TAMPA, Fla. The Pittsburgh Steelers made the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look like championship pretenders again.
Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El (82) beats the Buccaneers' Dexter Jackson to the end zone
on a pass from quarterback Tommy Maddox during the opening drive Monday night, in Tampa, Fla. Chris O'Meara / The Associated Press
Tommy Maddox threw for 236 yards and one touchdown as the Steelers dominated the Bucs 17-7 Monday night to clinch the AFC North championship, their seventh division title in coach Bill Cowhers 11 seasons.
It was just a matter of who is the bigger bully, Steelers running back Jerome Bettis said. They said they were waiting a full year for this. ... We came out and bullied them and showed them that were the baddest on the block.
The Bucs (11-4) claimed the NFC South on Sunday when New Orleans lost to Cincinnati, but they were hoping to keep pace with the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in the race for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
We had as much to play for as they did. ... There was no letdown, said Bucs coach Jon Gruden, whose team will now have to beat Chicago on the road and get help from the New York Jets against the Packers in order to earn the No. 2 seed, which would give them a first-round bye.
Were still in the thick of things, Gruden added. Weve got to find a way to win a game.
It was the second straight year Pittsburgh (9-5-1) came into Raymond James Stadium and physically whipped the Bucs, who Steelers safety Lee Flowers called paper champions who talk a better game than they play.
Tampa Bay played without quarterback Brad Johnson, who sat out with a severe lower back bruise. Shaun King made his first start in nearly two seasons and struggled against a defense that had only allowed 178 yards in its previous two games.
Chad Scott intercepted Kings second pass of the night and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown that made it 14-0. The Steelers also forced two fumbles inside the Pittsburgh 10 to keep the Bucs out of the end zone.
Pittsburgh rushed for 220 yards and sacked Johnson 10 times in a 17-10 victory over Tampa Bay last season. The Bucs didnt let Bettis run wild this time, but Maddox completed 17 of 23 passes, including an 11-yard TD throw to Antwaan Randle El on the opening drive.
The Bucs avoided a shutout when Rob Johnson threw an 18-yard scoring pass to Keyshawn Johnson with 1:14 remaining.
Flowers comments after last years game were re-printed last week and the bad blood between the teams spilled over into pregame warmups when Tampa Bays Nate Webster engaged in some pushing and shoving with a group of Steelers.
Keyshawn Johnson stepped between the players to defuse the situation, and a few minutes later Bettis gave Warren Sapp a shove as the Bucs defensive tackle pranced out of the tunnel to the locker room.
When the game began, Pittsburgh pushed and Tampa Bay never really responded.
Maddox launched the Steelers opening possession with a 41-yard completion to Plaxico Burress.
Five plays later, he finished an 81-yard drive with his TD pass to Randle El for a 7-0 lead.
Scotts interception and return made it 14-0, leaving the Bucs to try to climb back from their biggest deficit of the season.
Against the NFLs third-ranked defense, that was too much to ask.
Maddox was 11-of-13 for 174 yards in the opening half, while King was 7-of-22 for 67 yards and had the only points he produced a 50-yard field goal by Martin Gramatica taken off the board when Pittsburgh was penalized for holding on the kick.
The decision to keep the ball looked like it might pay off until Casey Hampton and Kendrell Bell met Mike Alstott head-on on second-and-2 from the Steelers 7, forcing a fumble that Hampton recovered on the first play of the second quarter.
It was just a matter of who is the bigger bully, Steelers running back Jerome Bettis said. They said they were waiting a full year for this. ... We came out and bullied them and showed them that were the baddest on the block.
The Bucs (11-4) claimed the NFC South on Sunday when New Orleans lost to Cincinnati, but they were hoping to keep pace with the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in the race for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
We had as much to play for as they did. ... There was no letdown, said Bucs coach Jon Gruden, whose team will now have to beat Chicago on the road and get help from the New York Jets against the Packers in order to earn the No. 2 seed, which would give them a first-round bye.
Were still in the thick of things, Gruden added. Weve got to find a way to win a game.
It was the second straight year Pittsburgh (9-5-1) came into Raymond James Stadium and physically whipped the Bucs, who Steelers safety Lee Flowers called paper champions who talk a better game than they play.
Tampa Bay played without quarterback Brad Johnson, who sat out with a severe lower back bruise. Shaun King made his first start in nearly two seasons and struggled against a defense that had only allowed 178 yards in its previous two games.
Chad Scott intercepted Kings second pass of the night and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown that made it 14-0. The Steelers also forced two fumbles inside the Pittsburgh 10 to keep the Bucs out of the end zone.
Pittsburgh rushed for 220 yards and sacked Johnson 10 times in a 17-10 victory over Tampa Bay last season. The Bucs didnt let Bettis run wild this time, but Maddox completed 17 of 23 passes, including an 11-yard TD throw to Antwaan Randle El on the opening drive.
The Bucs avoided a shutout when Rob Johnson threw an 18-yard scoring pass to Keyshawn Johnson with 1:14 remaining.
Flowers comments after last years game were re-printed last week and the bad blood between the teams spilled over into pregame warmups when Tampa Bays Nate Webster engaged in some pushing and shoving with a group of Steelers.
Keyshawn Johnson stepped between the players to defuse the situation, and a few minutes later Bettis gave Warren Sapp a shove as the Bucs defensive tackle pranced out of the tunnel to the locker room.
When the game began, Pittsburgh pushed and Tampa Bay never really responded.
Maddox launched the Steelers opening possession with a 41-yard completion to Plaxico Burress.
Five plays later, he finished an 81-yard drive with his TD pass to Randle El for a 7-0 lead.
Scotts interception and return made it 14-0, leaving the Bucs to try to climb back from their biggest deficit of the season.
Against the NFLs third-ranked defense, that was too much to ask.
Maddox was 11-of-13 for 174 yards in the opening half, while King was 7-of-22 for 67 yards and had the only points he produced a 50-yard field goal by Martin Gramatica taken off the board when Pittsburgh was penalized for holding on the kick.
The decision to keep the ball looked like it might pay off until Casey Hampton and Kendrell Bell met Mike Alstott head-on on second-and-2 from the Steelers 7, forcing a fumble that Hampton recovered on the first play of the second quarter.
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