Polamalu, Farrior, Harrison earn Pro Bowl invites

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers are the NFL’s best defense almost across the board. That doesn’t mean they’ll be sending the most Pro Bowl players to Honolulu.

Outside linebacker James Harrison, safety Troy Polamalu and inside linebacker James Farrior were the only Steelers players chosen Tuesday for the Pro Bowl, with Harrison and Polamalu going as AFC starters. No offensive players were chosen.

While the Steelers (11-3) will own home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs if they beat Tennessee (12-2) on Sunday and the Browns (4-10) on Dec. 28, they didn’t come close to having the most AFC Pro Bowl players. The New York Jets (9-5) put seven on the AFC team, while Tennessee has six and Baltimore — which lost twice to Pittsburgh — has five.

Harrison, fourth in the NFL with 15 sacks, has been a starter only two seasons but has made the Pro Bowl each time. Miami’s Joey Porter, who was replaced by Harrison as a starter in Pittsburgh last season, is the other starting outside linebacker.

The Ravens, second in the league to Pittsburgh in defense, also put three players on defense in safety Ed Reed and linebacker Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs.

Because of injuries, the Pro Bowl rosters tend to change greatly between the time the selections are announced and the game is played, this season on Feb. 8.

Last year, the Steelers had five players chosen initially — Harrison, Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger, Willie Parker and guard Alan Faneca — and wound up with a sixth when nose tackle Casey Hampton was added.

This is Farrior’s second Pro Bowl selection and his first since the 2004 season.

Polamalu is on the team for the fifth consecutive season and is having a much better year than he did a season ago, when he had no interceptions or sacks. He currently has a league-high seven interceptions.

Partly because of Polamalu’s strong season, the Steelers have a chance to lead the NFL in rushing, passing and overall defense, something no team has done since the 1991 Eagles, although they slipped to No. 2 behind Minnesota in rushing defense this week. The Vikings are allowing 71.2 yards to Pittsburgh’s 75.8.

Pittsburgh has also allowed the fewest points in the league, 192 to Tennessee’s 197. Since the NFL merger in 1970, no team has led the league in rushing, passing and overall defense and fewest points allowed.

While the Titans will have more Pro Bowl players, the Steelers could wind up with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs if they win at Tennessee, a consolation prize coach Mike Tomlin would gladly accept.

The Steelers have played a succession of top teams in the second half of the season, including the Giants, Cowboys, Patriots, Ravens and, now, the Titans, but Tomlin doesn’t expect the succession of tight, physical games to be a factor on Sunday. The Steelers have won their last two games in the final two minutes, beating the Cowboys 20-13 on Deshea Townsend’s interception return touchdown Dec. 7 and the Ravens 13-9 on Santonio Holmes’ disputed touchdown catch in the final minute Sunday.

“We’ve got some tangible, big-time goals to achieve in front of us here in the regular season,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “Having an opportunity to play the best in our conference at their place this week is motivation enough to get out of bed and be ready to rock ’n’ roll professionally. Our team is of that mentality.”

The Steelers, at worst, will be No. 2 in the AFC playoffs.