Baltimore's show of respect for the Steelers' passing attack Sunday was stunning, if not effective.
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Plaxico Burress pulls in his first NFL touchdown, beating Baltimore's Duane Starks just before halftime Sunday. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette) |
The Ravens dropped their safeties off the line of scrimmage to protect against the new weapon in the Steelers' offense.
It went against their normal tactic of jamming the Steelers' running game by putting a safety near the linebackers to concentrate on stopping Jerome Bettis, and it is an indication of what's going on with the Steelers' offense these days.
They're discovering a passing game they have not had in a long time, and they're starting to use it. Kordell Stewart passed for 236 yards Sunday, the first time he has consecutive 200-yard games since 1998. Against Tennessee and Baltimore the past two games, Stewart has completed 35 of 59 passes for 468 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
His passer rating has climbed to 75.1, in the middle of the pack in the AFC. The offense ranks sixth overall in the NFL, and the Steelers improved two notches to No. 28 in passing.
Stewart and Co. performed well Sunday against one of the toughest defenses in the history of the league. If this continues, they might yet find the kind of balanced offense they have been seeking since 1997.
"We're consistent as hell right now," fullback Jon Witman said. "We're flying to the ball and making things happen. We have confidence in ourselves."
A big reason is Stewart's improvement on the field and in the huddle.
"We rally around him," Witman said. "When he feels good about himself, we feel good about the team. We know when he's rolling, we're rolling. He might not want to think of it, but he's our offense. When he goes, we go.
"He's starting to be more outspoken. He used to be real quiet. He didn't want to say anything. If someone messes up, he's starting to take command now and it just raises our confidence."
The Steelers' offense also played well with left tackle Wayne Gandy watching from the sideline. His injured hamstring prevented him from playing, and Oliver Ross stepped in and played well.
"The offense did a great job," Gandy said. "We passed the ball. Everybody wanted to see if we could pass the ball when we were behind. We were able to do that.
"Kordell, Plaxico and Hines, they're really coming on. If they can match us as far as running the ball, we can do some things offensively."
Plaxico Burress had a big week. Against Tennessee Nov. 5, he caught six passes for 151 yards. Sunday, he scored his first touchdown. Hines Ward had a career-high 97 yards on nine receptions against the Ravens.
"If me and Kordell keep on the same page we are and Hines keeps making the plays he does, it's just going to open up a lot more for Jerome," Burress said. "It's going to be a lot easier for everybody.
"Teams are going to have to stop our passing game and stop rolling eight, nine men in the box on Jerome and just play everybody equal."
That's the beauty of having a balanced attack. When Ravens defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis backed off strong safety Corey Harris and put him in pass protection rather than up on the run, it was a tangible sign that the Steelers' passing game has arrived.
Then having a reasonably successful afternoon throwing against the Ravens while Bettis ran for 91 yards made the Steelers even more confident.
"We had our way with them," Ward said. "We ran the ball when we wanted to and made big plays in the passing game. They said we couldn't pass the ball on them but we did both."
The complaints the Steelers are hearing now are about their lack of aggressiveness in the passing game late in the game against Baltimore. The Steelers reached the Baltimore 17 after a 17-yard pass to Bobby Shaw.
Stewart then wasted a down by spiking the ball to kill the clock with 22 seconds left. He threw incomplete two times to Shaw and Ward, never once in the end zone, and never once to Burress, a 6-foot-5 1/2-inch receiver drafted for just such purposes.
Asked how often he could catch the fade pass from that distance, Burress said, "I would say about eight out of 10.
"Just throwing the ball up in the red zone, that's just taking advantage of your mismatches. You never know what can happen."
But the Steelers should be forgiven for not taking that approach just yet. After all, this recent success through the air might have caught them by surprise as well.
Steelers boast balance on offense after passing success vs. Ravens, Titans 
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