Steelers Continue Winning, Barely

Two more turnovers by Tommy Maddox that were converted into touchdowns. More than 400 yards given up to a team with a losing record. Another squandered big lead at home.

Somehow, the Pittsburgh Steelers found all this the perfect way to tune up for next weekend’s AFC wild-card playoff game against Cleveland.

The Steelers (10-5-1) rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter with the help of repeated Baltimore penalties and turnovers, and two Amos Zereoue touchdown runs to defeat the Ravens, 34-31, Sunday.

The victory didn’t mean all that much. Tennessee’s 13-3 victory at Houston gained the Titans (11-5) a first-round playoff bye and meant the Steelers must play the Browns in the playoffs for only the second time in their long rivalry. They beat Cleveland, 29-9, in a divisional round game during the 1994 season.

The Browns (9-7) made the playoffs when they beat Atlanta, 24-16, Sunday and the Jets (9-7) won the AFC East to eliminate New England and Miami.

Despite losing the weekend off they wanted and giving up 422 yards to the NFL’s 27th-ranked offense, the Steelers say winning the way they did can only help them in the playoffs.

“It’s not what we wanted coming into this game. But like I’ve said all season, this team sticks together and this is a huge momentum lift,” Maddox said. “It’s an exciting way to go into the playoffs.”

Even if they can’t expect to win that way in the postseason.

“But if you look at our last six games, we played only one bad one,” Coach Bill Cowher said, referring to a 24-6 loss to Houston -- their only defeat during that stretch. “We’re going to the playoffs with a lot of confidence, and we’ll see how far that takes us.”

The Ravens (7-9) couldn’t have been expected to do much on a day in which they had four turnovers and repeatedly kept Steeler drives going with third-down penalties.

Despite all that, Baltimore rallied from a 17-7 deficit to take a 31-20 lead in the fourth quarter. Then, despite giving up two quick Steeler scores, the Ravens nearly won it. But Jeff Blake’s first-down pass from the Steeler 11-yard line into double coverage was intercepted by Dewayne Washington with 14 seconds left.

“Sometimes you take a shot, and sometimes it doesn’t work out,” said Raven Coach Brian Billick, whose team missed the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

Washington jumped over rookie Randy Hymes to make the interception, which prevented any chance of kicking a tying field goal.

“I wanted to get a jump ball -- Washington’s 5-foot-10 and Randy is 6-4, and I’ll take that matchup all day,” Blake said. “I put it up, and it turned out the other way.”

Raven center Mike Flynn said, “I wanted to go for the win. We had time to make a couple of throws and if not, then kick the field goal.”

The Ravens looked to be in good shape when Blake’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Chester Taylor made it 31-20 with 12:57 left, 10 plays after Anthony Mitchell’s interception.

Before that, James Trapp’s interception of a pass fumbled into his hands by Steeler fullback Dan Kreider led to Blake’s 31-yard pass to tight end Todd Heap that put Baltimore ahead 24-20. Blake completed 19 of 26 passes for 336 yards, with Heap making seven catches for 146 yards.

But the Steelers, who blew 17-point leads in consecutive home games earlier this season, rallied with Zereoue’s five-yard scoring run midway through the fourth quarter and Maddox’s go-ahead eight-yard scoring pass to Antwaan Randle El with 2:29 left. That score came after Taylor fumbled away the kickoff after the Zereoue touchdown.

Maddox completed 20 of 30 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns, including one to Hines Ward for a 23-yard touchdown.