Steel D

Pittsburgh's new Curtain comes down on Ravens' season

PITTSBURGH -- The Terrible Towels were whipping up a good Nor'easter, the players were hugging each other and smiling all over the sideline. There were screams of pure joy and pointed fingers into the stands and it was kind of the '70s all over again, really, only this time it was at raucous new Heinz Field on the banks of the Three Rivers.

Lee Flowers, as Lee Flowers often does, was screaming, too.

"I don't want to hear nothing about the Ravens' No. 1 defense ever again," said the Pittsburgh Steelers' safety as the time ticked down on the Steelers' divisional win against the defneding world champion Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. "Never. Ever."

No, as defenses go, the Steelers clearly showed Sunday in their giddy 27-10 win against the Ravens who had the best one. It was the one without Ray Lewis, Tony Siragusa, Sam Adams, Peter Boulware, Duane Starks and Rod Woodson. It was the Steel Curtain … or at least the Steel Curtain circa the 2001 season.

"It's an old coaching saying that sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you," Ravens head coach Brian Billick said. "The bear got us today."

The Steelers and Ravens had spent the better part of a couple of weeks sniping at each other, back and forth and back again, trying to lay claim to the tag of Best Defense in the NFL. The Ravens were ranked No. 1 in this category. The Steelers were No. 1 in that one.

Sunday, when they got to settle it on the field, the Steelers scored 27 points against the Ravens. Baltimore managed just three against the Steelers. (The Ravens' lone touchdown came on a punt return.)

To the victors, then, goes the last woof.

"We don't talk," said Pittsburgh inside linebacker Kendrell Bell, kind of breaking his own rule. "We play."

Defense, as the oldest cliché in football goes, wins championships. Heck, Baltimore's great defense won the Super Bowl last year without the help of any discernable offense. Pittsburgh's defense, a throwback 3-4 scheme that relies on active defensive linemen and better-than-average linebackers, was easily that good Sunday.

The Steelers held the Ravens to 150 yards on offense. Baltimore ran the ball for only 22 yards -- just nine in the second half as they scrambled to come back -- one game after the Ravens steamrolled the Miami defense for 226 rushing yards. Baltimore had 12 third downs in Sunday's game. The Ravens turned just one of them into a first down.

Now, granted, you wouldn't mistake the Baltimore offense for high-powered. It's more St. Elsewhere than St. Louis. But that's probably not giving the Pittsburgh defense enough credit.

The Steelers led the NFL in fewest yards allowed this season, and they allowed fewer rushing yards than anyone. They gave up only 13.25 points a game, too, best in the AFC (only Chicago and Philadelphia were better).

And they did it with only one Pro Bowler, linebacker Jason Gildon.

"Those guys still don't get enough credit," wide receiver Plaxico Burress said, "and that's one of the things that kind of gets under them."

Steelers defensive coordinator Tim Lewis likes to tell his guys to stop the run on the way to the quarterback, and that's pretty much how they handled the Ravens. Lewis will switch things up, too, like he did Sunday, playing more zone, blitzing occasionally, moving his linemen over the offensive linemen or letting them play in gaps between them.

He likes the fact that, because Pittsburgh is the only team in the NFL that plays a 3-4, other teams can't get used to it.

Sunday, it worked practically to perfection. Practically.

"I'm sure there were things we screwed up," Lewis said, "because I was doing a lot of yelling at halftime."

The defense is good, no doubt, certainly the best in the AFC. If the Steelers can get past the New England Patriots next Sunday in the AFC Championship, though, they'll face the biggest test they'd ever want to face. Either the Philadelphia Eagles or the -- gulp! -- St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl on Feb. 3.

Is the Steelers' defense that good?

Sunday, amid all the Terrible Towels and the beaten Baltimore team and the 63,000-plus sky-high Steelers fans harking back to the glory days of this franchise, it would have been hard to find a doubter.

John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.

Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.

 

Related information
Stories
Ravens' reign ends after 27-10 loss to Steelers
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.