Week 7: Steelers 32, Cardinals 20

Steelers play Cards right

Funny how the biggest highlight of the Steelers' win over the Cardinals Sunday was a reminder of what might have been.

The same play that fell apart and allowed the Packers to take control of Super Bowl XLV worked to perfection Sunday, allowing the Steelers to take control in their Super Bowl XLIII rematch.

In Super Bowl XLV, the Steelers were at their own 7-yard line, and Ben Roethlisberger tried to find Mike Wallace on a sideline route. But Roethlisberger's arm was hit on the play, and the Packers' Nick Collins grabbed the fluttering ball and returned it for a Pick 6 and a 14-0 Packers lead. If only Roethlisberger had released the ball cleanly, Wallace would have been gone and the game would have been tied.

On Sunday, the Steelers were at their own 5 and, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, were going to try a short pass to tight end David Johnson to get them a little breathing room.

But Roethlisberger saw that Wallace was open going down the sideline, just like he was in the Super Bowl. This time, nobody in a red shirt touched Roethlisberger before he got the ball off, and he connected with Wallace on a 95-yard touchdown pass, the longest pass play in Steelers' history.

This time, the 14-0 lead belonged to the Steelers. 

Touch of gray

Wallace was preparing for the NFL Scouting Combine three years ago when the Cardinals were giving the Steelers all they could handle in Tampa. The Cardinals wouldn't go quietly on Sunday, either. The 17-7 halftime score was discomforting. That was the halftime score of Super Bowl XLIII, and the second half of that game was a little too white-knuckle for my taste.

The lead was chopped to 17-14 Sunday when Kevin Kolb, who looks like he's permanently afflicted with bitter-beer face, threw a short pass to LaRod Stephens-Howling that turned into a 73-yard touchdown. While overall the Steelers' defense played "above the line," as Mike Tomlin would say, that play revealed another gray hair on a unit that isn't getting any younger.

Yeah, we saw the 2009 James Farrior there. Stephens-Howling couldn't have embarrassed him any more if he had pulled his pants down.

With a few more gray hairs added to the heads of their fans at this point, the Steelers regained command of the game with an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive.

Heath Miller caught two passes for 38 yards on the drive. Emmanuel "Remember Me?" Sanders caught three of his five balls on the drive, including one for 20 yards that got the Steelers to the 2. Two plays later, Roethlisberger found Sanders again for the touchdown, dodging unblocked former teammate Clark Haggans before firing the pass.

We're probably going to see Tom Brady do a lot of things next Sunday at Heinz Field, but I guarantee you we won't see him avoid a sack like Roethlisberger did on that play, because that's one thing that Roethlisberger can do that Brady can't.

A penalty yanked the Cardinals back to their own 7 on the the ensuing kickoff, and on the first play LaMarr Woodley, who already had two sacks, roamed free in the backfield and waved his arms at Kolb as if to say "Yeah, it's me again" in a schoolyard kind of way.

Woodley forced Kolb to intentionally ground the ball in the end zone, giving the Steelers a safety and a 26-14 lead.

Suisham settles down 

It's funny how the two points gained from a safety, that most emasculating of football plays, can change the complexion of a game. Now the Cardinals needed two touchdowns, not just a touchdown and a field goal.

But first, the Steelers got the ball back on the free kick, and Shaun Suisham booted a 42-yard field goal to make it 29-14. Now the Cardinals needed two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.

The Steelers could loosen their ties even more after Suisham's 39-yarder later in the fourth quarter, which made it a 32-14 and a three-score game with less than seven minutes left. The Steelers' kicker, who has been shaky this year, made all three of his field goal attempts Sunday and gave us a week off from worrying about him.

The Steelers' running game wasn't quite as impressive, gaining just 3.3 yards per carry. However, after the Cardinals scored a throwaway touchdown (and missed the 2-point conversion) to make it 32-20, Isaac Redman and Mewelde Moore came out of the bullpen to close out the game.

Seriously, these guys should get some kick-ass closer's music when they step on the field, because when the Steelers are trying to protect a lead late in the game, they've proven they can run the ball, move the chains and drain the clock better than Rashard Mendenhall (13 carries, 32 yards). They combined for 27 yards in the final 3:53 as the Cardinals did not touch the ball again.

Let's not forget, too, that Antonio Brown (career-high seven catches) caught a first-down pass to keep the drive going and Sanders, who caught all his passes in the second half, twice gave the Steelers a new set of downs on the drive.

More turnover talk 

Sanders wasn't the only weapon the Steelers dusted off Sunday. The defense forced its first turnover in two weeks. Lawrence Timmons (Correction: James Farrior) tipped a Kolb pass on the opening drive and Ryan Clark intercepted it, leading to a 12-yard touchdown pass to Miller and a 7-0 Steelers lead.

While that turnover had quite a bit of impact, allowing the Steelers to score first in a game in which they never trailed, it was the Steelers' only takeaway of the game. That means I again had to comb the annals of ProFootballReference.com to find other teams that had just three takeaways in the first seven games of a season.

I couldn't find any.

That's right. According to Pro Football Reference, your 2011 Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team with just three takeaways in the first seven games of a season.

The Steelers almost had a second turnover Sunday, but Troy Polamalu dropped an easy interception. Several times this season, it seems the Steelers' mane man has been just a hair away from where he's needed to be to get an interception. It was encouraging, then, to at least see Polamalu in position to make a pick Sunday.

The good news is that on the other side of the ball, the Steelers had their second straight turnover-free game, chipping away at their ghastly giveaway-takeaway ratio, which stands at minus-9.

In the last 50 years, the 2001 Dolphins, the 1983 Raiders and the 1977 Vikings are the only other teams to go 5-2 despite a turnover margin of minus-9 or worse, according to Pro Football Reference. Interestingly, the '83 Raiders won the Super Bowl despite turning the ball over 13 more times than their opponent.

So I guess you don't have to win the turnover battle to win a Super Bowl. That said, the Steelers don't beat the Patriots next week if they cough the ball up more than they snatch it away. The Patriots are too good.

The Steelers have beaten the Patriots only twice since the turn of the century, and are 5-8 against them since 1995. But all five of those wins have come in seasons in which the Steelers have at least reached the AFC championship game.

I can't wait for the week when the Steelers' defense puts together four, five or six turnovers and I no longer have to scour the Internet for historic perspective on their turnover futility.

How about next week? Because if the Steelers beat the Patriots, no number crunching will be required for us to know that they are again capable of playing well into January.

No dirty birds

By Mike Batista

Get your popcorn and butter ready. Part III of the latest Ravens-Steelers trilogy is coming to a theater near you. This time, the Ravens won't be doing the Steelers' dirty work. This movie will contain graphic violence.

But we'll get to all that later.

The Steelers enter the playoffs with a 12-4 record and a No. 2 seed in the AFC.

Sound familiar?

It's the same record and seed the Steelers had in 2008.

The parallels between the 2008 and 2010 Steelers don't end there, however.

Consider:

• In both seasons, the Steelers finished with convincing wins over the Browns. They closed 2008 with a 31-0 win and beat them 41-9 last Sunday.
• In both seasons, all four of the Steelers' losses came to playoff teams. They lost to the Eagles, Giants, Colts and Titans in 2008 and the Ravens, Saints, Patriots and Jets in 2010.
• In both seasons, the Steelers lost their last game in October to the defending Super Bowl champion. They lost to the Giants on Oct. 26, 2008 and to the Saints on Halloween this season.
  
• In both seasons, the Steelers lost at home to a New York team.
• In both seasons, one of the Steelers' losses ended with an incomplete pass into the end zone that could have won the game. In 2008, a Hail Mary fell short against the Colts. This season, they attempted a game-winning pass from the Jets' 10-yard line as time ran out.
• In both seasons, the Steelers not only went 6-2 in the first and second half of the season, they went 3-1 in each quarter of the season.
• In both seasons, they allowed the fewest points in the NFL, 223 in 2008 and 232 this season.
• In both seasons, they won a game by one point. They beat the Chargers 11-10 in 2008 and the Dolphins 23-22 this season.
• In both seasons, they essentially won the AFC North by winning in Baltimore in December, 13-9 in 2008 and 13-10 this season.
• In both seasons, they lost convincingly to the top-seeded team in the AFC. They lost 31-14 to the Titans in 2008 and 39-26 to the Patriots this season.

Unfortunately for the Steelers, this Congruence at the Confluence won't extend into the playoffs.

Even without them actually playing, the 2010 playoffs haven't gone quite as well for the Steelers as they did two years ago.

In the 2008 wild-card round, the Chargers beat the Colts, one of the teams that beat the Steelers, then lost to the Steelers in the divisional playoffs.

The Ravens earned a date with the Steelers in the AFC championship game by upsetting the Titans, another team that beat the Steelers in 2008.

The Cardinals reached Super Bowl XLIII by beating the Eagles in the NFC championship game.

So on their way to winning Super Bowl XLIII, the Steelers were one round away from facing three teams they lost to in the regular season.

The Chargers, Ravens and Cardinals did the Steelers' dirty work for them in the 2008 playoffs, and the Steelers thanked them all by beating them.

No such luck this time.

If the Steelers want to get to Super Bowl XLV, they'll not only need to handle the Ravens again Saturday at 4:30 at Heinz Field, they'll have to find a way to beat the Jets or Patriots in the AFC championship game.

The Ravens gave the Patriots a better game than the Steelers this season, taking them to overtime before losing in New England. There was a lot of talk about the Ravens hopefully offing the Patriots so the Steelers wouldn't have to face them.

But the Ravens don't want to be the Steelers' errand boys again. When the Jets' win locked them into a matchup against the Patriots next week, all the Ravens had to do was beat the Chiefs Sunday to earn a ticket to Pittsburgh. The Ravens want another shot at the Patriots just as much as the Steelers. Only one of them will get that shot.

The Steelers better be ready.

Mom of Steel

It takes a special woman to be the mother of a Steelers fan.

My mother was just that for half of the 60 years that she lived.

This is my first Mother's Day without her.

My mother was no ordinary Mom of a Steelers Fan. Only she could make a fond memory out of the infamous Phil Luckett game.

In 1979, my mother's life was at halftime. Little did she know how different her second half would be. Her firstborn was becoming a Steelers fan.

Piled under the tree that Christmas were a Steelers coat, a Steelers winter hat, a Steelers sweatshirt, Steelers gloves, a Steelers mini-locker, an aluminum Steelers wastebasket, Steelers pencils, Steelers notepads and these Steelers action figures with flexible arms and legs, removable helmets and a full set of uniform-number decals.

Of course I was still young enough to think that Santa Claus brought all those black and gold trinkets. But it was mom and dad.

Growing up

Not long after the Steelers defeated the Rams in Super Bowl XIV, I read a newspaper article about some Steelers players (can't remember who) considering retirement. It made me sad. I went to my mother and told her that I might not like the Steelers anymore.

I think she pretended to take me seriously in that lovingly patronizing manner that parents employ when children think they're talking about something important.

I'm glad she didn't take me seriously.

Eventually I overcame the shock of that article, accepted the reality that athletes don't play forever and remained a Steelers fan, even though it would be another 16 years before they returned to the Super Bowl.

In those intervening years, the Steelers' mediocrity allowed me to keep my interest within reason and get started on a somewhat normal life that included Little League, high school, college, my first job and my first apartment. That was followed, unfortunately, by my first (and hopefully last) layoff, and a move back in with mom.

The Steelers rescued me from total despair while I was out of work by recovering from a 3-4 start and reaching Super Bowl XXX against the Cowboys.

My sister's boyfriend at the time was a Cowboys fan, which at least gave me someone to watch the game with.

I taped the game, left the TV on and went to my sister's.

My mother, who was a nurse, was about to leave for work that night when she noticed that the TV was on. She wondered why it was on (even though I told her I'd be taping the game) and shut it off.

I forgave her.

After all, would I really have wanted to watch Neil O'Donnell throwing the ball into the waiting arms of Larry Brown over and over again?

The Steelers almost got back to the Super Bowl two years later. I assure you my mother had no inkling that the Steelers were a win away from the Super Bowl, much less who they had to beat to get there. That's why it's purely coincidence that she was blasting and dancing to a John Denver cassette when I went to visit her the night before the Steelers played Denver in the AFC championship game.

I forgave her for that, too.

Not long after the Steelers lost that game to the Broncos, certain non-Steelers events conspired to make me very unhappy with my life. By the fall of 1998, I was in a dark place.

Thanksgiving was coming up and the plan was for me to have dinner with my mother, who by now was divorced and living alone.

I told her the Steelers would be on TV, so I could watch them after having dinner.

Knowing the doldrums I was going through, my mother knitted me a black and gold scarf to cheer me up I while watched the Steelers.

We all know what happened. The Steelers lost in overtime to the Lions in a game marked by a controversial coin flip. It was the start of a season-ending, five-game losing streak.

Who knows the depths I would have sunk to without that scarf.

Scarves aren't needed in Orlando, which is where I took my mother in 2002 to see her beloved big brother, Joseph, who we affectionately called, "Uncle Junk."

The Steelers had a Monday night game at home against the Colts while we were in Florida. I watched the game in my uncle's living room. The Steelers comfortably won the game 28-10.

Nonetheless, being the Steelers fan that I am, I felt the urge to curse at certain points during the game. Out of respect to my aunt and uncle, I tried to keep those expletives under my breath. I guess I didn't do a very good job, because mom was cracking up.

Glory days

While my mother was supportive of my Steelers fanaticism, she said it would be a "cold day in hell" if she ever went to a football game. So I can't complete this tribute without talking about her appreciation for baseball ... and Neil Diamond.

In 2004, when the Red Sox ended their 86-year drought and won the World Series, I worked at a newspaper in Rhode Island and covered the first two games in Boston. It's a tradition at Fenway Park to play "Sweet Caroline" in the middle of the eighth inning.

During Game 2, when it was playing, I called my mother on my cell phone so she could hear it.

The following year, my mother said she wanted to see the Red Sox while they were champions. It was apparent at that point she didn't have many years left, and who knew when the Red Sox would ever win the World Series again?

So I figured what better day to take her than Mother's Day. The Red Sox lost on a chilly, drizzly afternoon. But after the game, all mothers were invited onto the field to walk the perimeter of the hallowed Fenway Park turf.

Two Mother's Days later, in 2007, I was driving from New York to Rhode Island to visit my mother, and listened to the Red Sox on the radio. As I crossed the border from Connecticut to Rhode Island, the game seemed rather uneventful. The Orioles led 5-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. But as I got closer to my mother's, the Red Sox started rallying.

As I exited I-95 (which is called Route 95 in Rhode Island) onto the streets of Pawtucket, just minutes from my mother's, I wondered if I would have to A) Sit in the parking lot and wait until the end of the game, or extra innings, before going into my mother's building or B) Make a beeline for the TV upon entering my mother's apartment, which, believe me when I tell you, she wouldn't have minded at all.

It turns out the Red Sox, like the true champions they proved to be that year, completed their six-run rally when I was about a block from my mother's. On one hand, that comeback would have been a nice moment to share with my mother. On the other hand, I'm amazed at how perfect the timing was.

Like the Red Sox, the Steelers accompanied their "long-awaited" championship with another one three years after it. I know my mother watched at least some of Super Bowl XLIII, because when I called her during the marathon pre-game show, she asked me why the Steelers stayed at an undisclosed hotel the night before the game. She wondered if there was some kind of a terrorism threat.

I explained to her that Super Bowl teams customarily change to secret hotels the night before the game to avoid getting into trouble. We now know that was especially necessary for the Steelers with guys like Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes on the team. Hell, Eugene Robinson looks pretty good now compared to Roethlisberger.

Mom passed away on Jan. 28, just as the Steelers' reign as Super Bowl champions was down to a precious few grains in the hourglass.

The Steelers were succeeded as champions by the Saints. Mom's probably met a lot of those where she is now. And I'll bet they let her play John Denver as loud as she wants.

Mike Batista