoff, dragging the Steelers from the 26 to their own 13.

Fox joined the Steelers in 2008 and contributed to their championship season as a special teams ace. Unfortunately, he seems to have gone bad. This wasn't the first time he's been flagged this season on a special teams play.

But it wasn't just Fox. Penalties were a problem all season for the Steelers, and they were a problem again Sunday. A blocking-above-the-waist infraction on Ryan Mundy set the stage for the Packers to take control of the game in the first quarter.

That penalty came on the kickoff after the Packers took a 7-0 lead on Aaron Rodgers' 29-yard pass to Jordy Nelson. It put the Steelers on their own 7. Roethlisberger threw the ball on the first play of the drive, but was hit, causing the ball to wobble in the air. It looked like Nick Collins was catching a fly ball in center field for the Brewers as he easily picked the ball off and ran it in 37 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 Packers lead.

Mistakes, they had a few

Every Steeler is to blame for this mistake-riddled performance. But the penalties by the special teams muckers ultimately will be forgotten. Super Bowl XLV will be remembered by Steelers fans for Roethlisberger's two interceptions and Rashard Mendenhall's fumble.

Roethlisberger's second pick was a throw into double coverage. Jarrett Bush came up with it.

Troy Polamalu then tried to keep the Steelers in the game with his biggest hit of the night. Unfortunately, it didn't do much good because it came in the end zone after Rodgers completed a 21-yard TD pass to Greg Jennings for a 21-3 Packers lead.

I was obviously way off on my prediction of Polamalu being the MVP.

Polamalu hasn't done much in any of the three Super Bowls he's played in, even though the Steelers have won two of them.

The Steelers probably don't get anywhere near the Super Bowl without Polamalu's heist in Baltimore nine weeks earlier. The 2010 Steelers season hinged on that play. The Steelers needed a similar rescue in the Super Bowl.

But it never came.

Troy a hair out of place

With the Steelers down by 18, I started to worry that this would turn into one of those vintage 1980s and early 1990s Super Bores, when the Goliaths of the NFC annually dominated the AFC's best offering. There hadn't really been a Super Bowl blowout in eight years. Were we due for one?

The Steelers didn't allow that to happen.

When facing a big deficit in the first half, the first thing you want to do is get points on the board before halftime. The Steelers did just that. A 37-yard pass to Antwaan Randle-El put the ball on the Packers 40 and sparked a touchdown drive that culminated in an 8-yard TD pass to Hines Ward.

That made the Steelers' halftime deficit a manageable 21-10.

Then in the second half the officials decided to start calling penalties on the Packers. Five of their seven penalties came in the third quarter, including a face mask on a punt that gave the Steelers the ball at midfield.

From there they ran the ball five times, Mendenhall twice, Isaac Redman twice and Roethlisberger once. Mendenhall took it in through traffic from the 8 for a touchdown, cutting the Packers' lead to 21-17 with more than 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

The Steelers made it a game again.

I would rather have not seen the Steelers burn two timeouts in the third quarter, having more than one timeout might have come in handy on the final drive. It was also hard to watch Shaun Suisham attempt a 52-yard field goal. Did anyone really think Suisham was going to make that?

Polamalu looked like he could have had an interception with about two and a half minutes left in the third quarter. Had he been a couple of steps to his left, he might have picked off a third-down incompletion right around the Steelers' 20 with room to run. Even though the Packers were forced to punt, Polamalu had his head in his hands at the end of that play. Like most of the night, he was out of position.

Despite all that, the Steelers' defensive muscle in the third quarter forged a field-position advantage.

With the Packers pinned at their own 13 late in the period, the Steelers forced a three-and-out. On the punt, the Packers were penalized and had to re-kick from their 8. The Steelers were in business at the Packers' 41, and Mendenhall ended the third quarter by picking up eight yards.

Fourth-quarter flop

Many Steelers players participated in the universal football ritual of holding up four fingers at the start of the fourth quarter, a signal that if you want to win the game, this is the time to do it.

Mendenhall didn't get the message. He got the ball again to open the final quarter, and Clay Matthews popped it loose. Desmond Bishop (not Bishop Desmond) recovered the fumble.

The Packers, who didn't turn the ball over in the game, scored for the third time off a Steelers turnover. Rodgers threw an 8-yard TD pass to Jennings, making it 28-17 with 12 minutes left.

Starting with the AFC championship game, Mendenhall played like a top-tier running back for seven quarters. He ran for just 63 yards in the Super Bowl, but at a clip of 4.5 yards a carry. Finally it seemed that Mendenhall would be the guy to provide the Steelers with a productive, clock-grinding ground game in the coming years. But that fumble again planted some seeds of doubt.

So it was back to disaster recovery for the Steelers. And recover they did. They got to within a field goal halfway through the fourth quarter when Roethlisberger threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Wallace and followed that with a pretty option pitch to Randle-El on the two-point conversion.

Ziggy Hood sacked Rodgers to start the ensuing possession, and the Packers eventually were staring at a third-and-10 from their own 25.

Momentum once again belonged to the Steelers.

That's when Rodgers showed why he's the Super Bowl MVP.

He threw to Jennings up the middle for 31 yards. Polamalu might have made his biggest impact of the night when he got his hand on Jennings' leg to stop him. It likely prevented a touchdown.

The Packers ran the clock down and got to the Steelers' 5. But the Steelers defense had enough fight left to hold them to a field goal and give Roethlisberger a chance to win it.

But as a new generation of Steelers fans has learned, you can't win 'em all.

Super Bowl XLV:
Sing Us a Song Tonight

By Mike Batista

Ben Roethlisberger just can't stay out of bars, can he?

According to TMZ, Big Ben was spotted at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar in Fort Worth Wednesday (Correction: Tuesday) night singing "Piano Man."

Let's hope Billy Joel doesn't press charges.

Apparently, Roethlisberger was nice to everyone at the bar and tipped $200 on an $800 bill.

Think he figured out the math by himself?

Perphaps Roethlisberger should have taken a shot at singing Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," because redemption seems to be the theme this week as Roethlisberger prepares for Super Bowl XLV.

Only Roethlisberger and the women he was with really know what happened on that March night in Milledgeville and in the hotel room in Nevada.

Roethlisberger wasn't charged in either case. All we know is that whatever happened, it wasn't cool. And it unleashed a chorus of stories in the Pittsburgh area about Roethlisberger's treatment of women, and people in general.

It was clear Roethlisberger had a lot of growing up to do.

There have been signs this season that Roethlisberger is starting to change his ways. Just the fact that he paid the bill at the bar shows that he's turning a new leaf. He used to skip out on bar tabs.

Roethlisberger won this year's Chief Award for media cooperation. That's not something Pittsburgh writers would have considered him for in the past.

Earlier in the week, when Roethlisberger remarked about Steelers and Packers fans covering Dallas in a sea of yellow, he even seemed slightly effeminate.

Of course, no one is asking Roethlisberger to start dating men as part of his transformation. He's still allowed an attraction to women. And despite what happened or didn't happen in Milledgeville, at least one woman is attracted to him. Apparently Roethlisberger's getting married, too.

But these are all baby steps. I need to see more.

Has Roethlisberger donated to any women's causes? Has he volunteered at any women's shelters? Considering the sketchiness of his dealings with women in the past, it would be nice to see Roethlisberger acknowledge women's issues beyond just wearing pink during games in October.

Perhaps Roethlisberger's already done that in private. If that's the case, good for him. I was in a community service fraternity, Epsilon Omega Psi, at Emerson College (our colors were black and gold). Our advisor told us that it's only a good deed until someone finds out about it.

Maybe marriage will lead to fatherhood for Roethlisberger. If that happens, being a father will be the most important job he ever has.

Raising a child would go a long way toward proving that he's a changed man, a lot more than raising another Lombardi Trophy.

Not that Roethlisberger has to have kids. You need to be ready for that. An onrushing linebacker can be a picnic compared to a dirty diaper.

What I'm saying is that Roethlisberger's redemption process extends far beyond the field, and far beyond Super Bowl XLV.

At Irish Exit in Manhattan, Steelers fans in enemy territory celebrate their win over the Jets in the AFC title game.

The closers

AFC championship game: Steelers 24, Jets 19

By Mike Batista

What the fuck was Antwaan Randle El doing in there?

The number 82 was the first thing I noticed in the Steelers' huddle when they came out of the two-minute warning.

The Steelers were clinging for dear life to a five-point lead. They faced a third-and-6 from the Jets' 40. All they had to do was run the ball again. Even if they didn't get the first down, they could run the clock down to about 1:15, then punt and try to pin the Jets deep. Sure, Mark Sanchez had a hell of a second half, but the Jets would have needed a touchdown with just over a minute left and no timeouts.

Randle El has done very little this season in his prodigal son return to the Steelers. So his presence in the game made it obvious the Steelers had a lot of receivers in there.

The Steelers weren't going to throw the ball, were they?

Sure enough, I see the Steelers go five-wide with Ben Roethlisberger in the shotgun. Yup. They were going there.

The Steelers were pretty much getting their asses kicked in the second half. Their 24-0 lead was down to a puny 24-19.

Now, the Steelers were going to put the ball in the air and risk an incompletion, which would stop the clock and give the Jets almost two minutes to score a touchdown. Or worse, there could have been an interception. Roethlisberger already had thrown two in the game.

I drank a few IC Lights at Irish Exit in Manhattan before the game, but I was too nervous to drink anything during the game, especially the second half. My tongue and throat were dryer than Steelers beat writer Ed Bouchette's sense of humor.

I did not need this, Steelers. I did not need this.

So Roethlisberger gets flushed out of the pocket, looking for someone to throw to. He wasn't going to be able to scramble for a first down like he had a couple of times earlier in the game. Too many white jerseys between him and the big yellow first-down line.

Just before running out of bounds, Roethlisberger tossed the ball to Antonio Brown. After his high-wire, Tyree-like catch last week, the sixth-round pick cradled this one like a newborn for 14 yards. First down. Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl.

Jets coach Rex Ryan slammed down his headset as if he was told his favorite snack shack was out of chili dogs.

Unlike me, the Steelers weren't scared. Unlike me, they weren't wringing their hands wishing the seconds would tick off the clock faster.

That's not how you win championships.

You win championships by closing the deal sooner rather than later.

You win championships when your fourth receiver, who hasn't been called upon all night, gets the job done when he finally is needed. And let's not forget Brown's 27-yard kickoff return a minute earlier after a Jets' touchdown narrowed the Steelers' lead to 24-19. That put the ball on the Steelers' 41 and helped the Steelers, and me, breathe a little easier.

Something tells me Brown, who was inactive for seven games this season, will get a hat every Sunday from now on.

Nothing safe about a safety

It looked like the Steelers' defining moment as 2010 AFC champions came midway through the fourth quarter. Leading 24-10, the Steelers stopped the Jets on first-and-goal from the 2-yard line. On third down from the 1, LaMarr Woodley batted down a Sanchez pass. On fourth down, LaDainian Tomlinson took it up the middle and got stood up against a battery of black jerseys.

A goal-line stand. The most dramatic display of football toughness. Unfortunately, right after that the Steelers fell victim to one of football's most emasculating occurrences: a safety.

Roethlisberger fumbled the snap from Doug "The Big" Legursky, who replaced injured Maurkice Pouncey at center, and smartly seized the ball so the Jets would get two points and not six.

The Jets had a safety in their win over the Steelers at Heinz Field last month. The quirkiest of football scoring plays seems to be a running gag whenever these two teams meet. Sort of like Maverick buzzing the tower in "Top Gun." Really annoying.

The safety made the score 24-12. And no, it was no consolation to me that it set things up for my predicted score of 27-15. Fuck that. Now, if the Jets got the two touchdowns they needed, they wouldn't just tie. They would win.

They got the first of those touchdowns after taking the free kick at their 42. Sanchez, who outplayed Roethlisberger, moved the Jets 58 yards in 10 plays and threw a 4-yard TD pass to Jerricho Cotchery, making it 24-19 with 3:06 left.

Fortunately, the Jets didn't touch the ball again.

Cooking up a comeback

After falling behind 24-0, the Jets had all the necessary ingredients for concocting a comeback.

They got a field goal to get on the board before halftime.

They got a touchdown less than three minutes into the second half when Santonio Holmes caught a 45-yard pass from Sanchez.

They got a turnover on the Steelers' ensuing possession when Brodney Pool intercepted Roethlisberger.

Meanwhile, the Steelers got the yips.

Pool's interception came right after Roethlisberger fumbled and recovered a snap.

The Jets went three-and-out on that possession, but Randle El muffed the punt and watched it roll out of bounds.

And after letting Rashard Mendenhall run wild for 95 yards in the first half, the Jets held him to 26 yards in the second half. The Steelers' passing attack wasn't used that much in the game. Roethlisberger completed only 10 of 19 passes for 133 yards to go with the two picks.

On this frigid Pittsburgh night, you got the feeling if the Steelers really needed to throw the ball, their aerial game would have been like a beer that hasn't been out of the freezer long enough. Still some ice in there.

Yuck.

In the second half, the Jets looked like the team that beat the Patriots. But the simple reason they couldn't beat the Steelers is because the Steelers scored more points in the half that they dominated.

Run, Rashard, Run

Am I the only one who forgot what Rashard Mendenhall looks like?

When he stood on the podium during the Steelers' celebration Sunday night, it was the most face time he's had since he got a call on his cell phone from the Steelers on draft day nearly three years ago.

Mendenhall's kind of been a man of mystery in his career. The Steelers' ability to move the ball through the air has at times made him an afterthought.

Jerome Bettis was The Bus. Willie Parker had the speed of a race car. What about Mendenhall? It hasn't been easy to identify him that way.

Sure, Mendenhall's had monster rushing numbers against porous run defenses like the Chargers last season and the Bills this season.

Mendenhall was seventh in the NFL this season with 1,273 rushing yards, just 25 less than Adrian Peterson. But he averaged only 3.9 yards per carry, and just hadn't passed the eye test that defines a top-notch running back like Peterson.

But he did on Sunday.

The Jets' first mistake came when they won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. While it worked out well for them in the second half, it kept dangerous Brad Smith, and the Jets' offense, off the field for the first nine minutes of the game.

Mendenhall carried eight times for 28 yards on the Steelers' opening drive. He scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in which he stuck his arm across the goal line with Bart Scott trying to take him down.

The touchdown gave the Steelers a 7-0 lead. It also softened any emotional blow from the loss of Maurkice Pouncey on the previous play. Pouncey left the game with a high-ankle sprain. Even though he's barely old enough to drink, the rookie center has been so good this year that many of his older teammates look up to him.

But The Big Legursky filled in admirably, and the Steelers' first-half fireworks had just begun.

The centerpiece of Mendenhall's performance was his 35-yard run in the second quarter, putting the ball on the Jets' 27. Isaac Redman gave Mendenhall a breather and got the Steelers deeper into field goal range with runs of eight and 13 yards. Shaun Suisham's 20-yard field goal made it 10-0.

Mendenhall found a couple of other ways to help on the Steelers' next possession. With the Steelers at the Jets' 16 and all the receivers covered downfield, Mendenhall got open in the flat, caught a pass and rambled to the 2. That set up Roethlisberger's 2-yard touchdown run. Jets' linebacker Bryan Thomas was too worried about Mendenhall, and that opened a lane the size of the Tuscarora Tunnel for Roethlisberger, who scored to make it 17-0.

Then came the grand finale of the Steelers' first-half spectacle. How many times over the years have we seen one Steeler mug an opposing quarterback and another Steeler pick up the free ball and take it the other way?

It's quite a sight to behold.

It happened again Sunday when Ike Taylor strip sacked Sanchez, and William Gay cleaned up. Gay didn't just fall on the ball. Oh no. He hovered over it and positioned himself to grab it and take it to the house. With his dreadlocks, Gay has a little (and I do mean a little) of the flair that Troy Polamalu has on his takeaways.

Gay ran it back 19 yards for a touchdown to increase the Steelers' lead to 24-0 with 1:23 left in the first half, and Heinz Field was awash in an ear-splitting, Terrible Towel-waving celebration of Steelerism.

Little did anyone know that the reaction to Gay's touchdown would serve as the Steelers' sendoff party as they were deployed to a treacherous second half.

It was time to hunker down.

But they survived. Next stop: Dallas.

I guess Randle El can come, too.

Brown bags Ravens

AFC divisional playoffs: Steelers 31, Ravens 24

By Mike Batista

The Baltimore Ravens looked scary during the offseason, having acquired wide receivers Anquan Boldin and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. This gave them some pop in their offense to go with their always stellar defense.

The Steelers, however, trumped the addition of those two stars with a sixth-round draft pick.

With the score tied 24-24, the Steelers faced a third-and-19 from their own 38 with 2:07 left in the game. The first playoff overtime under the new rules loomed -- until Ben Roethlisberger found Antonio Brown.

The rookie from Central Michigan caught the ball on a fly pattern, then went all David Tyree and used his helmet to secure the ball before going out of bounds at the Ravens' 4.

Since returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the Steelers' 19-11 win at Tennessee in Week 2, Brown has been overshadowed by draftmate Emmanuel Sanders, who was chosen in the third round.

Sanders had 28 catches this season. Brown had 16. Sanders dressed for 13 games this season. Brown dressed for nine.

But on Saturday, Brown did what Boldin and Houshmandzadah couldn't. He held on to the ball when it mattered most.

The Ravens could have gone ahead 28-24 with four minutes left, but Boldin dropped a 6-yard Joe Flacco pass at the goal line, so they settled for a game-tying field goal.

After Rashard Mendenhall's 2-yard touchdown run gave the Steelers a 31-24 lead, the Ravens' last chance came on fourth-and-18 from their own 44. Flacco threw what would have been a first-down pass right into Houshmandzadeh's chest, but proving you can take the player out of Cincinnati, but you can't take the Cincinnati out of the player, Houshmandzadeh let it bounce to the ground.

Game over. Steelers back in the AFC championship game.

The Steelers, however, dropped the ball their fair share of times on Saturday. In fact, infamy beckoned as they faced a 14-point deficit.

An immeasurable comeback

This was one of those games that gets me in a ranking mood.

The Steelers' dramatic win, in which they came back from a 21-7 halftime hole, got me going through the file cabinet of my mind, trying to think of other Steelers playoff comebacks and where this ranks.

I've been watching the Steelers since 1979, but I must admit I needed the Internet the morning after to jog my memory and dust off the Steelers' 36-33 win over the Browns in a 2002 AFC wild-card game. Maybe it's because it was pre-Roethlisberger and pre-Polamalu, but I kind of forgot about that game.

Mathematically, that was a bigger comeback. They trailed 24-7 in the third quarter and 33-21 with less than five minutes left in that one.

But Saturday's comeback can't be measured with a calculator, a slide rule or an abacus. The Steelers not only needed to come back on the scoreboard, they needed to come back emotionally.

In a play that would have been talked about for decades had the Steelers lost, the Ravens' Cory Redding picked up a fumble at the Steelers' 13 and ran it in for a touchdown late in the first quarter.

Terrell Suggs hit Roethlisberger and forced the fumble, although the ball was fumbled forward, making it look like an incomplete pass. Even though there was no whistle, everyone on both teams stood around thinking the play was over.

Except Redding.

The Steelers' flub gave the Ravens a 14-7 lead and was reminiscent of blooper clips from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first year as an expansion team. Or maybe the Steelers of the 1930s and 1940s.

Bucco Bruce would have been proud.

They once were lost

The Steelers and Ravens entered this game so closely matched that their previous four games all were decided by three points. The Steelers had won nine of their 17 meetings since 2003, and in those games both teams had scored 302 points.

So in a game where just a blink or a twitch could have been the difference, here was this big, fat gaffe that gave the Ravens seven points.

It was like a guy being on a date and getting caught looking at the women's breasts right after they sit down at the table. Makes it awfully hard to get a second date. The guy's probably one and done.

So it seemed with the Steelers. But their first-half ineptitude didn't end with that play. In the second quarter, Rashard Mendenhall, playing in his first playoff game, fumbled at the Steelers' 16. That led to a 4-yard touchdown pass from Flacco to Todd Heap and a 21-7 Ravens lead.

Even on the fumble, there didn't seem to be much awareness that there was a fumble. It seemed odd that the pile of bodies wasn't untangling like it usually does after an ordinary play. It turns out it was no ordinary play, and the Steelers were again asleep at the switch.

After the play, Mike Tomlin stared wide-eyed at the scoreboard. His mouth opened briefly, revealing the green gum he chewed throughout the game. But no words came out. He was out of challenges, although that didn't matter because Mendenhall clearly fumbled the ball.

Tomlin, as well as his team, seemed lost.

Now there's a turnabout

The second half didn't start out much better. The Steelers didn't do much with their opening possession and had to punt.

Then, CBS showed its little graphic saying the Ravens had seven road playoff wins, tied for third most in the NFL all-time.

It's funny how having your ass kissed by CBS often turns into the kiss of death in the NFL.

Right after that, James Harrison sacked Flacco. Two plays after that, Ryan Clark forced a Ray Rice fumble, and LaMarr Woodley recovered at the Baltimore 23.

I watched the game at Bob Hyland's Sports Page in White Plains, which is not far from Rice's hometown of New Rochelle. The fumble quieted Rice's homies, who weren't wearing Ravens gear, but to that point had a lot more to cheer about than the dozen or so of us wearing black and gold.

It also led to a 9-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller, cutting the Ravens' lead to 21-14.

Late in the third quarter, Clark intercepted Flacco at the Ravens' 42. The pick, along with the forced fumble, absolved Clark for his role in the Steelers' first-half follies, when he tried to help out Ike Taylor covering Derrick Mason and hit Taylor instead, nearly taking him out of the game.

This turnover set up an 8-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward, tying score at 21.

Flacco, clearly shaken by the events of the third quarter, fumbled a snap at his own 23 two plays into the Ravens' next possession. Brett Keisel recovered, and it turned into Shaun Suisham's 35-yard field goal, which gave the Steelers a 24-21 lead early in the fourth quarter.

After the Steelers held the Ravens to the field goal thanks to Boldin's drop, Mendenhall provided the winning points on his 2-yard run.

Bang for the buck

Mendenhall had only 46 yards on 20 carries, but most of those yards came at crucial times. His winning TD was his second short-yardage score. He opened the scoring with a 1-yard run on a second effort in the first quarter.

More than half of Mendenhall's yards came on two carries that sparked the Steelers' touchdown drives in the third quarter.

Immediately after Rice's fumble, Mendenhall ran 14 yards to the 9. Then came the 9-yard pass to Miller that made it 21-14.

On the first play after Clark's interception, Mendenhall went 13 yards to the Ravens' 12. Three plays later, Ward tied it with his touchdown.

It was the first time the Steelers came back from 14 points down in any game since their last playoff loss, in 2007 at home to Jacksonville. They trailed 28-10 in that game and took a 29-28 lead before losing 31-29.

But that Steelers team was decimated by injuries and not expected to go very far in the playoffs.

Expectations are much higher for this team, a team that on Saturday not only escaped the Ravens, but also infamy.

Sign of the times

By Mike Batista

Baltimore and Pittsburgh were nice little sports rivals in the 1970s. They met in the World Series in 1971 and 1979, with the Pirates winning both times, I might add.

Friendly mascots ran around and umpires wore burgundy blazers. The Orioles sported their flaming orange shirts with the cartoonish Oriole logo on their caps, while the Pirates donned their bright yellow jerseys.

Such was life in the flamboyant 70s.

This is a little different.

The Steelers and Ravens wear the foreboding colors of black and purple, which will form a nice ensemble with the black and blue that is sure to develop.

Bad things happen when the Steelers and Ravens play. Ray Lewis broke Rashard Mendenhall's shoulder in 2008, costing him his rookie season. In the AFC championship game that year, Willis McGahee was carried off on a stretcher. Last month, Ben Roethlisberger's nose was mashed up and Heath Miller got a concussion.

For all the talk about Roethlisberger's escapades last March in Milledgeville, let's not forget Ray Lewis' exploits 11 years ago in Atlanta. There are going to be some bad boys battling on that field today.

It will be cold and there will be snow. Or maybe those flakes will be nuclear fallout.

This ain't "We Are Family." This is Armageddon.

Star power

Steelers 41, Browns 9

By Mike Batista

It was up to Steelers coach Mike Tomlin whether Troy Polamalu would play Sunday.

If he sat Polamalu, who had been sidelined with an Achilles injury, the hope would have been to give the defensive difference maker five full weeks of rest if the Steelers could beat the Browns without him and clinch a first-round bye in the playoffs.

If he played Polamalu, he would have risked a re-injury and losing him for the playoffs. What good would a first-round bye be in that case?

I don't think any of this had to factor into Tomlin's decision. He could have been swayed by astrology, because it seemed the stars were aligned for Polamalu to play in this game.

How else do you explain Polamalu, No. 43, intercepting a pass to set up a Steelers' touchdown 43 seconds into the game? Or that Mike Wallace, No. 17, scored that touchdown with 14:17 left in the first quarter after catching a Ben Roethlisberger pass?

Furthermore, the uniform numbers of Wallace and Polamalu add up to 60, as in "Steelers football is 60 minutes," which Tomlin gushed after the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII (that's 43) two years ago. Or as in "60 Minutes," the show hosted by a Mike Wallace almost four times the age of the Steelers receiver.

The Steelers, who by the way allowed 43 rushing yards on 17 carries, didn't need 60 minutes to finish off the Browns and secure the AFC North title and a first-round bye. They scored touchdowns on their first four possessions and got tough in short-yardage situations for a change.

Rashard Mendenhall punched in the first of his two 1-yard touchdown runs to give the Steelers (12-4) a 14-0 lead with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

The Browns (5-11) seemed poised to make it a game on their next possession, moving the ball to the Steelers' 2. But on second down, Polamalu showed that he really is healthy again by dusting off one of his trademark spectacles: The Line of Scrimmage Leap.

On the first play of the second quarter, Polamalu timed the snap and vaulted the line of scrimmage like a missile. Browns' quarterback Colt McCoy rolled to his right, almost back to the 20, after getting out of Polamalu's flight path and threw an incomplete pass. After another incomplete pass, the Browns settled for a field goal.

Polamalu's work was pretty much done. The Steelers only needed him for a half, thanks in part to fellow defensive backs Ryan Clark and Anthony Madison, whose interceptions set up 10 points. Clark's pick led to a 4-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller to increase the Steelers' lead to 28-3. Madison set up Shaun Suisham's 41-yard field goal to make the Steelers' halftime lead 31-3.

And Polamalu could start washing his hair.

The offense didn't earn its rest until it put together a clock-churning drive to start the second half. The 13-play, 77-yard march ended with a little flair. Antwan Randle-El took a pitch from Roethlisberger and threw a 3-yard TD pass to Hines Ward. The play popped the cork on some vintage 2005, when Randle-El connected with Ward in the Super Bowl and the Steelers won big in Cleveland during the holiday season.

With the Steelers up 38-3, most of their key offensive players were done for the day. Unfortunately, Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey wasn't one of them. He left the game with a neck stinger and is the only new health concern that came out of this game.

Speaking of Pouncey and the offensive line that the 21-year-old rookie pretty much runs, Roethlisberger was unsacked for the first time since the Steelers' first meeting against the Browns. Roethlisberger was sacked 32 times in 12 games this season. That's a pace of about 43 sacks over a full season. That would have been the fewest times he's been sacked since 2005.

It was oddly comical, then, when Byron Leftwich was sacked on his first play. Leftwich was brought down twice, but did a good job minding the store along with the likes of running back Jonathan Dwyer, linebackers Stevenson Sylvester, Keyaron Fox and Larry Foote and defensive backs Will Allen and Keenan Lewis.

The Steelers put three more points on the board to hang 40 on an opponent for the first time since 2007. This was after becoming the first team to score 30 on the improved Browns this season.

What the Steelers do to teams like the Browns and Panthers, however, won't matter a whole lot in two weeks.

As Tomlin would say, it's time for "January Football."