National Football League

Surging Steelers back to work as Browns loom

Published Dec. 5, 2011 11:00 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Pittsburgh Steelers are playing so well, even coach Mike Tomlin is struggling coming up with a list of complaints.

Then again, his team's 35-7 romp over Cincinnati on Sunday night is hard to nitpick.

The erratic running game produced 136 yards and two touchdowns. James Harrison collected three sacks as the defense held the Bengals to a season-low point total. And the special teams hit for the trifecta: blocking a field goal attempt, recovering a fumbled kickoff return and scoring a touchdown on Antonio Brown's 60-yard punt return.

''I was pleased with the effort and energy in all three phases,'' Tomlin said. ''We had significant, splash plays, in all three phases.''

The kind the Steelers lacked for long stretches during the first three months of the season. They've managed to stay in the thick of the AFC North race anyway despite an inability to run the ball, produce turnovers or create big plays consistently.

Now that they're starting to come, the Steelers (9-3) believe they're right on schedule heading into Thursday night's game against struggling Cleveland (4-8).

''These are the games that count,'' linebacker James Farrior said. ''These are the games that are going to put you in place to make your run. We're just trying to keep up in the division.''

The Steelers remain tied with Baltimore for the AFC North lead, but need to finish the season ahead of the Ravens to win the division and earn at least one home playoff game after Baltimore captured both head-to-head meetings.

Pittsburgh can ill-afford a misstep, particularly against the Browns. The Steelers have dominated the series in recent years, winning 14 of the last 15 meetings. A slip-up could cost them more than regional pride.

''We can't afford to lose any game,'' Farrior said.

The Steelers enter the final quarter of the season as healthy as they've been since opening day. Guard Ramon Foster is questionable after spraining his left ankle on Sunday while linebacker LaMarr Woodley tweaked his tender left hamstring and sat out the final three quarters.

''Obviously, (Woodley) felt something, and he was mature enough to not do any further damage to it,'' Tomlin said. ''We appreciate that. We will see if that provides an opportunity for us to put him in play this week.''

Woodley, who has promised to play each week since injuring the hamstring in an Oct. 30 win over New England, thinks he'll be good to go.

''I wasn't going to play the whole game (against the Bengals) and once we started putting points on the board, (we decided) to let the guys go and take care of it,'' Woodley said.

Tomlin asked his players to be smart during the short four-day turnaround, something doubly important for a defense littered with 30-somethings that is starting to play with its usual tenacity.

Harrison led the way against the Bengals, notching his second three-sack day of the season. Pittsburgh limited Cincinnati rookie quarterback Andy Dalton to 135 yards passing, his lowest total since early September. Dalton spent final minutes on the sideline as the Bengals opted to keep him out of danger with the game decided.

The Steelers would love to get through Thursday night in a similar situation. Becoming efficient in the red zone certainly helps. The Steelers have been so-so this year turning long drives into touchdowns. Scoring touchdowns on half of their trips inside the opponents' 20. They found the end zone on all four trips on Sunday as Rashard Mendenhall pounded it in on a pair of short runs while quarterback Ben Roethlisberger connected with Mike Wallace for two scores.

''When we got down in the red zone, we ended up putting up touchdowns rather than field goals,'' wide receiver Hines Ward said. ''That's what you have to start doing in the month of December.''

Something Pittsburgh will have to keep doing if it wants to reach the Super Bowl for the second straight year. Though the team has pointed to its three road playoff wins en route to beating Seattle six seasons ago, the Steelers haven't been quite so proficient on the road this season, losing decisively to Baltimore and Houston while having problems against seemingly overmatched Indianapolis and Kansas City.

The best way to avoid having to play away from Heinz Field in late January is to win out and hope for a little help. Pittsburgh took one step on Sunday. They'll try to take another against their oldest rival on Thursday.

''It's a big game,'' Wallace said. ''So we have to get ourselves ready as fast as we can and be ready to go.''