AFC Divisional Playoff: Steelers 35, Chargers 24

PREGAME
My LAST chance to get a game right this weekend now relies on the Chargers pulling off a major upset at Heinz Field on a weekend where three big road upsets have already been pulled off.

Bet your house on Pittsburgh. Though, as I mentioned during the first game, how hard will it be for them not to get caught looking ahead right now? They're looking at a #6 seed in the AFC Championship possibly followed by a #4 at best in the Super Bowl. Mike Tomlin deserves a lot of accolades if he can keep his men focused on the task at hand the next week or two.

OK, it's after 3:30, when the hell does this game start? I am out of here at 7 pm sharp for the start of 24, so let's get it going, shall we?

Who's the fashion genius at Reebok that decided NFL coaches would look great on the sidelines wearing coats like the Gore-Tex coat George wore on Seinfeld? Don't wear those things into the liquor store, guys!

It is SNOWING in Pittsburgh. I am SO fucking glad I picked San Diego.

FIRST QUARTER
Chargers get the ball first and start at their 25. Play action right to Darren Sproles leaves Antonio Gates ALL ALONE in the left flat for a big gain. 21 yards.
Draw to Sproles for maybe 1, solo tackle by James Harrison. I respect the season Harrison had, but he's not the Defensive Player of the Year. Ed Reed is.
Sproles takes a screen and squirts through the Pittsburgh D for 12. Steelers had some guys close but nobody could grab him.
And off play action, Philip Rivers hits Vincent Jackson in the end zone for a falling 41-yard TD catch. Jackson beat Ike Taylor on the play; perfect pass from Rivers. 7-0, San Diego.

That's why I picked San Diego. The last couple of years in the playoffs, they've just showed no fear.

Jackson got a 15-yard taunting penalty after the TD, and Carey Davis fields the kickoff at the 30 and returns it to the 42.
Willie Parker breaks a couple of tackles in busting up the middle for 11.
Parker right back up the middle for 3-4 more.
Man, Parker is having no trouble running up the middle. Give him 8 and another first down.
Jamal Williams got man-handled that last play.
From the Charger 36, smoke route to Hines Ward gets about 5. Holding on Santonio Holmes, though, as announced by referee Bill Leavy. My report on the playoff referees should come later in the week.
Quentin Jammer hammers Ward on a short 1st-and-19 pass and jars the ball incomplete.
4-man rush by San Diego. Ben Roethlisberger (just Ben from here out) finds Heath Miller in the left flat and he breaks a couple of tackles for 11 yards. 3rd-and-8.
Sideline pass to Holmes is high.
This would be about a 52-yard FG so Mike Tomlin is going for it on 4th-and-8.
No! Ben quick-kicks it and it dies at the 9-yard line.

Looks like the snow is intensifying in Pittsburgh. This is going to be a super game to watch. From a comfy seat indoors.
Sproles up the middle for about 3. Again for a couple more. Is that really how you want to use him today?
3rd-and-5. Decent pressure on Rivers, who lobs too far up the far sideline for an incompletion.
Santonio Holmes returns the punt 68 yards for a TD. Steelers 7, Chargers 7.
The Chargers blew three tackles, including a terrible diving effort by Legedu Naanee at the 10. That made Jonathan Wade look like Ronnie Lott. Key blocks by Carey Davis and Lawrence Timmons. Davis really crunched a guy at the start of the return.

And yep, that's a TD for the special teams of former Rams ST coach Bob Ligashesky.

Sproles returns the bouncing kickoff out to the 36.
Michael Bennett tries to pick his way around left end and gets nothing, while Jacob Hester is called for a face mask. 1st-25 now from the 21. San Diego's getting off to a Carolina-like start.
Rivers gets a ton of time and hits Chris Chambers for a sliding sideline catch for 12.
Circle route to Bennett for about 6. 3rd-and-7.
Chargers go 3-wide and Gates catches it over the middle and backs up into a first down. Great job by the Chargers to recover from that penalty.
1st-10 from the 47. False start by Marcus McNeil. More penalties to overcome.
Screen to Sproles for 3. Rivers is 7-for-8 and already has 100 yards.
Lamarr Woodley beats Brandon Manumaleuna and gets to Rivers for an 8-yard sack. In Manu's defense, Rivers had plenty of time. Good coverage by Pittsburgh.
3rd-20, no, make it 3rd-25 after a play clock violation. Did that thing start before the last play ended? Sure seemed awful quick.
Sproles lucky to gain anything on a draw Pittsburgh had read and stuffed in the backfield.
Mike Scifres kicks a rare out-of-bounds punt that will be spotted at the 26.

Parker behind right tackle for a couple.
Ben goes deep for Nate Washington against a blitz but the the WR clips feet with Jammer and goes down. 3rd-9.
Chargers blitz again and Eric Weddle and Antoine Cason both get to Ben for a sack.
Sproles returns a bouncing punt to the 42, but they'll lose ground for an illegal block.

Sproles squirts through the right side for 8.
He cuts back and gains 6 more to get out to the 30 as the first quarter runs out.

We've got a good one here.

SECOND QUARTER
Sproles goes up the middle for one to start the quarter.
Short pass to Gates for 7. 3rd-and-2.
They run Sproles inside and he doesn't come close enough for a measurement. Phil Simms comments "it looks like he's short." GUFFAW!
Well. Turner wants to challenge the spot. Under the hood for Leavy then. At least it should be warm in there.
Chargers gained about a foot from the challenge but still not enough for the first.
High punt by Scifres is fair-caught at the 18. He's getting nothing like the distance he was getting last week.

The Steelers are doing almost nothing but running Parker up the middle. Who's their offensive coordinator, Woody Hayes? 7 yards, though, 2nd-and-3.
Parker for 4 off right tackle.
Parker up the middle for 6.
More of a draw to Parker here, and he drives up the middle for 5.
Mewelde Moore up the middle this time for almost 5. Surprising the Chargers are struggling this badly against the run after shutting down the Colts last week.
Parker met hard in the hole after gaining 3. 3rd-and-3.
False start on Darnell Stapleton, 3rd-and-8. He was pulling on the play and reacted early to his man, Weddle, trying to time his blitz.
Ben finds Carey Davis with a swing pass for 6. On 4th-and-2 right at midfield, the Steelers try to rush the next play and catch the Chargers confused. San Diego ends up calling a timeout.
The Steelers decide to punt now, and former Ram Mitch Berger's kick just sneaks across the goal line for a touchback.

Harrison nearly sacks Rivers, who steps up and then is nearly picked off by Taylor defending Chambers.
Steelers are all over the 2nd down screen pass so Rivers throws it incomplete at Hester's feet. Larry Foote would have blown it up for a big loss or even a pick-six otherwise.
3rd-10, the Steelers blitz again and Jackson appears to make an INCREDIBLE diving catch for 40-plus yards. It looks like it touched the ground and the ground jarred it loose, though, making it an incomplete catch. Too bad; great effort by Jackson.

The refs called it a catch, though, so Tomlin has to challenge it. I don't blame the refs; I thought it was a catch live, too. Leavy corrects the call and San Diego will punt.

Sproles back-flipped a blitzer on that last play. A beautiful thing to watch.

Steelers at their 39 after the punt. End around to Holmes only gets about 3. Curl-in to Washington for 5 or 6. 3rd-2.
Only a 4-man rush, but Ben has to dump off to Davis as a safety valve and Jammer BLOWS HIM UP after a yard, forcing a punt.
THE STEELERS THEN TRY A FAKE PUNT but the upman Ryan Clark is swallowed up immediately by Antwan Applewhite. Chargers take over at the Pittsburgh 47.

Lamarr Woodley, who's everywhere tonight, stuffs Sproles for -1.
Quick slant to Naanee, who trips to bolster his chances at LVP, is incomplete.
3rd-11, Gates burns Woodley and gets down to the 30.
Brett Keisel stuffs a draw to Sproles for -4. Ball at the Steeler 35. 3:00 till halftime.
Steelers blitzing relentlessly right now. Sproles is CRUNCHED by Woodley in the flat after a 2-yard gain.
3rd-12. Little pass to Gates gets about 10 and sets Nate Kaeding up for a makeable 42-yard FG.
Kaeding splits the uprights and puts San Diego ahead 10-7.

Gary Russell returns Scifres' short kickoff to the 34.
Steelers pick up the blitzing DB and Ben hits Holmes over the middle for 15.
Shaun Phillips stays down injured after the play, spending San Diego's last timeout with 1:13 left. Understandable; he got an elbow in the throat. That's why I hate the rule that forces a timeout there. It encourages intentionally injuring your opponent when you need a timeout or want to use theirs up.
Miller is WIDE OPEN in the flat but Ben misses him BADLY to bring up 3rd-and-1.
Russell breaks a backfield tackle and surges up the middle for 3. Timeout, Pittsburgh, at the SD 40 with 1:06 left.
Chargers fake-blitz; Ben overthrows Holmes badly again, and he was wide open at the 10.
Steelers pick up the blitz by committing a blatant hold. Leavy doesn't call that, but he does sock them for illegal formation.
Plenty of time for Ben on 1st-and-long, though; he drills Ward deep at the 15 and he runs down to the 4. San Diego's prevent coverage preventing nothing there. Yeah, let's cover Hines Ward with a linebacker. Steelers use their second timeout with 0:45 left.
First and goal at the 3. Great blocking outside by Davis and Max Starks give Parker an easy run for a 3-yard TD. Steelers 14, Chargers 10. Easy sweep left for the TD. 40 seconds till halftime.

SHORT kickoff that the Steelers are lucky that Antonio Cromartie does not return any farther than the 30. No timeouts for San Diego with 35 seconds left.
They're just running out the clock. Inside handoff to Sproles sends Pittsburgh to halftime with a 14-10 lead.

Ben was having a quite poor first half until he got hot there at the end. But Pittsburgh's mainly atop the scoreboard because of their running game. And it amazes me that they're running as well as they are with the little amount of variety they're showing. Then again, it's on San Diego to stop it. They need to get some plays out of Jamal Williams and their so-far invisible LBs, shut down the run and force Ben into more obvious passing situations.

Rivers, on the other hand, cooled off a bit after a hot start. He does appear able to find Gates any time he wants to. And they're going to need Rivers to carry them because Sproles has only 15 yards rushing at halftime, much to my surprise. Again, though, I'll say Sproles is a big play waiting to happen, a draw or screen for a long gain against the blitz-crazy Steelers. And despite the lack of running game, unlike what Bill Cowher is idiotically saying, the Chargers are still right in this game. THEY'RE ONLY DOWN FOUR POINTS, BILL! The Chargers are doing everything about as right as they can in these circumstances. If they start shutting down the Pittsburgh run a little bit, they're in this thing all the way to the end.

THIRD QUARTER
Russell returns the 2nd half kickoff to the 23. San Diego is in big need of a stop right off the bat.
Parker, guess where?, up the middle for 2.
Parker was trapped in the backfield by Steven Gregory but shook him and bounced outside right fora big gain. 13 yards.
3 more for Parker up the middle.
Williams gets big pressure left of center to help hold the next run to nothing.
Chargers blitz on 3rd-and-long and Holmes makes a diving catch at the Charger 49 for a first down.
Play-action bomb to Holmes beats Clinton Hart by a good stretch but it's just overthrown and Holmes can't come up with it on the dive.
Matt Wilhelm stops Parker up the middle for a yard loss. 3rd-and-11, Chargers have Pittsburgh right where they want them. Right where they have to have them.
But they let Nate Washington beat them in zone coverage for 17. And the Chargers rushed only 4.
Parker over the left side for 3. That last completion was a killer.
Good pressure from Marques Harris forces Ben to fire a naked bootleg screen early and it gains nothing. 3rd-and-8 from the 30; must stop here for San Diego.
NOPE. Ben finds Miller on the sideline at the 22 and he runs down to the 12. Do the Chargers intend to cover ANYBODY here in the 2nd half?
Parker off left tackle for 4.
Off a fake pitch left, Ben rolls right and hits Miller upfield at the 2, and Miller plunges in for an 8-yard TD. 21-10, Pittsburgh, this game is over and I am officially 0-for-FUCKING-FOUR this weekend and 1-for-FUCKING-EIGHT this postseason.

Perfect drive by the Steelers. They chewed eight minutes off the clock and really have San Diego over a barrel now. The game is definitely over if San Diego doesn't answer with a TD here.

And oh, those Bob Ligashesky special teams, the Chargers may just be right back in it. Sproles fields a VERY SHORT kick at the 15 (what the HELL is with all the short kickoffs today?), gets a seam, cuts to the outside across midfield and returns the kickoff 63 yards to the Steeler 23.

Never mind. The game IS over. Rivers' pass off a short drop is deflected by Keisel and fought over by Harrison and Foote for a Steeler INT. Worst possible outcome for the Chargers, sending their defense right back on the field after an 8:00 drive.

Turner's pretty wise to challenge the INT, as wise as Foote was stupid to fight Harrison for the catch. They may have fought the ball away from one another for an incompletion. Remember how John Harbaugh turned yesterday's game with a successful challenge?

Leavy rules it a catch for Pittsburgh. Still a good challenge, though.

Parker off right guard for 3. Chargers desperately need to force a big play.
Parker bounces outside left for 4.
A true reverse to Holmes, who gets 4 off a big block by Big Ben on Luis Castillo. He pancaked him.
Parker up the middle for 4, forearm shivered down by Stephen Cooper.
Parker bounces outside for about 14 but it's called back for a hold on Miller. A blatant one. 2nd-and-16. Drawing that hold was about Shaun Philips' first contribution to this game.
Draw to Moore for 5.
Ben gets ALL NIGHT to throw but dumps to Moore for just three.
But on 4th down, Weddle enters the Hall of Pure Idiocy by getting hit right on top of the head while blocking on the punt. William Gay recovers for Pittsburgh at the Charger 23.

Pittsburgh may hold the ball the ENTIRE THIRD QUARTER.

False start on Stapleton, 1st-and-15.
Good pressure forces an incompletion on a screen pass apparently called a forward pass. Yeah, the backward deflection fooled me. 2nd-15.
Ward gets the short completion off a naked bootleg, gets away from a poor tackle by Cason and runs it down to the 10. Justified roughing penalty on Cletis Gordon moves it down to the 4.
Parker runs up the middle and moves it down to the 1.
I almost want Pittsburgh to take a delay of game here so they hold the ball the whole quarter. There's a minute left.
Ben rolls left, can't find anybody, keeps the play alive FOREVER before triple-pumping and.... throwing the ball away. 3rd-and-goal at the 1.
Cooper stops Russell inside the 1, as the Steelers will in fact hold the ball the WHOLE THIRD QUARTER. Tomlin will decide whether or not to go for it between quarters.

I'm leaning toward a FG. It's not like San Diego's coming back from 14 points down, though 18 would certainly end the game right here and now.

FOURTH QUARTER
Steelers are going for it, 4th-and-goal from a foot out.
Davis got stopped early and Brandon Siler drove his nose into the ground short of the goal line. Pittsburgh comes away with NO points and San Diego can still take the lead, as unlikely as it sounds, with two TDs.

From the 1, Rivers drops deep into the end zone and hits Hester in the flat. Hester gets out to the 12 with a first down.
San Diego shits all over that by giving up a sack the next play. Woodley ate Hester up alive and SLAMMED Rivers to the turf back at the 1.
2nd-and-20, Rivers pitches it high out of bounds.
3rd-and-20, Rivers overthrows Gates. No harm done by Tomlin's decision to go for it on 4th-and-goal.

Holmes returns the punt 5 yards to midfield. San Diego has had the ball maybe a minute and a half in the 2nd half.

Programming note: postgame analysis will be delayed the moment I think I'm going to miss any of 24.

Parker inside right tackle for 4.
PLAY-ACTION BOMB for Washington draws a DPI flag when Washington goes to the ground. It's on Weddle, the runaway favorite for game LVP.
Steelers get it at the 1 after the DPI in the end zone.
Gary Russell rumbles in from the 1 to put Pittsburgh ahead 28-10 and take an insurmountable lead.

I'll feel free to ignore the rest of this game then. Impressive performance today by the Steelers. I'm having a very tough time settling on one guy to be the MVP of the game. Weddle's the obvious LVP, but I need to settle on one Steeler. And despite Parker's good game, the solid work of the middle of the offensive line in front of him, the big plays by Woodley, Keisel, and Harrison, I'm awarding the game MVP to Ben Roethlisberger, who played a steady game and put this out of reach by going 5-for-5 on third down during the Steelers' epic, game-clinching 3rd quarter.

While I'm writing that, San Diego drives downfield and Rivers hits Naanee with a 4-yard slant for a TD. 28-17.

The Steelers respond with a long drive capped off by a 16-yard TD run bounced outside by Parker. 35-17. Parker makes a late case for game MVP for his 2nd TD to go with 146 rushing yards, but I already gave it to Ben. No refunds.

Deep strike over the middle from Rivers to Sproles for 65 yards pulls San Diego back to 35-24 with 1:55 left. Pittsburgh recovers the onside kick, though, and they're officially through to the AFC Championship next Sunday night.

Pittsburgh's performance is probably the most impressive of this weekend. The least impressive? That's easy - me. 0 for FUCKING FOUR.

San Diego was really hamstrung with LaDainian Tomlinson out. Sproles got stuffed all day and Bennett and Hester did not provide any kind of alternative in the running game. AND they're very much at risk of losing Sproles in free agency in the offseason. They had some troubles in the secondary today, but it's very young, and they'll get Shawne Merriman back next year in the LB corps. I see their biggest offseason need as some big, bruising RB insurance to support and back up LT.

Pittsburgh should be a large favorite to advance to the Super Bowl now over Baltimore. The Ravens had such a physical game with Tennessee yesterday they certainly have their work cut out to win out a game next week that will likely be just as hard hitting. In Baltimore's favor: it's hard to beat a team three times in one season, which Pittsburgh will have to pull off now to get to Tampa, and the Ravens must really want to get back at Pittsburgh after the controversial ending of their last meeting in Baltimore. But in the Steelers, I see a team that's stopping the run better right now and running the ball better on offense, I see a team with a nice home field advantage and a team that will capitalize on the blitzing the Ravens have had to do this postseason to pressure the QB.

So I'm seeing an all-Keystone State Super Bowl.

Get ready for Cardinals-Ravens, then.