Steelers restore fear status

Monday's win over Tampa Bay has chilled the effect of several recent embarrassments.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- They talked for weeks about needing to play a signature game, one to wipe away the erraticism that has marked their season and to re-establish them as a to-be-feared team for the playoffs.
The Pittsburgh Steelers felt just such a game was essential to close the book on that inexplicable upset loss to Houston, the squandered 17-point lead against Atlanta, the season-starting embarrassments against New England and Oakland.
That's why the Steelers' 17-7 manhandling of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night was significant, and not just because it wrapped up the AFC North title. It also showed they can beat a supposedly superior opponent on the road, in a setting very much like that they may encounter next month.
Scenario
Even if the Steelers (9-5-1) beat the Ravens (7-8) on Sunday, they are guaranteed only a wild-card home playoff game if the Raiders (10-5) beat the Chiefs (8-7) on Saturday and the Titans (10-5) beat the Texans (4-11) on Sunday.
If that happens, the Steelers not only will play on a weekend the Raiders and Titans are resting, they also might have to win two road playoff games just to get to the Super Bowl.
"No question that if we have to go on the road, this is something we can draw from," a weary coach Bill Cowher said Tuesday, only a few hours after the Steelers returned from Tampa. "Playing the caliber of team we were playing, with the ramifications of the outcome and the buildup between the two teams, it had a playoff atmosphere."
Going on the road in the postseason would be a new experience to nearly all these Steelers. Pittsburgh has played only one road playoff game -- a 1996 second-round loss at New England -- since 1993. Not counting the Super Bowl in January 1996, nine of the Steelers' last 10 postseason games have been at home.
"A win Sunday gives us the potential for a bye and it would be nice to have it, and it would be one less game we have to play but, if not, that's the road we have to take," Cowher said.
What especially encourages Cowher is the way his defense is playing as the postseason approaches.
The Steelers have allowed only 27 points and 455 yards in their last three games-- an average of 151.5 yards, almost all of them essentially meaningless second-half yards by the Panthers and Buccaneers.
The NFL's No. 1 defense a year ago, the Steelers were uneven all season until picking up their play against Houston, limiting the Texans to only three first downs and 47 yards on Dec. 8. They have played at a comparable level since, and Cowher said it's not a coincidence.
"I feel like we entered the playoffs a couple of weeks ago," Cowher said. "We gave ourselves no margin for error. If was different than in years past, when [the Steelers clinched early] and we had to take to another level for the playoffs.
"Maybe we're going into the playoffs right now playing that way, so it's not going to be anything we have to turn on."
Meanwhile, cornerback Chad Scott, who intercepted Bucs quarterback Shaun King's first pass and returned it for a touchdown, had surgery Tuesday on a broken hand.