The Pittsburgh Steelers stormed into the AFC championship game with a convincing win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. The Steelers fell behind 10-7 in the second quarter, but rallied with 21 unanswered points to set-up a home meeting with the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday. "We've got a mentally tough group in there and they were able to display it today," said the Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.
Willie Parker ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns and the quarterback Ben Roethlisberger passed for another score for the Steelers. Philip Rivers passed for three touchdowns for San Diego, but two of the scores, including a 62-yarder to Darren Sproles, came when the game was won. The Steelers dominated the decisive third quarter by restricting the Chargers to just a single offensive play. "We wanted to come out of the locker room and establish a tone," Tomlin said.
The Steelers, who led 14-10 at half-time after Parker's three-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter, stretched the lead to 11 points on Heath Miller's eight-yard pass play from Roethlisberger. Rivers was intercepted on the first play after Miller's touchdown, enabling Pittsburgh to keep the ball. Even when Pittsburgh were forced to punt they wound up with the football. The punt bounced off the helmet of the Chargers' Eric Weddle and the Steelers recovered to run out the quarter.
A one-yard run by Gary Russell made it 28-10 early in the fourth before Rivers passed for a pair of touchdowns either side of Parker's second touchdown on a 16-yard run. "We came into this game wanting to keep the defence off the field," Parker said. "That's what we did." Rivers had opened the game with a 41-yarder to Vincent Jackson, but Pittsburgh struck back in dramatic fashion with a 67-yard punt return from Santonio Holmes.
San Diego (9-9) went back in front on Nate Kaeding's 42-yard field goal early in the second, but never threatened again until it was too late. * Reuters
