Postseason implications. Must-win situation. Playoff-type atmosphere.
As a bettor, you always like to hear your team spouting those kinds of hackneyed clichés before it hits the gridiron. After all, players tend to crank it up a notch when a shot at the Super Bowl is at stake and you prefer to have them going all out when your dollars are on the line.
But Pittsburgh Steelers supporters will get no such assurance from their squad as it heads into today’s tilt with the New England Patriots as a 3-point favorite. Despite that fact it’s a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship and potentially a preview of this year’s, the Steelers are looking at it as just another tilt on the regular season schedule.
"I'm trying to make the whole focus of this game that it's not the same as a playoff game," linebacker Joey Porter told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Make no mistake about it, we're going out there as hard as we can to win… But it's not the same as a playoff game.”
Pittsburgh backers may find that a little disconcerting, but Porter might be on to something here.
The Steelers’ Week 8 win over the Pats was arguably their best effort of the 2004 campaign. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger earned his second-highest passer rating of the season (126.4) in completing 18 of 24 attempts for 196 yards and two majors. Duce Staley and Jerome Bettis led a rushing game that produced 221 yards, while the defense forced four turnovers and held the Pats to five yards on the turf. Pittsburgh downed visiting New England 34-20 as a 3-point dog.
"It was pretty obvious the Steelers were the better team," New England coach Belichick said. "They out coached us, outplayed us and we weren't good in any phase of the game. We didn't do much of anything right."
But it was a different story when these teams clashed three months later in the AFC Championship. Roethlisberger served up three picks to the Pats while Staley and Bettis could only muster a combined 90 yards rushing. The Steelers ended up with a 41-27 loss as 3-point dogs and their Super Bowl hopes went up in smoke.
“We had a great season, but there are a lot of people - some in that locker room - that now think [it's a disappointment],” Roethlisberger said after the game.
The Steelers blame that defeat on the fact that they were too keyed up for the contest, and lost the focus that saw them go undefeated through the regular season.
"It was a tough lesson to learn," said Porter.
It’s also one they won’t need to be taught twice.
Oddsmakers have set the total at 42.
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