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Steelers taking aim at No. 3 seed

Dec 30, 2007 - 11:25 AM Pittsburgh (9-5) at Baltimore (4-11) 4:15 pm EST

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Improving their position slightly could make a world of difference for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers close out the regular season with an AFC North matchup against the rival Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

While Pittsburgh wrapped up the division title last weekend with a 41-24 victory over the St. Louis Rams, much more potentially is at stake against the Ravens.

Tied with the San Diego Chargers, the Steelers need to beat Baltimore and hope for the Chargers to lose at Oakland to claim the No. 3 seed in the AFC. San Diego holds a tiebreaker edge over Pittsburgh due to a better conference record.

The difference could be huge. If the Steelers cannot overtake the Chargers, they will host a first-round playoff game next week against Jacksonville - a team they lost to at home, 29-22, on December 16.

Should Pittsburgh survive that matchup, it likely would set up a road game against the top-seeded New England Patriots at a venue where the Steelers fell, 34-13, on December 9.

"It's significant between three and four (seeds)," Steelers first-year coach Mike Tomlin said. "If you win your first game then it tells you where to go. So there is definitely at least some significance there."

While Pittsburgh snapped a two-game losing streak against the Rams, it received a bad break when Willie Parker, the league's leading rusher at the time, broke his leg in the first quarter, ending his season.

Backup Najeh Davenport filled in admirably, rushing for 123 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, but the injury to the speedy Parker removes a big-play component from the Steelers' offense.

Pittsburgh is catching its nemesis, the Ravens, at an opportune time. Baltimore has lost nine consecutive games, including last week's 27-6 drubbing in Seattle, and two weeks ago suffered the embarrassment of becoming the first victim of the previously winless Miami Dolphins.

The Ravens are down to their third-string quarterback in rookie Troy Smith - the Heisman Trophy winner a year ago - and lost leading rusher Willis McGahee to cracked ribs in last week's defeat at Seattle.

While Baltimore swept the season series against the Steelers in dominating fashion a year ago, Pittsburgh avenged those losses with a thorough 38-7 beating in Week Nine.

Ben Roethlisberger threw five touchdowns passes in the first half alone in that contest, and for the season the Pro Bowl quarterback had 32 TD passes against just 11 interceptions.

Facing the hapless Rams, Roethlisberger finished 16-of-20 for 261 yards with three touchdown passes to earn a perfect 158.3 rating.

The Ravens have won the last four games vs. the Steelers in Baltimore, including a 27-0 shutout on November, 26, 2006.