Ravens rematch ahead
January 5 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"At the risk of violating Mike Tomlin's most sacred rule -- sorry, coach -- let's look ahead and ponder a couple of delicious questions:
How would you like another Steelers-Baltimore Ravens matchup at Heinz Field in the AFC championship game Jan. 18?
And:
Are you ready for a little more bounty talk and Spitgate revisited?
It's going to happen.
Write it down.
Wild-card weekend couldn't have turned out much better for the Steelers. Because of the results, they get a relatively weak opponent -- the San Diego Chargers -- at home Sunday in their first playoff game and won't have to go to Tennessee for the AFC title game. The Baltimore Ravens are going to take out the Titans Saturday.
Write that down, too.
The Chargers did the Steelers a favor Saturday by beating the dangerous Indianapolis Colts, 23-17, in overtime, thanks, in large part, to two defensive holding penalties and a facemask personal foul against the Colts on the Chargers' winning drive. Better that the Chargers come to Heinz Field -- especially if injured star running back LaDainian Tomlinson can't play -- than the Colts with the great Peyton Manning.
Then yesterday, the Ravens embarrassed the overmatched Miami Dolphins, 27-9. Clearly, they are better right now than the AFC's top-seeded Titans. Heck, they just might be good enough to beat the Steelers at Heinz Field, but who wants to waste time worrying about that now?
I'm going to cite Tomlin's don't-look-ahead rule on that one.
You can argue a home game Sunday against the Dolphins would have been the Steelers' easiest path to the conference championship game, and I won't disagree. The Dolphins were the worst of the AFC teams playing this past weekend. We also lose a little entertainment value with the Chargers as the opponent. It would have been great fun watching Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter squawking at Ben Roethlisberger and Willie Parker.
Oh, well.
What's important is that the Chargers also are a lesser team than the Steelers. They were an 8-8 club that made the playoffs only because the Denver Broncos gagged down the stretch. I don't buy that they're hot at the right time with five consecutive wins. I might buy it if Tomlinson were healthy, but he left the Colts game early with what appears to be a serious groin injury. It's hard to imagine backup Darren Sproles running for 100 yards against the Steelers the way he did against the Colts. Certainly, there's no way he gets 178 yards in kickoff and punt return yardage against the Steelers' coverage units.
Philip Rivers is a fine quarterback, better than fine if you look at his NFL-best 105.5 passer rating and 34 touchdown passes. But he struggled big-time in an 11-10 loss to the Steelers at Heinz Field Nov. 16. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker James Harrison had interceptions and Harrison sacked Rivers for a safety. Rivers' passer rating was a season-low 44.4. It didn't help that, evenLink
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