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Steelers Smack Chargers

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By ALAN ROBINSON

The Associated Press

Published: January 12, 2009

PITTSBURGH - There is a homefield advantage in the NFL playoffs after all, and it belongs to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Now they've got to prove it means something against the team they despise like no other, and in the game they lose at home like no one else.

The Steelers, owners of the NFL's best homefield record since the 1970 NFL merger, shook off a 7-0 deficit barely two minutes into the game, controlled pint-sized playmaker Darren Sproles and returned some normalcy to the postseason by beating the San Diego Chargers 35-24 in an AFC divisional game Sunday.

With a now-healthy Willie Parker running for 146 yards and two touchdowns, Ben Roethlisberger ignoring his late-season concussion to throw for a score and lead an efficient offense, the Steelers did what the favored Titans, Panthers and Giants couldn't do by winning at home. It was the first time since 1971 that three road teams won during a single playoff weekend, and the Steelers made certain that road teams didn't go 4-for-4.

"We talked about that, all the home teams - the No. 1 and 2 seeds - weren't playing as well," said Santonio Holmes, who got Pittsburgh going with a 67-yard punt return touchdown in the first quarter. "But we knew the road to the Super Bowl can run through Pittsburgh when we saw Baltimore won at Tennessee. It was time to turn it on."

This will be the Steelers' seventh AFC title game, and sixth in Pittsburgh, in the last 15 seasons. They were 2-4 in the previous six.

The Steelers had the worst offense of any playoff team coming in, only to put up 35 points to support the NFL's top-ranked defense. Now, it's time for Ravens vs. Steelers Part III on Sunday - the third andmatchup this season.

The Steelers spotted San Diego a 7-0 lead on Vincent Jackson's acrobatic 41-yard catch of Philip Rivers' pass four plays into the game, but, like San Diego's 7-0 lead in its bizarre 11-10 loss in Pittsburgh on Nov. 16, the Chargers couldn't make it stand up as LaDainian Tomlinson sat out with a groin injury.

Sproles, coming off his all-around 328-yard game against the Colts, wasn't much of a factor despite a 63-yard kickoff return and a 62-yard TD catch in the game's final two minutes after Pittsburgh had opened a 35-17 lead.
Sproles was held to 15 yards on 11 carries after rushing for 105 the week before. He had 91 yards on five catches and 164 yards on five kickoff returns.

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