The Steelers might be off until training camp, but there is still football being played in Pittsburgh.

Since 2003, the Pittsburgh Passion has competed in women's professional football. It's full-pads, full-tackle football for women. But don't think because they are women that they are not playing real football.

"I was very surprised at the level they played," said Jeff Ogden, the team's second-year co-head coach. "They have lots of skill and ability."

Ogden would know -- he was an NFL wide receiver from 1998-2002 for the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens.

The Passion has improved over the years. In 2007, the team went undefeated and won the national championship of the National Women's Football Association. Now, the Passion plays in the Independent Women's Football League, a bigger league that has expanded to two tiers with 48 teams.

The Passion earned the wild-card spot in this season's Tier I playoffs. The team went 7-1 in the regular season and opens the postseason tonight in Landover, Md., against the D.C. Divas, the only team to beat the Passion in the regular season.

The IWFL plays by NCAA rules, so receivers need only to land one foot inbounds for a catch to count. The league also uses a smaller ball that better fits female hands. For the most part, their game is the same as the men's -- except for one more, less technical difference.

"Emotions," Ogden said. "They play with a lot more emotions, and there is more emotion involved. Women have meetings to air out events where men just leave it on the field.

"I'm glad we have [co-head coach and owner Teresa Conn] so I can just stick to football," he said with a laugh.

The players come from all walks of life. Some are students, some mothers and others professionals. They all, however, are athletic. Hardly any have had prior football experience, but nearly all the women played other sports in high school and college.

League rules permit teams to dress 45 players for games, but the Passion has 75 on its roster. Not surprisingly, competition to make the team is fierce, and the team holds tryouts every year.

Wide receiver Jen Moody has been with the team since day one. Standing only 5-foot-3, Moody is used to people doubting her athletic ability. But she proved them wrong when she played basketball at Waynesburg, and she continues to dazzle on the football field. In the regular season, Moody had 14 catches, including eight in an overtime victory June 13 against the New York Sharks to clinch a playoff berth, for 78 yards and 4 touchdowns.

"My role model is Hines Ward," Moody said. "He is an all-around athlete. He's not the biggest or the fastest, but he is a great receiver and a great blocker."

Off the field, Moody is a social worker in the Youngstown, Ohio, school district and uses her football experience to connect with her students.

Jen Dulski is an attorney who moved to Pittsburgh from Chicago two years ago. She played for the Chicago Force, another team in the IWFL, and knew when she moved she wanted to continue her football days.

"There is nowhere else you can push yourself to be as competitive as you want," said the linebacker, who grew up figure skating.

"If you are here to make friends, you will make friends. If you are here for football, you will be great and make friends."

Dulski admits she is a Chicago Bears fan, and Brian Urlacher is the player she admires. She and several of her teammates plan to head to Chicago this fall to watch the Steelers take on the Bears.

Several other players also travel together. When the team has road weekend games, some players will stay and make it an extended vacation.

While they don't get paid and have to bring in money through individual sponsorships, the women say the competition and the camaraderie they get from being a part of the team make up for what they lack.

"This is my after school activity," said offensive lineman Sarah Young, a pharmacist at Allegheny General Hospital. "We don't get paid for it, but it's something that is so much fun and so worth it that it doesn't even matter."

Beth Amato, a team captain, agreed and cannot imagine life without football.

"I'm not ready for the rocking chair," said Amato, a mother of three. "This is a first-class organization."

Today

• Game: Pittsburgh Passion (7-1) vs. D.C. Divas (8-0) in the first round of the IWFL playoffs, 7 p.m.

• Where: Landover, Md.

• Skinny: The Passion are looking to avenge their only loss of the season, a 27-7 loss to the Divas on May 2 in Landover.