Steelers Go North for Another Rusher
With Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, Mewelde Moore and Gary Russell already under contract for 2009, it's not like there are a whole lot of chances for another running back to make the Steelers roster, but under the approach of safety in numbers, Pittsburgh has added a Canadian Football League star.
The Steelers have signed 28-year-old Stefan Logan to a two-year deal. Logan rushed for 889 yards (7.3 yards per carry) for the British Columbia Lions last year, fourth best in the Canadian Football League. He also returned kicks (a league-best 29.6 yards per return) and punts, which is his best chance of making the Steelers roster. At 5-foot-7, 185 pounds, Logan is not big enough to be an everydown back, but the man known as "Joystick" for his unreal cutting ability could be a poor man's Darren Sproles type if everything works out.
He better show lots of Sproles-like return ability to make this roster, especially since Moore is already filling the third-down role, and Logan is a little small to pick up blitzes. But Pittsburgh never found a punt or kick returner in 2008, so Logan could make an impact if he can give the Steelers big plays in the return game, something that has been lacking since Antwan Randle-El left in free agency. As you can see from this highlight clip, Logan (#26) has plenty of moves.
Logan has already been cut in two previous tries to make NFL rosters, and he signed a contract with no bonus, so he's a long shot at best, but the Steelers seem to do some of their best work at signing unappreciated street free agents, so it's worth keeping an eye on Logan.
(c) 2009 AOL LLC
Cardinals' spectacular comeback 'all for nothing'
TAMPA, Fla. - The Arizona Cardinals were achingly close. They needed to hang on for just 2/2 minutes to complete a stunner of a Super Bowl comeback.
It wasn't to be. This miracle of a season would have no perfect ending.
Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald, the pass-and-catch combination that was so spectacular in the playoffs, connected for two touchdowns in less than five minutes against the fierce Pittsburgh defense to give the Cardinals a 23-20 lead Sunday night.
Just 2 minutes, 37 seconds separated Arizona from an incredible Super Bowl upset, a magical finish to a playoff run nobody had expected from this long-downtrodden franchise. But it was too much time. Santonio Holmes' tiptoe touchdown catch with 35 seconds to play spoiled everything for the Cardinals.
It was a heady ride for a franchise that won its only championship 61 years ago as the Chicago Cardinals. The team had one postseason victory since then on a journey of ineptitude through St. Louis and on to Arizona. Until the three-game roll to this year's Super Bowl. But the Cardinals went home ruing the many mistakes that put them behind in the first place. "It hurts so bad to get this close to being a champion," Fitzgerald said.
Warner completed 31 of 43 passes for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns with 1 costly interception. The 31 completions were one shy of New England quarterback Tom Brady's Super Bowl record and tied Buffalo's Jim Kelly for second.
Warner now holds the top three marks for yards passing in a Super Bowl, previously throwing for 414 yards in 2000 against Tennessee and 365 yards against New England in 2002 while with the St. Louis Rams.
"I'm so proud of this football team. I think that's probably one of the reasons it doesn't hurt as much as it could have," Warner said, "because these guys exceeded expectations, they were so fun to play with. I can't say enough about the season that we had."
Warner's contract with Arizona expired when the season ended. The 37-year-old quarterback hasn't decided if he's going to stay in the game.
"I don't know if I'm going to play next year," he said. "I haven't thought about that. I'm going to enjoy what we just accomplished as a football team. I'm going to enjoy this year. I'm going to enjoy this great game that we just played in. And I'm going to take some time away from the game and then I'll make that decision."
On Sunday, Fitzgerald caught six passes for 115 yards - in the fourth quarter - after just one catch for 12 yards in the first three. He finished with 30 catches for 546 yards in 4 postseason games, shattering Jerry Rice's NFL record of 409 yards receiving in 1988. The numbers didn't mean much to him.
"I just feel empty to be honest with you," Fitzgerald said, "kind of like all for nothing. You've just got to try to pick up the pieces and come back strong next season."
His 64-yard scoring pass from Warner gave Arizona its only lead of the game.
"I knew it wasn't over," Warner said. "I tip my hat to the Steelers. They made some tremendous plays. ... They won this game. We didn't lose it."
But when the dust settles from this crazy finish, Arizona can look back at its 11 penalties for 106 yards.
"They're hard to overcome," Coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "There were a number of penalties called on us tonight, a lot of times in critical situations, and they're very difficult to overcome."
And of course that interception at the end of the first half, when the Cardinals were driving for what would have been the go-ahead touchdown.
On first-and-goal from the Steelers 1-yard line, James Harrison stepped in front of Anquan Boldin and picked off Warner's short toss, then rambled 100 yards for a touchdown that made it 17-7 Pittsburgh at halftime.
Warner said the Steelers were showing an all-out blitz, then Harrison slipped back.
"I couldn't see him around our linemen, with the pressure coming in," Warner said. "I thought I had Q for a splitsecond there. He jumped out there and made a play. The unfortunate thing was we couldn't get him down."
Copyright (c) 2001-2009 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc
What? No Super Bowl on TV? What To Do?
Dear readers:
Something strange happened to me this past Saturday.
I have been so overly excited about my Arizona Cardinals playing in Super Bowl XLIII that I have been stocking up on junk food all week.
Forget about my waistline for a day. The Cardinals being in the big game is well worth the few extra pounds.
Anyhow, carried by the Rocky Balboa-like momentum of the Cardinals ("one more round"...), I look for my TV remote control and start flipping sports channels to program the event on my VCR.
I've got to do this now before I head out of town, I thought, and I can't find the channel where the game is being broadcast.
CBS, FOX, ESPN, ABC, NFL Network...nothing. I can't believe it.
Oh wait, perhaps the game's TV rights were sold to PBS or TBS at the last minute.
No luck there either.
Or maybe they've just launched a new station called DEF, GHI, WOLF, XBS, OBS, something. Nope, they didn't do that either.
I started looking at the newspaper's TV section, surfing the net, and to my surprise...my mind is a week ahead of schedule.
No wonder I (my wife actually) made plans to go out of town.
Now what? I have been acting like a creature of habit watching NFL games every Sunday, even after Fantasy Football ended. I have enjoyed the NFL playoffs.
The good news is that starting next year, this usually vacant football week will be filled with the Pro Bowl game (I'm sure you're all excited about that, right?) but this is now and I wanted my weekly dose of football.
B/R Ticket Guide Powered by FanSnap.comMy body and mind needs it. Sure, I can watch reruns of Super Bowl I, II, and III on the NFL Network, but I wanted something current.
The top-10 linebackers and coaches reruns? No thanks. I'll pass.
That could only mean one thing...Catching up on a four-month long list of "Honey Do's" put on hold since September. There’s always the Total Gym I stowed away and haven't used since my college years.
Wait! That means I have to be active. No thanks.
But, wait a minute! I just remembered something, as my brain starts to thaw out. I need to email our friend Lawrence Barreca.
"Lawrence, could you start working on some Fantasy Baseball rankings for 2009, please? Could you put a priority tag on it? The Football season is almost over...
Please help, I need to be involved in some kind of Fantasy sport, anything, even Hockey or Soccer. I’ll even settle on Fantasy Golf or NASCAR, if there is such a thing. Thank you in advance, Lawrence. Signed, your Fantasy Doc."
I keep refreshing my email inbox at a frenetic pace, hoping for an unrealistic quick answer.
As soon I was ready (not really) to immerse myself in some of the backed up chores, I hear my inbox alert going off!
Could it be? Come on let it be from Lawrence...
It was!!! He saved me for yet another day.
"Hello there, Fantasy Doc, I was waiting for your signal to post them rankings. I've had them done for over two weeks now. I'll get them up at the site right now."
I think I thanked him a thousand times on my reply email.
Like they say, all is well that ends well.
Lawrence, who has been writing sporadically during the football season (just the pregame and postgame injury reports) is now ready to take center stage during the baseball season along with John Arias (John writes the Dark Horses column during football season).
Lawrence has all the rankings done and will have the Top-10 Pitchers, Hitters, Sleepers, Busts, Rookies, Comeback players for 2009.
He will also write a weekly Waiver Wire column during the season.
John, meanwhile, will start analyzing all the Baseball divisions soon.
He will write the Start/Sit column and the Two-Start Pitchers column during the season.
Before getting to the rankings' link, in NFL news Pete King from SI reported that Mike Shanahan will not coach in 2009.
Not for the Chiefs, like wrongly reported by ESPN earlier in the week, not for any other team.
Copyright (c) 2009 Bleacher Report, Inc
Title game balls
And then there were two. Before the start of the season, not even Las Vegas would have given you odds of a Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl. The mere fact that the Cardinals, who won the NFC West with a 9-7 regular season, are in the big game is another example of how parity works in the NFL. Every team in the NFL who missed the playoffs looks at the Cards and think, "if they can do it, why not us?"
Cardinals over the Eagles - No one in their wildest dreams could have ever predicted that the Cardinals would have ever made it to the NFC Championship game. Instead of acting like they were just happy to be there, the Cardinals shocked the Eagles with their intensity and passion. Before Donovan McNabb and the Eagles knew what hit them, the Cards went into a halftime with a 24-6 lead. If Ken Whisenhunt wasn't wildly popular in the Valley of the Sun before, the guy could run for mayor after leading the Cardinals to their first ever trip to the Super Bowl. If I was an Eagles fan this loss would really sting. If not for a few key plays, the Eagles 19-0 run in the second half might have been enough to win the game. Instead, David Akers misses a field goal and an extra point and a Quentin Demps unnecessary roughness penalty led to a Cardinals field goal. Instead, the Eagles lost and the duo of Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb are now 1-4 in NFC Championship games. Meanwhile Ken Whisenhunt and Kurt Warner have run the table in the post-season and are heading to Tampa.
Steelers over the Ravens - As expected, these two teams laid a world class beating on each other for four violent quarters of playoff football. As expected, Dick LeBeau's defence was too much for Joe Flacco and the Ravens to handle. It was incredible to see so many players on both sides carried off the field because of various injuries. Both Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger took their fair share of vicious hits. Hines Ward left the game with a knee injury. Despite all the hits Big Ben took, he still burned the Ravens defence on that wild 65-yard touchdown to Santonio Holmes. That was the longest touchdown play the Ravens have ever given up in the playoffs. The game was very much in doubt until late in the fourth quarter when the Steelers super Safety Troy Polamalu intercepted Flacco and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown. It was a wild atmosphere at Heinz Field as the Steelers fanatics are now dreaming of a record sixth Super Bowl title for their team. As crazy as the Steelers fans can be, they can also be very classy. Witness the standing ovation they gave Willis McGahee as he was carted off the field after that devastating hit from Ryan Clark. Now the legions of Steelers fans across North America will pack up their Terrible Towels and make their way to Tampa. I covered Super Bowl XL in Detroit and I can tell you first hand those Steelers fans travel very well.
Offensive Game Ball - With all due respect to Kurt Warner; it's his prime receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, which is most deserving of a game ball. For the third week in a row, Fitzgerald had a monster game and is a huge reason why the Cardinals are heading to Tampa. Fitzgerald had nine catches for 152 yards and three touchdowns in the Cards stunning win over the Eagles. In three playoff games, Fitzgerald has an incredible 419 yards. That's good enough to break Jerry Rice's single season record for playoff receiving yardage set back in 1988. What makes Fitzgerald's sick numbers look even more impressive is the fact by now, everyone on the planet knows that Warner is looking his way. Even with that, defences appear helpless to stop him as the 6-foot 3-inch Fitzgerald looks nearly impossible to cover.
Defensive Game Ball - There are a few worthy candidates. Cardinals Safety Adrian Wilson had seven tackles and two sacks in their win over the Eagles. The big defensive stars on Sunday were wearing black and gold. Safety Troy Polamalu deserves serious consideration as he had four tackles and an interception that he returned 40 yards for the back breaking touchdown. Ultimately, my defensive game ball goes to Steelers outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley. Feeding off of the energy of the Heinz Field crowd, Woodley had seven tackles and two sacks as the Steelers showed Joe Flacco what playoff football is all about. Steelers linebacker James Harrison was a very worthy recipient of the NFL's Defensive player of the year award. However, Woodley has 12 tackles and four sacks so far in the playoffs and is playing like a man possessed.
Special Teams Game Ball - The only real candidate that stood out this weekend was Pittsburgh's Jeff Reed. The Steelers kicker was a perfect three for three on a cold day in a tight game where every point would be huge. More importantly, Reed didn't screw up. Unlike David Akers of the Eagles who missed a field goal and an extra point.
Coaching Game Ball - 71-year old Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau had his troops ready for battle and the Steel Curtain II defence did not disappoint. However, I have to give my coaching game ball to Ken Whisenhunt and Todd Haley of the Cardinals. The former Steelers assistant never let the Cardinals think that just getting to the NFC Championship game was good enough. Whisenhunt had the Cards physically and mentally prepared for whatever the Eagles threw at them. Haley, the Cards offensive coordinator, called an amazing game and had the Eagles totally caught with their pants down on that highlight reel 62-yard flea flicker touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald. Just as impressive was Haley's decision to call a screen pass to Tim Hightower on the game-winning touchdown.
Stiff of the Week - At first glance, most people would be inclined to give the Stiff of the Week award to Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. After all, the kid tossed three interceptions against the Steelers. However, my slam dunk Stiff of the Week is Eagles Safety Quentin Demps. First off, Demps got burned by Larry Fitzgerald on that amazing 62-yard flea flicker in the second quarter. Then late in the first half, Demps kept a Cardinals drive alive when he took a needless and stupid 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty. The Cards ended up padding their lead before the end of the half with a field goal thanks to Demps boneheaded play.
Now it's time for me to pack my bags. Up next, I will be joining the original "mean street posse" as the Bad Boys from Sportsnet prepare to invade Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII. Once again, I am under strict orders from my wife to not come home with a tan, or else.
Copyright 2009 Rogers Sportsnet
Excitement builds for Cardinals' first-ever NFC title game
Arizona Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt joined fans Monday in their excitement over the Cardinals' first-ever NFL divisional championship game -- against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
"We're obviously excited about having the championship game here, with our fans in our stadium," said Whisenhunt. "And that's a big deal for us, so it's going to be an exciting week."
Glendale hoisted a huge banner, congratulating the Cardinals for winning the NFC West, on a building across from the stadium on Monday. The Cards actually clinched the western division more than a month ago.
"We're just thrilled and excited to support the Cardinals and host the game this weekend," said Glendale's Kim Larson.
The Cardinals earned a berth in the NFC championship game by upsetting the Carolina Panthers 30-13 on Saturday. Philadelphia beat the New York Giants on Sunday to advance against the Cards.
Whisenhunt said he saw fans lined up to buy tickets for Sunday's game and is pleased they turned out to support the team.
Tickets sold out in six minutes Sunday, in contrast to the wildcard playoff game against Atlanta on Jan. 3 when the game did not sell out until right before the TV blackout time.
Whisenhunt said he understood the difference.
"There was a little bit of a lag before our last playoff game because people weren't sure about tickets or what was going on and obviously we didn't play great in the couple of weeks leading up to that."
He had praise for the Cards' defense in the wins over both Atlanta and Carolina.
"Whether it's the technique, whether it's tightening down their alignments on the gaps, whether it's playing with their hands -- all the little things that are involved in being a good disciplined defense, they're doing now," said Whisenhunt. "And that's the reason, I believe, that we're making some plays and playing good team defense."
The Cardinals are underdogs again -- this time by three points -- against Philadelphia, a role they have relished in the first two playoff games.
"We're still underdogs at home in the championship game, so I think we can keep our focus," Whisenhunt said. "We've just got to keep our heads down, work in the way we've been working. The one thing that's really exciting for us is we get to do it in front of a home crowd."
He said he feels the team has been better focused on fundamentals and that has paid off.
Philadelphia has a good team, Whisenhunt said. "It will be a challenge for us, but it's exciting. We're really glad that we have this game at home and, hopefully, that will help us."
The winner of the NFC matchup advances to the Super Bowl against Baltimore or Pittsburgh, which clash for the AFC title.
Sports 620 KTAR's Ron Wolfley, a former NFL player, said not just the fans -- but the players themselves -- are in for a treat when they take the field before 70,000 fans.
"I don't care who you are, I don't care how grizzled you are, I don't care how many years you've played in the league, that feeling is just something you don't get to experience in life," said Wolfley.
He said the current Cardinals' team plays with a chip on its shoulder and plays as the underdog better than any NFL team he's ever seen.
"They have to be playing for something to get them focused and to bring that level of concentration and intensity that you need to bring on a regular basis on a Sunday to win," he said.
For long-time Cardinals' fans, Sunday's game ends years of frustration.
"Such a long time coming, such a long time," said one fan as the thought of a Super Bowl trip brought tears to his eyes. "Sitting through all those games when they really stunk up the place, it would make it all worth it, finally."
Another said, "Thank God, finally, we're getting paid off for being loyal Cardinals' fans."
As tickets sold out in six minutes on Sunday afternoon, fans were optimistic that the Cardinals will beat the Eagles to earn their first Super Bowl berth. . "Let's win this, baby, let's win," said one.
"We're going all the way -- going to the Super Bowl," said another.
A third said, "We're going to tear them up."
One man said he hopes the crowd is all wearing Cardinals' red.
"It should be packed with Cardinals' fans," he said. "There will be some Eagles' fans, but I think we've got a really good chance."
ktar.com
Dolphins still rate among South Florida's most surprising teams of all time
They sat at their lockers with faces of stone, their emotions in cement, their egos under repair. "Disappointment," was the word many kept coming back to, coaches and players, rookies and veterans.
"There's not another word for what happened,'' safety Yeremiah Bell said.
He put his head down.
"Maybe 'sickening,'.'' he said after the Dolphins' 27-9 playoff loss to Baltimore.
Across the way, quarterback Chad Pennington still sat at his locker in his sweat-soaked T-shirt, staring straight ahead. Offensive coordinator Dan Henning was making rounds to players 30 minutes after the final play, as he does after every game, giving a pat on the back or a word of encouragement.
"It ends quick in this league,'' Bell said. "That's what hurts the most."
It shouldn't feel like this by today. Not with this team forgetting what it did across 16 Sundays this season. Not with it falling so hard. This final game, well, that's one thing how it played out, starting with Pennington throwing as many interceptions (four) in one game as his previous nine games combined.
But this season? Seasons like this don't get obituaries. They get parades. They're reminders of why we all fell in love with sports, once upon a time, cheering a team worth cheering.
The surprise is always the best story in sports, and this team rates with the '83 Hurricanes, '96 Panthers or '03 Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! among the biggest of South Florida surprises. From 1-15 to 11-6? From the layoffs to playoffs?
"Who picked us to get here?" defensive tackle Vonnie Holliday said. "Anyone except the guys in this locker room?"
He tried a smile that didn't quite make it. "What hurts is we expected to get further, be a big surprise, not a little one," he said.
Sunday said this team had run out of surprises. There's no shame in that. Baltimore had some magic of its own, with a rookie coach and rookie quarterback. But what they mostly had was a bullet-proof defense, starting with safety Ed Reed, who had two of Pennington's four interceptions.
"Three of those interceptions, I felt really good about when I threw it,'' Pennington said. "I really did."
He was asked if the one he felt bad about was the deep pass that that sailed like a balloon toward Ted Ginn Jr. near the end of the first half. Ginn tripped. Reed returned that one 64 yards for a touchdown to put the Ravens up 10-3.
"No, I felt good about that one,'' Pennington said. "The one to Davone [Bess] at the start of the second half. I'd like to have that one back."
That didn't end in a Baltimore score. But on the next possession Patrick Cobbs fumbled, Baltimore recovered at the Miami 19 and four plays later it had another touchdown.
So much of this season the script was about how far they've come. Sunday it was about how far they still have to go. And it's quite a ways. Everyone understood they were a better story than a football team.
For instance, they only dressed three receivers Sunday. When Bess went out for a while with a thumb injury, three became two. And one of them was Brandon London, a special-teamer cut by the Giants in August who had three catches on the season.
Have you heard of any playoff team like this? Or one that never studied the long odds?
"Even in the fourth quarter, we were like, 'We can do it,'.'' Holliday said. "It didn't really hit home until Willis McGahee had that long run late in the game. We knew we were in a bad predicament then."
Even Sunday brought some good news. Bill Parcells is staying, team owner H. Wayne Huizenga said, to be the linchpin or backstop to the franchise's decision-making. However it has worked under Parcells, the point is it does.
Huizenga, meanwhile, left the locker room after the game and walked down the corridor under Dolphin Stadium probably for the last time as the team's majority owner. The end of the season looked heavy on him, too. But Huizenga has lived enough bad endings in his 19 years as an owner to know how to frame this one properly.
"It wasn't a great day,'' he said. "But it was a great season."
Copyright (c) 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Steelers' run offense returns in romp
PITTSBURGH - After weeks of mediocre performances by his team's once-dominating running game, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin tried sending a message that the Steelers would re-establish themselves as a team able to run before the playoffs.
"Coach Tomlin told us Monday we were going to pound the football,'' running back Willie Parker said. "That's what we've been practicing all week.''
The return of the running game was one of the many highlights of a regular season-ending 31-0 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Pittsburgh ranked only 24th in the NFL in rushing entering the game (100.9 yards per game) but had 176 on 35 carries against the hapless Browns (4-12).
Parker had 23 carries for 116 yards - his first 100-yard game since Nov. 16 against San Diego and only his second since the second week of the season, also against Cleveland.
"It was a good feeling today, knowing we were going to go out there and run it,'' Parker said. "It was up to their defense to stop it. Their defense definitely didn't give up; we just had in our minds that we were going to run the ball, and we just kept pounding.''
Parker had three consecutive 1,200-yard-plus seasons before this campaign, when injuries, ineffectiveness and questionable play from the offensive line limited him to 791 yards in 11 games. He had four 100-yard games, two in the first two games.
Traditionally one of the league's top rushing teams, the Steelers finished the season with their second-lowest league ranking since the AFL/NFL merger in 1970.
"It was really important,'' Parker said about having a good performance heading into the playoffs. "We run the football. We're a running team. We have a running format no matter what we do. We can run the football - it's just a matter of doing it.''
Parker, Gary Russell and backup quarterback Byron Leftwich had rushing touchdowns for the Steelers, who hadn't rushed for 100 yards since beating New England Nov. 30. It was their best rushing performance overall since a season-opening 183 yards against Houston.
"It was a productive effort,'' Tomlin said. "I thought that we controlled the line of scrimmage.''
WARD'S MILESTONES
Steelers receiver Hines Ward put together his best statistical season in four years, using a six-catch, 70-yard performance Sunday to give him 81 catches for 1,043 yards and seven touchdowns.
"Hines loves to use that as motivation,'' Tomlin said, referring to Ward constantly saying that skeptics have doubted him for seasons. "I don't know too many people writing Hines off. He is a heck of a player; he tries to trick himself into being underrated and he's not. He is a heck of a talent and he has done it at a high level for a long time. We appreciate him.''
Ward has 800 receptions for his career, the most in team history. This is the first time he has had 80 catches or 1,000 yards since 2004.
Ward's final catch Sunday came on a pass thrown by Dennis Dixon, his first career completion.
"Eight hundred is a lot of balls,'' Ward said. "I've caught them from all different types. It would be a great trivia question to figure out who threw Hines Ward his 800th catch. It was great for Dennis Dixon to get his first completion in the NFL.''
LEWIS GETS 1,000 - PLUS 2 MORE
The Browns had something to cling to in an otherwise dismal offensive performance down the stretch. Jamal Lewis surpassed 1,000 yards rushing for the seventh time in eight NFL seasons.
Lewis was 92 yards short of the milestone heading into the season finale against the Steelers, the league's No. 2 run defense that had allowed only 78.5 rushing yards per game heading into the contest. He gained 94, giving him 1,002 for the season.
"That's something against that team where you thought 90-some yards is kind of out of reach, in my eyes,'' Lewis said. "But we pulled together, the offensive line pulled together and we grinded it out. We took what they gave us and ran hard and did our jobs. But at the same time, the scoreboard, it resulted in a loss. That's what's more troubling than anything else.''
It was obvious the Browns were intent on doing everything they could to help Lewis reach 1,000. During their final possession of the contest, down by 31 with less than five minutes to play, Lewis carried the ball four plays in a row. When he eclipsed 1,000, Cleveland called passing plays on its final four plays.
"For him to be able to get 1,000 and our offensive line to be able to block well enough for us to get 1,000 was important,'' Browns coach Romeo Crennel said.
While the Browns were pleased with their running game, they certainly weren't with what they could do passing. Bruce Gradkowski was 5 for 16 for 18 yards and two interceptions - numbers that equate to a passer rating of 1.0.
Gradkowski was the fourth quarterback to start for the Browns this season.
LEFTWICH READY IF NEEDED
When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was knocked out of the game with a concussion late in the first half, backup Byron Leftwich got his first playing time since Nov. 3 in Washington.
Leftwich completed his first pass and six plays later ran 8 yards for his first rushing touchdown since Sept. 24, 2006, while he was with Jacksonville. Leftwich completed 7 of 12 passes for 80 yards and no interceptions.
"Any time I get a chance to be in the huddle with the starters, it's a plus,'' said Leftwich, who was signed during training camp after an injury to Charlie Batch. "When you get to go out there with those types of playmakers around, as a quarterback it puts a smile on your face.''
Leftwich has started only one playoff game. The Steelers are optimistic Roethlisberger will be able to play in two weeks when the team hosts a divisional round contest Jan. 10 or 11.
"Byron is a veteran, franchise-caliber quarterback,'' Tomlin said. "We have a great deal of confidence in what he can do for us. We always expect him to do well when he goes in, and he did.''
Copyright (c) 2008 Indiana Gazette
|
