It was early in the game, still the first quarter, but the Steelers did not want to start squandering scoring opportunities. Not against the Baltimore Ravens. Not like they did the last time these teams met at Heinz Field.
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Amos Zereoue lunges into the end zone to score the Steelers' first touchdown yesterday against the Ravens. Zereoue, who later added another score, finished with 63 yards rushing. (Lake Fong, Post-Gazette) |
They already had wasted one good opportunity. They didn't want to blow another.
"And it didn't have anything to do with the kicking game, either," left tackle Wayne Gandy said.
The reference was to kicker Kris Brown, whose season of frustration began when he missed four field goals the last time the Ravens came to Pittsburgh.
Brown already had given the Steelers a 3-0 lead in a AFC divisional playoff game yesterday, but only after the Steelers sputtered and tripped in three plays from the Ravens' 6 on their first possession. His 21-yard field goal was a small reward after Chad Scott's interception on the third play from scrimmage had given the Steelers possession at the Ravens' 31.
Maybe the Steelers didn't want to tempt fate with Brown. As it was, he misfired on his next attempt, this one from 35 yards, in the second quarter -- the 11th field goal he has missed this season at Heinz Field. It's just that when the Steelers got back inside the Baltimore 10 again, which they did on the next possession, they didn't want to come away with only three points. Not again.
"We knew we needed a touchdown to put the pressure on them," Gandy said. "If you can get the upper hand on them, it really puts the pressure on them. Amos made it happen."
With 3:49 remaining in the first quarter, Amos Zereoue provided the Steelers with the touchdown they thought they so desperately needed. He provided the Steelers with a 1-yard touchdown that ignited their spirit, calmed any fears they had about playing without Jerome Bettis and sent them on their way to a 27-10 victory against the Ravens that moved them a step closer to the Super Bowl.
"It was big," Zereoue said. "That means we're getting things going and we can definitely do what we want to do against them."
Zereoue's touchdown was big for another reason. To be sure, it will appear in the scoring summary as a 1-yard run, hardly the stuff of playoff lore. But, on his way to the end zone, Zereoue broke a tackle by Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis at the 1 and bounced in for the score.
The collision energized the Steelers. Not just because Zereoue is 5 feet 8 and 210 pounds and Lewis is 6-1 and 262 pounds. But because it was Lewis, a four-time Pro Bowler and the lifeblood of the Ravens' defense.
"I don't think they like guys running inside on them," center Jeff Hartings said. "And he's one of the few backs in the league who can make [linebacker Jamie] Sharper and Ray Lewis miss. Those two guys are the key to their defense."
But Zereoue didn't make Lewis miss with his shifty, jitterbug style. Lewis missed because Zereoue lowered his thick shoulder and bounced off him like a bumper car.
"You got to put your big pads on at the goal line," Zereoue said. "Guys kind of fall asleep on my size, my strength."
Minutes later, safety Brent Alexander made an equally big play, maybe the most important for a defense that limited the Ravens to seven first downs and just one third-down conversion.
He intercepted a second-down pass intended for tight end Shannon Sharpe in the end zone, right after Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister intercepted a Kordell Stewart pass and returned it 18 yards to the Steelers' 7. Alexander was able to pick off the wobbly pass because inside linebacker Kendrell Bell hit quarterback Elvis Grbac just as he released the ball.
That preserved the 10-0 lead, robbed the Ravens of any potential momentum, and put the Steelers in position to build on their lead.
Zereoue did that two series later, with a 1-yard dive over the middle of the line, to give the Steelers a 17-0 lead and put them in next week's AFC championship game against New England.
"We came into the game with the idea of using Amos," Coach Bill Cowher said. "We talked about this as a team and we felt this was a team that Amos would be pretty good against. We just used him a little bit more than we had planned, initially."
That was because Bettis, who was planning to make his return after missing the final five games of the regular season, had his comeback derailed by a shot of painkiller before the game. That meant Zereoue, whose playing time has been limited since the last Baltimore game because of a sprained shoulder, would play an even more prominent role against the Ravens.
Zereoue responded with 63 yards on 24 carries -- certainly not numbers that will linger in playoff memories -- but he had 43 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns in the first half. By that time, the score was 20-3.
"He's our changeup," said guard Alan Faneca. "He's the little guy who can move. But, if he has to, he'll stick it right in there."
Curiously, Faneca thought he had blown his assignment on Zereoue's first touchdown. He was supposed to pull from his left guard position, find the strong-side linebacker -- Sharper -- and lead Zereoue through a hole on the right side. It's one of the Steelers' trusted running plays called "counter lead."
But Faneca never made it to the right side, never got to Sharper, because a Ravens defender cut off his path.
"It was kind of a busted play," Faneca said.
So, Faneca turned up inside with one objective.
"I was trying to get a piece of anyone I could," Faneca said.
Zereoue did the rest. On this day, he was happy to do the honors, happy to be the person who stepped in for Bettis, whom he admiringly called "the big kahuna." And he does not flinch when people ask him why his running style works so well against the Ravens.
"I'm a different kind of back," Zereoue said. "I have the talent. I just haven't had the opportunity to show it."
He did against the Ravens, sooner than expected.
The play of the game: Zereoue's first touchdown 
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