STEELER NOTES
Mike Tomlin and Rex Ryan have plenty in common.
Both have been NFL head coaches for less than five season but they both have ridden strong defensive units to immediate success.
Tomlin is in the playoffs for the third time in four seasons as Steelers coach and will enjoy an AFC championship game at home for the second time.
Ryan is in the playoffs for the second time in as many years as New York Jets coach and will enjoy his second AFC title game on the road.
Both coaches are 4-1 in postseason play in their still-budding careers.
The Steelers will be playing in their 15th AFC championship game since 1970, breaking the Dallas Cowboys' previous record of 14.Pittsburgh is 9-0 against divisional foes in the playoffs, 32-20 overall in postseason play, 19-10 at home.
The Steelers limited the Baltimore Ravens to 126 net yards last week, the second-lowest total in team postseason history. They allowed the Minnesota Vikings 123 yards in Super Bowl IX.
Hines Ward has nine career postseason touchdown receptions, tying Lynn Swann for second on the Steelers' all-time list.Ward also tied John Stallworth's team record of 15 consecutive postseason games with at least one catch.Ward has five career 100-yard receiving games in postseason play. His overall postseason numbers include 79 catches for 1,089 yards, both Steeler records.
The Steelers are 15-4 all-time against the New York Jets, including 6-1 in Pittsburgh. New York has scored more than 10 points in a game against the Steelers just four times in the past 22 years.The Steelers will be facing their ninth different opponent in the AFC title game. The previous eight are Miami, Oakland, the Houston Oilers, San Diego, Indianapolis, Denver, New England and Baltimore.
Mike Tomlin is one of seven NFL head coaches to win a Super Bowl within his first two years at the helm. The others are Brian Billick, Barry Switzer, George Seifert, Joe Gibbs, Tom Flores and Don McCafferty.
Ben Roethlisberger has led the Steelers to four AFC title games in his seven seasons. Only nine other quarterbacks — Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Tom Brady, John Elway, Bob Griese, Jim Plunkett, Bart Starr and Roger Staubach — have won more than one Super Bowl.Roethlisberger's playoff-long 65-yard touchdown pass against the Ravens in the 2008 AFC title game was to current Jets receiver Santonio Holmes.Roethlisberger has engineered three fourth-quarter or overtime game-winning drives in postseason play.
Of tight end Heath Miller's 31 postseason catches, 19 have gone for first downs or touchdowns.
Linebacker James Harrison had three sacks against Baltimore last week, tying the Steelers' record for most sacks in a postseason game.Chad Brown had three sacks against the Colts in 1996 and Gerald Williams had three against Kansas City in 1994.The Steelers led the NFL with 48 sacks this season and have the most sacks (309) in the league since 2004.
The Steelers' average of 62.8 rushing yards allowed per game this season is the third-fewest allowed by a team in a season since 1970.The 2000 Baltimore Ravens allowed 60.6 yards and the 2006 Minnesota Vikings allowed 61.6.The Steelers shattered their previous team record of 74.7 rushing yards allowed per game, set in 2001. They became the first NFL team ever to allow its first eight opponents 75 or fewer rushing yards this year.
The Steelers have allowed the fewest points in the NFL — 1,048 — since the beginning of the 2007 season.
