PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Steelers know better than to make vacation plans for the latter part of January, because they fully expect to be playing football through the end of the month.
With their 31-24 comeback victory over Baltimore on Saturday, the Steelers earned a 15th trip to the AFC title game. Given what Pittsburgh had to overcome this season, this appearance will be more satisfying than most.
"We don't take this for granted,'' coach Mike Tomlin said. "We are extremely humbled and honored to move on to the AFC championship game, and to be recognized as the true champions of the AFC North. We respect the heck out of the Ravens.''
The Steelers beat the heck out of the Ravens, too. After trailing 21-7 at halftime, Pittsburgh scored 17 straight points, then mounted a classic drive at the finish to move within a victory of a return trip to the Super Bowl.
The Steelers will face the Jets, who topped New England 28-21, in the AFC championship game next Sunday night.
Although the Ravens committed three turnovers in the third quarter, the Steelers (13-4) deserve credit for forcing those miscues and scoring 24 points in the second half - matching the total Baltimore had yielded in its previous three games.
Ben Roethlisberger threw for two touchdowns and orchestrated a 65-yard drive in the closing minutes that included a 58-yard pass to rookie Antonio Brown on third-and-19. That set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Rashard Mendenhall with 1:33 left for the winning points.
Soon thereafter, the Steelers and a delirious crowd at Heinz Field began gearing up for their fourth appearance in the AFC title game over the last seven years.
"That's great. To be down like that and come out at halftime, I know a lot of people probably were counting us out,'' linebacker LaMarr Woodley said. "We came back and we fought. That shows what kind of team we are. When the offense is down, the defense is going to pick them up. And when the defense is down, the offense is going to pick up. That's the thing about being teammates.''
For the first 30 minutes, both units could share the blame for the 14-point deficit. The defense gave up a 68-yard drive and permitted two third-down conversions during another touchdown march, and the offense committed two turnovers, including a fumble by Roethlisberger that Ravens defensive end Cory Redding turned into a score.
"It wasn't our best day today,'' said wide receiver Hines Ward, who scored a touchdown. "But anytime we have Ben on the field, he is a winner. He may not be (Tom) Brady or all the other guys, but you can't knock the guy for what he has done. History shows he is a proven winner against Baltimore. He is a proven winner in the playoffs.''
Roethlisberger has won his last seven starts against the Ravens since 2006. He began the season serving a four-game suspension and expects to finish it hoisting high the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl.
To get there, he will have to beat a team that defeated Pittsburgh earlier. The New York Jets edged the Steelers 22-17 in December.
On Saturday night, Roethlisberger didn't care to think about a rematch.
"You like to play teams that you lose to. Right now that is not on my mind,'' he said. "I'm going to enjoy this win and see what happens.''
Roethlisberger knows all about playing in the AFC championship game and Super Bowl, but there are others on this team preparing for their first such foray this deep into the postseason.
Safety Ryan Clark said: "What's funny is coach Tomlin, at the beginning of the playoffs, put names on the board of all the guys who were playing big roles for us right now who weren't here for the last Super Bowl run: Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Rashard Mendenhall, Ziggy Hood.
"He said what guys like James Farrior and Troy Polamalu would do. But the difference was going to be what those young guys do,'' Clark said. "You look at the contributions made by Ziggy (four tackles and a sack), the big catch made by Antonio. Those guys really came through for us, and, at this time, that's what you need. We know that Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are going to do their thing for Baltimore. But what are their young guys going to do? I believe we won that battle.''
And now the Steelers are poised for another trip to the AFC championship.
"It starts with the top. It starts with the Rooneys - awesome people, awesome family, awesome owners,'' Roethlisberger said. "I think all the players really respect the coaches, from the head guy all the way down to our position guy. We are a family, we have since I've been here and we'll fight and do anything for each other.''
Shonn Greene placed the ball on the ground and used it as a pillow, resting his head on it after scoring the Jets' final touchdown of a stunning upset.A quiet climax to a very loud week of non-stop jabbering, poking, berating, and then some, mostly by the New Yorkers.On Sunday, they proved that they weren't all talk - trash talk - after all.Now Rex Ryan's rowdy bunch is headed to its second straight AFC championship game after New York backed up its coach's boasts with a 28-21 win Sunday over the New England Patriots - the team with the best record in the NFL.Mark Sanchez threw three touchdown passes and the Jets sacked Tom Brady five times in the most-hyped of the weekend's four postseason games following a week of verbal potshots from both teams. "Maybe everybody else never believed, but we believed," Ryan said. "We're moving on. Same old Jets, back to the AFC championship. The only difference is this time we plan on winning." The Jets, who lost that game to Indianapolis last year, will try to win their third straight postseason game on the road, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, next Sunday. The Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens 31-24 on Saturday.Late in Sunday's game, Ryan was true to his exuberant self. He ran down the sideline and celebrated with his players after Greene's 16-yard score with 1:41 left. And, when the game was over, Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards did a backflip."We don't care what people say or whether they like us," cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "We just focus on what we need to do to win games." New York led its fierce rival 14-3 at halftime before Brady's 2-yard touchdown pass to Alge Crumpler and Sammy Morris' run for a 2-point conversion made it 14-11 late in the third quarter. But Sanchez came right back with a 7-yard scoring pass to Santonio Holmes and New York finished the upset with Greene's touchdown. The Jets (13-5) kept Ryan's prediction of a Super Bowl appearance alive. The Patriots (14-3) lost their third straight postseason game. New York has a chance for its first Super Bowl berth since 1969 when another loudmouth, "Broadway Joe" Namath, backed up his guarantee with a 16-7 win over the Baltimore Colts. Ryan has said many times that the Jets are a Super Bowl-caliber team, and has irritated fans, opposing players and media with his bold remarks. Last week he said the game was a contest between him and Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Then, after Antonio Cromartie called Brady an expletive on Tuesday, Ryan said he wouldn't punish his cornerback.The ultra-serious Belichick wasn't as kind to Wes Welker. The wide receiver was benched for the Patriots first series for subtle remarks apparently directed at Ryan. Welker made several references to feet in his news conference Thursday, interpreted by some as a dig at recent foot-fetish reports involving Ryan."I didn't think anything about it. I'm just waiting for the opportunity to go out and play," Welker said. "I respect the New York Jets. I respect Rex Ryan."Belichick refused to comment on why Welker missed the first series.When the game ended, Belichick walked slowly to midfield where he met Ryan, patted his conqueror on the back with his left hand and shared some words."We just didn't do enough things well today," Belichick said. "It's obvious."Even after the game, the verbal shots kept coming. "I'm not embarrassed. I'm just frustrated," said Deion Branch, who scored the game's last touchdown on a 13-yard pass with 24 seconds remaining. "The embarrassing part came from a few classless (Jets) guys after the game. There were a lot of classless things that went on after the game ended." Such as? "Didn't you see it?" he said. "You've got to go back and watch it. Pretty classless stuff." Sanchez completed 16 of 25 passes for 194 yards and touchdowns to LaDainian Tomlinson, Edwards and Holmes. Brady, who played poorly for his second straight postseason game, was 29-for-45 for 299 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. "Our expectations this season were very high," Brady said. "Playoff football comes and really it comes down to who makes the plays, and we made too many mistakes." Now Sanchez gets a chance to beat one of the NFL's best quarterbacks for the third straight week when he faces Ben Roethlisberger after knocking off Peyton Manning, who won the NFL's last two MVP awards and Brady, who is a favorite to win his second in four years. "He's just now getting better and better and better," Ryan said. He wasn't very good on Dec. 6 when the Patriots routed the Jets 45-3. That didn't matter Sunday. "We don't try to look back and try to fight history," receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. "We play in that moment. That's what it was all about today - making today our day. " And the trash talk just keeps coming. "Big Ben, he's next on our list," Edwards said. The Steelers have been made 3-point favorites. In one of their worst halves of the season, the Patriots looked more like the ragged group that went 5-11 in Belichick's first season in 2000 than the steamrolling machine that led the NFL this season with a 14-2 record and 32.4 points per game. In the first two quarters, Brady absorbed three sacks and was sent scrambling at least that many times. He misfired on an interception on his first series after finishing the season with a league-record streak of 335 passes without a pick. Then on the Patriots fifth possession, trailing just 7-3, they botched a fake punt attempt. Patrick Chung took the short snap and fumbled. He got the ball back but all escape routes closed quickly. He was tackled at the Patriots 37 with 1:06 remaining.
Plenty of time for Sanchez.Just one week earlier, Indianapolis had taken a 16-14 lead with 53 seconds left on Adam Vinatieri's 50-yard field goal. But Sanchez brought New York back, connecting with Edwards on an 18-yard gain to the Colts 14, and Nick Folk kicked a 32-yard field goal as time expired, sending the Jets to Foxborough.This time, after runs of 17 and 5 yards by Tomlinson and an incompletion, Sanchez hit Edwards for a 15-yard score and the Jets led 14-3 at halftime. The Patriots first series ended when David Harris intercepted the ball and ran 58 yards before a determined Crumpler finally caught up and tackled him at the Patriots 12. The Jets wasted the opportunity when Folk's 30-yard field goal attempt went wide left.New England settled for a 34-yard field goal by Shayne Graham and a 3-0 lead one play after Shaun Ellis sacked Brady for the second time on the series.Sanchez was off-target early, overthrowing three open receivers on his first three possessions. After throwing a low incompletion on the next series, the second-year quarterback with the 4-1 postseason record finally found his range.He found Cotchery for 9 yards, setting up a third-and-6 at the Patriots 45. New England forced him out of the pocket on the next play, but he scrambled away from the pressure and unloaded a 37-yard completion that Edwards caught on the left sideline at the 8. Tomlinson then ran one yard before scoring on a 7-yard pass that put the Jets ahead to stay.The Patriots frustration showed when left guard Logan Mankins drew an unnecessary roughness penalty when he shoved Marquice Cole after the whistle. Brady took a knee on the next play, ending the half.
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