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Monday, December 17, 2001

BALTIMORE -- By now, you know what the Steelers' 26-21 win against the Baltimore Ravens last night means. They win the AFC Central Division title. If they beat the lousy Detroit Lions at home, the woeful Cincinnati Bengals on the road and the mediocre Cleveland Browns at home in their final three games to complete an unbelievable 14-2 regular season, they will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Let's talk about the real significance of this victory.

Huge doesn't even begin to describe it for reasons that go beyond the standings and home-field advantage.

The Ravens -- the defending Super Bowl champions and the team many people still thought was the team to beat in the AFC despite its sluggish 8-4 start -- had called the Steelers out. All-World linebacker Ray Lewis and All-Pro talker Shannon Sharpe had dared them to come into their house and try to win.

The Steelers answered the challenge emphatically.

That 13-10 loss to the Ravens at Heinz Field in early November when Kris Brown missed four field-goal attempts? Like the Steelers said all along, it was a fluke.

It was enough to humble even Lewis and Sharpe.

"The better man won tonight," Lewis said.

"We did a lot of talking, but we didn't back anything up," Sharpe said. "We didn't throw the ball well. We didn't run the ball well. We didn't cover well. We didn't tackle well. Other than that, we did fine.

"I'm very disappointed in our ballclub tonight. We wanted to show the whole world we were back. We wanted to let everyone know if they wanted to go to New Orleans, they had to go through Baltimore. But we set ourselves back."

It would have meant big trouble if the game had gone the other way last night. It would have added to a disturbing trend. It would have meant a sweep of the season series for the Ravens. It would have given them four wins in the past five games -- including the past three in Pittsburgh -- against the Steelers.

Do you think the Ravens might have been a little confident coming to Heinz Field for a playoff game?

Now, they're just hoping to make the playoffs.

"Before the season, anything less than getting to New Orleans was unacceptable to us," Sharpe said. "But right now, we're not good enough to go down the street and play ...

"If we keep playing like we did tonight, we won't win another game."

The Steelers would love that. They would love to see someone put the Ravens down for the count. As long as the Ravens have life, they are dangerous. Despite their problems, they remain the one AFC team that could beat the Steelers in the playoffs.

Maybe the only team.

That isn't to say the Steelers are invincible. If they're not concerned about their special teams, they're crazy. Those special teams played poorly enough to lose last night.

It wasn't all Brown, who missed another big kick. The coverage teams were awful. A 62-yard punt return by Jermaine Lewis was only the biggest of several big returns by the Ravens.

But Brown is the big problem. He is a troubled kicker. That can be said unequivocally now. He missed what could have been a costly 32-yard attempt late in the third quarter.

Do you really want a playoff game coming down to one of his kicks?

But the way this amazing year is going, the Steelers will win in spite of Brown.

Kordell Stewart will make a big play. He threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns last night.

"If he's not the Pro Bowl quarterback out of the AFC, I don't know who is," Sharpe said.

Or maybe Plaxico Burress will make a big play. He outfought Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister to score the Steelers' first touchdown on a 25-yard pass. And he caught Stewart's most important pass of the night -- a 38-yarder late in the game -- to set up the clinching touchdown.

The Ravens weren't so respectful of Burress. "We made him look like an All-Pro," safety Rod Woodson said, sniffing.

Or maybe it will be someone on the NFL's top-rated defense.

Or how about Hines Ward? He only had one catch for 7 yards last night.

Or Jerome Bettis? He didn't play for the second consecutive game and -- get this -- the Steelers still had a 41:05-to-18:55 edge in possession time.

There is a lot more to like about this team than not.

Best of all?

The Steelers know they stood up to the best the AFC has to offer and walked away the winner.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com