The Steelers should have no good reason to be jealous of the Philadelphia Eagles, not after they whipped them, 27-3, a month ago and held big-mouth Terrell Owens to small change.

Peter Diana, Post-Gazette The Steelers have won nine straight games with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger guiding the offense, pointing Pittsburgh toward a strong finish and home-field advantage through the playoffs. Click photo for larger image. Related coverage Steelers Notebook: Ward not caught up in his numbers AFC's superiority bad for its good teams NFL Notebook: Cardinals turn to another QB

Yet, the Steelers would love to be in the position the Eagles find themselves today. Both have 10-1 records, but there is a difference between the 10-1 of the Steelers and that of the Eagles.

Philadelphia became the first team to clinch its division title, the NFC East, Sunday and is well on the way to clinching one of the top two seeds and a first-week playoff bye that goes with it. Atlanta is No. 2 in the weaker NFC at 9-2 and the Eagles have the tiebreaking edge against the Falcons. Philadelphia plays only one team with a winning record in its final five games. No one else in the conference has fewer than four losses.

Over in the more difficult AFC, the Steelers can't clinch the AFC North Division Sunday or shake New England, even though they've won nine in a row and blasted the Patriots (10-1) a month ago. The Steelers have the edge over the Patriots for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs because they beat New England, but they don't have an edge in the schedule.

The way the Patriots are playing and the soft schedule they have left, it might take victories in the Steelers' remaining five games for them to earn the No. 1 seed. Not only that, a couple of slips could leave the Steelers with an extra playoff game because the New York Jets, Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers are 8-3 and in the running for the No. 2 seed.

Only the top two seeds in each conference have a bye in the first week of the playoffs. The other teams must play an extra game.

"We're trying to make a playoff run," receiver Hines Ward said. "We just have to keep winning. A lot of teams in our conference are only two games out of first. We don't want to end our streak or slow down and let them catch up."

Earning the top seed in the playoffs is seen as the best way to get to the Super Bowl because that team needs only two victories, both at home, to reach the championship game. While the Steelers are proof that's not always true -- they've lost three out of four AFC championship games at home in the past 10 years -- no one wants to play in New England for the AFC championship. The Steelers, despite their record in such games, would much rather play the Patriots in Heinz Field for the AFC championship.

As Ward said, "Right now we're in the driver's seat and we want to continue to be in the driver's seat."

But the road gets more difficult after the Steelers polished off their Bum of the Week trio of Cleveland, Cincinnati and Washington, all in unimpressive fashion. Their next five opponents have a 31-24 combined record. New England's next five are 19-36 combined.

"We can't think about anybody else right now," linebacker James Farrior said. "We just have to worry about what we can control. We can't control what they do, so it's not really on my mind. I don't care what they do."

The Steelers next visit Jacksonville, where they've won only two of eight games. The Jaguars are 6-5 and fighting for their playoff lives in second place in the AFC South. After that, it's home to play the 8-3 Jets, at the Giants, home to Baltimore and then finish the regular season in Buffalo, where they've also had little success (1-7 since 1980) and where the Bills are revived behind Willis McGahee.

"We know this is an important stretch," linebacker Clark Haggans said. "There's five games left in the season. This is the time you have to start playing better football and start escalating your game."

Yet New England, the playoffs and the seedings are like elephants in the Steelers' locker room. Everyone knows they are there but they don't want to talk about it.

"Playoff talk, that will happen when it comes," Haggans said. "We just have to play week to week.

"That's been our approach all year. We just have to stay focused and keep grinding."

And remember not to look over their shoulders, because someone could be gaining on them.

The opposition Here are the teams the Steelers and Patriots play the final five weeks of the regular season as they battle for home-field advantage in the playoffs. The Steelers have a Saturday game Dec. 18; the Patriots play on Monday night Dec. 20.
Date	Steelers	Patriots
Dec. 5	at Jacksonville (6-5)	at Cleveland (3-8)
Dec. 12	N.Y. Jets (8-3)	Cincinnati (5-6)
Dec. 18/20	at N.Y. Giants (5-6)	at Miami (2-9)
Dec. 26	Baltimore (7-4)	at N.Y. Jets (8-3)
Jan. 2	at Buffalo (5-6)	San Francisco (1-10)
Opp. combined record	31-24	19-36