Steelers return to AFC final
January 12
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"The Steelers will play their third AFC championship game at Heinz Field this decade, and this time they would like to win.
To do so, they must get past their mirror images, the Baltimore Ravens, who not only play like them but are trying to emulate what the Steelers did after the 2005 season as the wild-card No. 6 seed.
"What else would you expect?" Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "Us and the Ravens; it would be a big game if it was a scrimmage. It just happens to be the AFC championship game."
They will play at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
The Steelers became the only home team of the weekend's four playoff games to win when they defeated San Diego, 35-24, with a withering third quarter in which the Chargers were allowed just one play. That play became a Larry Foote interception.
"I think we played our kind of football today," Tomlin said after his first playoff victory.
It was old-school Steelers football, harkening back to the days when they won playoff games at home in the 1970s. Their defense might not have a fancy nickname, but it did 2 yards better than the Steel Curtain that held the Minnesota Vikings to 17 yards rushing in Super Bowl IX. The Steelers yesterday held the Chargers to 15 yards, a club postseason record.
"It was big," linebacker LaMarr Woodley said after the defense held Darren Sproles to 15 yards on 11 carries. "We definitely didn't want to get him going."
And there was the return of their own ground game. Willie Parker ran for two touchdowns and 146 yards, the most in a playoff game since Franco Harris had 153 against the Baltimore Colts in 1975. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger showed no signs of a two-week old concussion. He completed 17 of 26 passes for 181 yards and threw a touchdown pass of 8 yards to Heath Miller. Roethlisberger was sacked just once as the line gave him plenty of time to throw.
"I can't say enough about the Steelers," San Diego coach Norv Turner said. "They are an outstanding football team."
The top-ranked Steelers defense allowed a 300-yard passer for the first time this season when Philip Rivers completed 21 of 35 for 308 yards and three touchdowns. But throw out the first drive and a 62-yard run-and-catch for a score by Sproles late in the game when it was all but officially over. The defense did a good job of getting to Rivers and hit him a number of times.
"The fact that he did get hit and sacked may have thrown off his timing," linebacker James Harrison said. "And the illusion of pressure -- pressure that's not actually there because you are used to getting hit every three or four seconds."
They sacked the Chargers' quarterback four times, two by Woodley, to go with Foote's interception off a deflected pass by end Brett Keisel.
No play, though, was bigger than the Steelers' first punt return of the season for a touchdown. It was also the longest in the team's playoff history.
The return came after San Diego shocked the St
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