Buccaneers double last season's win total but miss playoffs with Packers win

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Steelers take AFC North crown, secure AFC's No. 2 seed in playoffs

CLEVELAND -- There are steps, some big, some small, teams must take before they can be Super Bowl champions.

The Pittsburgh Steelers know the uphill path well.

On Sunday, they quickened their pace.

Ben Roethlisberger threw two touchdown passes as the Steelers geared up for another possible title run by winning the AFC North and securing a first-round playoff bye with a 41-9 rout of Cleveland, in what may have been Eric Mangini's last game as Browns coach.

"We love to win the division," Roethlisberger said. "This is a hard division. We hope this is just the beginning."

Roethlisberger, who rested most of the second half, threw a 56-yard TD to Mike Wallace on his first pass as the Steelers (11-5) built a 31-3 halftime lead and rocked the Browns (5-11), who didn't put up much of a fight in their finale -- and maybe Mangini's.

The Steelers clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC and guaranteed themselves at least one more game at Heinz Field.

"Mission accomplished," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, sporting a black-and-white championship cap. "We're excited to win the division and proud of doing it, but it's only hardware you pick up along the way. Today was the first game where we felt like we played close to what we're capable of."

The Steelers look ready for a lengthy playoff run.

The Browns, on the other hand, are ready for more change.

Mangini fell to 10-22 in two seasons with Cleveland. On Monday, he's scheduled to meet with team president Mike Holmgren, who may fire him and appoint himself coach. When the game ended, a downcast Mangini was consoled by defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who will reportedly interview for Carolina's head coaching vacancy.

Mangini doesn't know what's ahead, but his demeanor was that of a beaten man.

"I thought we got beat in all three phases," Mangini said. "They had a better plan than we did and when that happens against a team like this, you have a day like today. It's difficult to feel any positives in the wake of what happened."

For Roethlisberger, this was more redemption.

He began the season serving a four-game suspension -- cut from six by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell -- for violating the league's personal conduct policy. There was no telling how the Steelers would do without him. But they went 3-1 without their leader, and in his first game, he threw three TD passes in a 28-10 win over Cleveland on Oct. 17.

Not only did Roethlisberger return as the same physical talent, he came back a more mature person.

Big Ben, now more at peace with himself, has hardly been better.

"We have been through a lot," he said. "Now, it's playoff time."

Roethlisberger went 15 of 22 for 280 yards. He has thrown 158 passes without an interception, the longest streak of his career and further evidence of improved judgment and composure not always present.

"Ben came through adversity," wide receiver Hines Ward said. "He stepped up, not that he hasn't in the past. But this season didn't start like other seasons."

With the Steelers leading 38-3, Tomlin sat Roethlisberger with 5:34 left in the third.

It was time to start planning for the playoffs. But before Tomlin could get all his starters out, rookie center Maurkice Pouncey suffered a neck stinger. Earlier, starting left cornerback Bryant McFadden injured his groin and did not return.

Otherwise, these Steelers appeared fit and focused.

They finished tied with Baltimore, but won their fifth division crown in nine years because of a tiebreaker. It wasn't assured until they avoided a slip-up and avenged last season's 13-6 loss in Cleveland, when a 1-11 Browns team sacked Roethlisberger eight times.

Mendenhall's two short TD bursts and Roethlisberger's scoring passes to Wallace -- following Troy Polamalu's interception -- and Heath Miller gave the Steelers a 28-3 lead. It swelled to 38-3 in the third on wide receiver Antwaan Randle El's 3-yard TD pass to Ward.

"We knew we had a lot riding on this game," Miller said. "Our whole season came down to this. All of our goals hinged on this. We knew we had to take care of business."

Cleveland's fourth straight loss was likely the final straw for Mangini, who kept his job last year when his team closed with a four-game winning streak. The Browns improved in several statistical areas, but went 2-6 following an upset of New England.

Holmgren will discuss the future with him early Monday. It doesn't look good for Mangini, who was fired by the New York Jets after 2008.

Mangini's fate seemed sealed before kickoff, but if Holmgren needed another reason, he's got it. The Browns were no competition for their next-door neighbors from Pennsylvania. Mangini dropped to 2-10 in division games, and after so many close losses, his Browns were blown out.

"Nobody feels good right now," Mangini said. "This is the first time this season when I didn't feel like we were in the game."

Under pressure on almost every pass, Browns rookie quarterback Colt McCoy was intercepted three times and sacked four more. He ended up 20 of 41 for 209 yards -- much of it in garbage time. He did throw a 20-yard TD pass to Brian Robiskie in the fourth.

McCoy wasn't expected to play this season, but was thrust into a starting role by injuries. He went just 2-6, but felt fortunate to gain experience.

"I don't know what the future holds for the coaching staff," McCoy said. "Guys in that locker room are committed to changing the way it's been around here, and I'm one of them."

Notes: It may have been K Phil Dawson's final game with Cleveland. The only player left from the 1999 expansion team is a free agent. "It was an emotional game," he said. "I'm just going home to Texas, do some fishing and we'll see what happens." ... Polamalu's seventh pick tied a career high for a season. ... Pittsburgh gave up only 62.8 yards rushing per game, shattering the team record set in 2001.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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Manning's late run seals win over Raiders, who are eliminated from playoffs

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Peyton Manning put Indianapolis in the lead with his arm and sealed the game with his legs. No matter what happened against the Oakland Raiders, Manning knew he'd need one more big game to get the Colts back into the postseason.

Manning threw three touchdown passes and iced the game with a 27-yard keeper to help the Colts beat the Oakland Raiders 31-26 Sunday in a game that turned out to have little playoff meaning.

"All we did was win today," Manning said. "We have to find a way to win again next week."

The Colts (9-6) allowed Jacoby Ford to return the opening kick for a touchdown, overcame a pair of interceptions by Manning in the second half and survived four field goals from Sebastian Janikowski, including two from more than 50 yards, to move within a win of clinching the AFC South title for their ninth straight playoff berth.

But when Jacksonville lost 20-17 in overtime to Washington in the early game Sunday, the Colts knew that no matter what happened in this game they could clinch the division with a win at home next week against the Titans or a Jaguars loss at Houston.

"I don't know what the coaches do or what everybody else does, but I didn't know who won the morning games," Manning said. "All we knew was the time of our kickoff and the defenses and offensive plays that Oakland was going to run. That's really was where our focus was."

The results in the early games also robbed this game of any real meaning for the Raiders (7-8), who were eliminated from playoff contention when Kansas City wrapped up a 34-14 win against Tennessee early in the first quarter of this game.

The Chiefs had long been in control of that game so any Oakland player who had caught wind of the score in pregame warmups knew there was only pride on the line.

"The guys were trying not to pay attention to it," quarterback Jason Campbell said. "We were just really trying to focus on our game. That's the situation you're in when you have to count on other teams. It's a tough situation to be in."

The Raiders hung close with the Colts for much of this game but were unable to score an offensive touchdown until Campbell's 6-yard pass to Zach Miller with 1:51 to play.

Manning took advantage of a 31-yard pass interference call against Stanford Routt to throw a 4-yard TD pass to Blair White to give the Colts a 24-16 lead late in the third quarter. But little came easy for Manning against Oakland's defense. He threw a pair of interceptions in the second half, giving him 17 for the season, which is his most since 2002.

He responded from the second interception by leading the Colts on a 68-yard drive that was capped by a 7-yard TD pass to Pierre Garcon on third down to give Indianapolis a 31-19 lead.

After the Colts recovered a late onside kick, Manning ran out the clock with a 27-yard keeper on third-and-2. He faked the ball to Dominic Rhodes and then ran around the left side before sliding down at the 4, instead of scoring, to allow the Colts to run out the clock.

"That was just a great call by him," Rhodes said. "They had been biting, they were trying to stop me from running the football. Even I thought I had the football, along with everybody else. The whole defense converged on me. It was just a great play all around, he made it happen and we pulled out a great victory."

Manning completed 16 of 30 passes for 179 yards as he struggled at times against Oakland's aggressive cornerbacks. But the Colts managed to gain 191 yards on the ground, including 98 from Rhodes, who returned to Indianapolis earlier this month.

Joseph Addai added a 6-yard touchdown run in the first quarter in his first game since hurting a nerve in his left shoulder Oct. 17.

"We went out and out-physicaled a physical team," Rhodes said. "For the last few weeks, we've done that. We're gearing up for playoff football. And this is what you have to do in the playoffs."

Indianapolis' much-maligned run defense once again stepped up to the challenge a week after holding Maurice Jones-Drew and Jacksonville to 67 yards in last week's key win. Oakland's second-ranked rushing attach was held to 80 yards.

"There's no magic to it," coach Jim Caldwell said. "We're running the same plays, running the same defense. We were just playing what we do, and doing it a little better."

Ford's team-record third kickoff return for a TD got the Raiders started. Oakland went ahead 13-10 after Janikowski made field goals of 59 and 38 yards. The 59-yarder was the second longest in team history.

But Manning led a late touchdown drive helped by a personal foul on Lamarr Houston for poking Kyle DeVan in the eye and a 25-yard pass interference call on Chris Johnson. Manning found Jacob Tamme on a 14-yard pass on the next play to make it 17-13 at the break.

"There's not a quarterback that I've played against that controls the game the way that he does, and handles every situation and is basically the coordinator on the fly," Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said.

Notes: Manning tied former Raiders OL Gene Upshaw for the most consecutive starts to begin a career with 207. ... Raiders DT Richard Seymour missed the game with a hamstring injury.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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Conference call with NFL, refs to address illegal hits, playoffs

Head of officiating Carl Johnson and the NFL's football operations staff will have a conference call with all game officials at the end of this week, sources with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday.

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The conference call was scheduled several weeks back, when the officials participated in another call.

The measure is part of Johnson's expanded communications program. It's akin to the league sending training videos to the officials each week and having the crews meet and review video on Saturdays before their games.

This week's call will continue to address illegal hits and serve as a primer for the playoff stretch run.

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