Fresh off the 2009 NFL Draft and our own D&S Sports Mock Draft, here are the winners and losers from this past weekend.

-- Written By Devin Dombrowski –-

The saying has been beaten to death recently, so I’ll spare everyone from saying “It normally takes three years to evaluate a draft class, but here are my early takes.”

Oops…

Anyways, the 2009 NFL Draft wrapped up this weekend and now we can finally move the talk from mock drafts to first round hold-outs as we await the start of “voluntary” OTA’s and training camp. I have a very brief list of winners and an even shorter list of losers from this weekend’s festivities. I try to be as simple as possible because there is no way I can possibly sit here and evaluate a draft class two days later.

WINNERS

Atlanta Falcons – I’m giving the Falcons a winning grade for scoring tight end Tony Gonzalez in the week leading up to the draft. They didn’t even have to give up a pick in this year’s draft, instead opting to give up a second in the draft next year. So they get immediate help for their passing game this year, and basically didn’t give up anything. Combine that with the fact that Gonzalez will be extremely motivated (more than normal) because he is on a winning team and has a real QB tossing him the ball… this could be scary for the teams playing Atlanta this season.

Baltimore Ravens – I enjoyed the story about their first round pick Michael Oher until I realized one thing, in about three more days his story is going to be pounded into our skulls via the media so many times that we’ll be sick of it. Then the movie will be released. Regardless of all that, it’s a good story and the Ravens got themselves a real good player. I loved his interview right after being drafted. Despite playing for Baltimore, I’ll be rooting for Oher.

Buffalo Bills – I love the Maybin pick. Love it. He is exactly what the Bills needed. Considering the fact that the Bills could’ve replaced Chris Kelsay with an uneven washer, this is an immediate upgrade. They also addressed the o-line effectively and grabbed tight end Shawn Nelson in the fourth round, which could be been the steal of the draft. Never have I watched the entire fourth round rooting for one guy to drop to Buffalo, only to see it happen. Loved it.

Jacksonville Jaguars – The Jags were ravaged with injuries to their o-line last season and they addressed it with their first two picks; Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton. I never thought Monroe would drop to the 8^th spot, and unless I was missing something, nobody else saw it either. If those two players play to their potential, the Jags just got franchise tackles to build around for the next decade.

Miami Dolphins – The pick of QB/WR Pat White honestly scares me. The Wildcat was annoying enough to worry about last season (even though you knew it was coming), but now to add a legit threat instead of Ronnie Brown, that’s scary. Sure Brown is a better runner than White, but they are adding someone who can run and also has a cannon of an arm. I’m not looking forward to facing that this season.

Philadelphia Eagles – The Eagles acquired Jason Peters from Buffalo prior to the draft, which will most likely work out for them. They also addressed the other positions of need on offense. Jeremy Maclin fell to them in the first round and should be a great weapon opposite DeSean Jackson this season.

San Francisco 49ers – The 49ers must have been pinching themselves when Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree fell to the 10^th spot. Although they still have a gaping hole at QB, they have now addressed the WR position with one of the top players in this draft. The 49ers front office should probably send out some thank you cards to Cleveland and Oakland.

All of us Non-Oakland Fans – I was driving home from Buffalo Saturday afternoon listening to the draft on the radio when the first Oakland pick was announced. It took every ounce of energy to not swerve off the highway from shear laughter. I could not believe it. After taking some time to think about it, I should’ve expected it with C.A.D. (Crazy Al Davis) running the show. Their next two picks only cemented this draft as one of the most memorable for another team besides Buffalo (more on those picks later).

LOSERS

Dallas Cowboys – Include me in the group that is never impressed with the Cowboys on draft day. After getting fleeced by Detroit in the Roy Williams trade (not something to put on a resume), the Cowboys didn’t make one significant pick in the two day span. I’ll gladly eat my words if one of these players turns out to be a major game day performer. Just to define “major”, doing something more than a few special teams tackles will qualify as “major”. For all the people who want me to eat my words, here is the exact list so you’ll have it ready on Week One.

OLB Jason Williams

OT Robert Brewster

QB Stephen McGee

DE Victor Butler

DE Brandon Williams

CB DeAngelo Smith

FS Michael Hamlin

K David Buehler

SS Stephen Hodge

TE John Phillips

CB Mike Mickens

WR Manual Johnson

Denver Broncos – Never have I seen one team completely self-destruct within in a five month span. The Broncos went from a three game lead and imminent division title to collapsing and missing the playoffs, firing their long time and only Super Bowl champion head coach, trading their young gun franchise QB and rivaling the Oakland Raiders for most botched draft picks.

The Broncos defense was the definition of terrible last season. I’m talking Ashlee Simpson on Saturday Night Live bad. So they follow it up by signing Correll Buckhalter, J.J. Arrington and Lamont Jordan in the off-season. Yeah I know it’s nothing major, but a very solid combination at running back. Those three could platoon and easily provide Denver with a solid running game, all while destroying fantasy owners everywhere.

Let’s go back to Saturday. They have two first round picks and can easily beef up their defense with both picks. What do they do? They draft Knowshon Moreno with the 12^th overall pick, leaving Brian Orakpo on the board. It was a mind blowing pick. I NEVER would’ve expected it and I doubt anybody else did. For the record, Moreno might end up being a good pick, but unless he is scoring at least three touchdowns a game, I don’t see how this will help Denver in the immediate future.

While I’m piling on Denver, I recently read that they are considering signing J.P. Losman to come in and compete with Chris Simms and Kyle Orton. Good luck Denver fans.

NFL – I hate rookie contracts every season and this year is worse than ever. There is no way anybody can explain/justify the contract that Matthew Stafford was given by Detroit. Terrible. Horrible. Those words don’t even fully explain it. Something has to be done about this and it has to be done sooner rather than later. They need some kind of rookie contract scale where the money has to be earned in the first few seasons before they get the big payday. It’s ludicrous on the level of the Yankees shelling out billions every off-season, except they usually sign proven players with that money. On the bright side, Stafford could always justify it because he is guaranteed on improving them from a year ago.

Oakland Raiders – Even though Denver tried their hardest, nobody botches a draft quite like the Oakland Raiders. Just when you thought they couldn’t screw up the second and third round picks like their first, they fully outdid themselves. I was listening to ESPN’s coverage of the second round while catching up on my NHL 09 season and had to pause it and turn the television back to ESPN for this one. Their second round pick, Michael Mitchell was the 73^rd rated safety overall by Mel Kiper Jr. Please, read the sentence again. The 73^rd rated safety. Not the 73^rd rated player. Even then, they took him 47^th overall. This defies all logic. He probably wasn’t even going to get drafted at all, let alone in the second round. The NFL should probably step in here and see what exactly C.A.D. was drinking Saturday afternoon while making his picks.

-- Written By Scott Lunn –-

Winners from the 2009 NFL Draft:

Buffalo Bills - It seems that so far most everybody really likes the picks made by the Buffalo Bills over the weekend, that is, everyone except Bills fans of course. Every year is the same regardless of what Buffalo does, the majority of their fans are disgruntled and need a reason to complain at every turn. Now, being one of those fans myself, it's taken a day or so for the draft to sink in, and while I'm not entirely keen on everything they did, for the most part, they really addressed some areas of need, which is always a plus. Maybin is largely considered the best edge rusher in the draft and the team desperately needs some sort of ability to pressure opposing quarterbacks. Maybin is undersized, but so are the rest of the Buffalo DEs.

While I think 28 was a small reach for Wood, the center out of Louisville, by all indications, he's a very solid player and a good fit for the "high character" players Buffalo usually covets (and needs to make up for some transgressions with the law as of late). He looks to be headed to the guard position, but seems equally capable in that role. Buffalo's second round started off with Jarius Byrd, a DB out of Oregon, in a pick that aggravated me a great deal at first. It seems every year that the Bills go crazy on DBs in the draft, and this year was no different, picking a total of 4. Byrd is a ball hawk and that's something Buffalo certainly needs, and his likely transition to safety fills a bigger need than CB for Buffalo, but I felt as though they could have addressed a bigger need here, that being a tackle specifically. The team went back to the OL later in the second round, trading up to get Guard Andy Levitre from Oregon State. A solid pick for Buffalo, the center of the line seems to be shored up now, though the more important position of tackle remains a question mark.

In the 4th round, Buffalo got very good value in tight end Shawn Nelson from Southern Miss, filling a position that has been desperately lacking for years now. Tight Ends dropped big time and that benefited the Bills, as Nelson was graded as high as the 3rd best TE by some experts heading into the draft. Overall, they hit their needs for the most part and didn't reach too much, or give up a ton in order to do so, and really that's about all you can ask for. Only time will tell if their picks really pan out or not, but short term, they did a solid job.

Green Bay Packers - Green Bay's transition to a 3-4 defensive scheme was greatly aided by 2 first round picks on Saturday. At #9, the Packers grabbed NT B.J. Raji from Boston College, easily the best DT available in this year's draft, and a definite day one starter to anchor the middle. They then traded up into the later first and took LB Clay Matthews from USC with the 26th pick. Matthews began his college career as a walk on, but became a force by the end of his career, showing a true nose for the defensive aspect of the game, no doubt inherited from his father, a former Cleveland Browns linebacker in the late 80s. The Pack gave up quite a bit to New England to procure their second first round pick, but it will likely prove worth it in the long run. The Packers also grabbed a couple of big bodied offensive lineman on Day 2, to help add depth to the trenches.

Cincinnati Bengals - The Bengals have a true Boom or Bust list of draft picks on their plate after the weekend, but the potential is there for them to have walked away with the top draft class in my opinion. With the #6 pick in the draft, the Bengals took Tackle Andre Smith from Alabama. Smith is perhaps the most talented lineman in the draft, but made a real mess of things between the end of his college career and the draft itself. A horrible showing at the NFL combine and his Pro Day left many wondering if his potential was worth the early pick. Cinncy, never one to worry about off field issues took the risk.

In the 2nd round, the Bengals found themselves staring at a gift wrapped Rey Maualuga, the LB from USC who played at 100 mph during his time with the Trojans. Manning the middle of the LB corps in Southern California, Maualuga tended to be all over the field, but ended up being the last of the 3 starters from that team drafted. At the 38th pick in the draft, I think the Bengals get a lot of bang for their buck and a potential fan favorite to boot. In the 3rd, the Bengals went defense again, drafting DE Michael Johnson from Georgia Tech. The guy has all the measurable skill in the world, but questions arose about his actual on the field skills. 19 sacks in just 15 career starts as a Yellow Jacket is impressive, but the kid likely needs a lot of coaching to become a consistent producer in the NFL.

They followed this with another 3rd round pick in Chase Coffman, TE out of Missouri, and last year's Mackey award winner as the nations best at the position. Coffman is a great pass catching threat and grabbed 30 TDs in his time at Mizzou. Add in a multiple time Best Center nominee in Jonathon Luigs from Arkansas, and Cinncy could have really cleaned up this past weekend.

Losers from the 2009 NFL Draft:

Oakland Raiders - I don't even know where to begin with this mess of a franchise. Al Davis is certifiably insane and it was proved over and over again throughout the draft. They start by taking WR Darrius Heyward Bey out of Maryland at #7, when nobody expected him to go until closer to 20 or so. Not to mention Michael Crabtree who is the closest thing to a no doubt talent at WR in awhile was still on the board at the time. This completely puzzling act was followed up in the 2nd round as the Raiders took Michael Mitchell, a safety from Ohio that ESPN didn't even have any video on, and was dubbed a "5th rounder" at best by the ever so wise Mel Kiper. Trying to further cement themselves as champs in the hunt for worst draft ever, they spent their 3rd round pick on a DE from Wisconsin, who the NFL Network crew said was maybe a 6th or 7th round guy. Way to stick to your guns Al Davis... This once proud franchise is now the biggest laughing stock in the league and the black hole is not just a section in their stadium anymore... it's a place where careers go to die.

Denver Broncos - The Broncos just continued to baffle me on draft day with the moves they were making. Denver clearly has huge needs on the defensive side of the ball after an abysmal season last year, yet with the #12 pick they drafted Knowshon Moreno, the RB out of Georgia. Moreno's skill set seems to translate very well to the NFL, and the Broncos could use a solid back, but it wasn't at the top of their priorities in my book. Nor was Moreno probably worth the 12 pick when few teams were looking RB in the 1st round. They then turned around and drafted Robert Ayers, a DE from Tennessee with the 18th pick. A smarter pick here, addressing the front 7, which is where Denver needed the most help, but like the rest of the "tweener" OLB/DE picks in the draft, I'm not sure how well their pass rushing abilities will translate.

In the 2nd round, Denver grabbed CB Alphonso Smith from Wake Forest, who is a talented playmaker at the position, but again, not the biggest need for Denver. In fact, the Ayers pick was the only one all weekend by the Broncos which added anybody at the defensive front 7 positions. The other area of concern for Denver had to be QB after the trading of Jay Cutler to Chicago. I guess Kyle Orton or Chris Simms is enough for them though, as they waited until the 6th round to get Tom Brandstater from Fresno St. The Broncos had some decent picks, I just don't feel like they really addressed their areas of concern in a convincing matter at all.

Dallas Cowboys - Let me say right off the bat, a bad draft by Dallas is always just fine with me. After trading away their only day 1 pick to Buffalo, the Cowboys had to wait until Sunday before they started to acquire any new talent. The Cowboys mostly just seemed to add depth, particularly at linebacker and in the secondary. Their most notable picks were QB Stephen McGee from Texas A&M in the 4th round, who analysts labeled a "very solid NFL backup" and then perhaps a steal late with WR Maunel Johnson from Oklahoma in the 7th round at 229 overall. Described as a high character, strong work ethic player, though undersized and not all that fast, Johnson seems to be the Anti-Terrell Owens. Maybe that's all Wade and Jerry wanted though? Certainly the pressure will be on Roy Williams this season to step up at the WR spot, because no splash was made to grab a top talent wideout in this draft. I'm not sure what the Cowboys are thinking by adding little talent to replace what they've lost, on a team that's already proven themselves not good enough to get the job done, especially late in the season.

Mock Draft Results:

So as a fun little excercise to see how Devin and I faired in our first attempts at a Mock Draft, I devised a scoring scheme to try and grade ourselves. Simple and to the point, 5 points were given to every player matched up with the proper team who drafted them. Additionally, 10 points were given for picking a player in the exact spot that they were drafted, with 8 points given for being 1 position off, 6 points for 2 spots off, 4 points for being 3 off, 2 points for being 4 picks away, and 1 point for missing by 5 spots.

In the end, it was a very close battle, but I came out the winner barely, scoring a 153 to Devin's 148. Devin picked 7 players to their correct teams, but only 6 were at the right # draft spot, thanks to Tampa moving up to grab Josh Freeman, while I had 7 players to their correct teams and also in the correct spot. I haven't had a chance to compare our mocks to some of the "professional experts" using this same formula as of yet, but this was a very tough draft to pick, especially with some unexpected moves in the top 10 shifting things around a bit.

All in all, I think we did fairly well for two guys who spent a few hours each coming up with this draft, based on our limited knowledge. It's not like we're paid to watch tape on every player under the sun all year round after all!

The NFL season "officially" came to a close this past Sunday when the Pro Bowl was played in Honolulu. Next season the Super Bowl will be the conclusion to the season as the Pro Bowl will be played in the off week in between the big game. This is only fitting since every NFL fan knows that the Pro Bowl is a meaningless game. I was relieved more than anything after the game. Although my NFL season was finished sometime in November, I'm glad that the season done for everyone. This season has truly tested my patience and I need the break.

There are several story lines that we should be following throughout the off-season. I'm sure that ESPN will air them all today, starting with everything and anything related to the Dallas Cowboys, but I assure you that there is more going on in the league than that. Here are a few that I find the most intriguing.

- The Quarterback Carousel:

Several teams have some big issues at the QB position. Starting with the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals, Kurt Warner will need to decide whether or not he will return for another year. If I'm working in the front office in Arizona, I'm doing everything in my power to bring him back. The Cardinals will be hurting without him next season and they need to realize that.

Kerry Collins is also hitting the market, which normally wouldn't be big news, but it is this year. The Titans have already mentioned that they want him back but I
think Collins might be playing a little too much hardball. He has publicly said he would want more than Warner, which to me sounds ridiculous. Collins didn't win any playoff games this year and didn't even come close to matching Warner's numbers. Both Collins and the Titans need each other and they sooner they realize that, the easier things will be. On a related note, if Collins comes back we also have to wonder what will happen with Vince Young. Will he sit on the bench for another season and demand a trade?

Just as I was writing that we're going to faced with another off-season of Favre, it appears as if he is going to retire. It's being reported on ESPN that he informed his agent that he is hanging it up this off-season. We can only pray that this is finally true and Favre will just go away. Honestly. I've never been more annoyed with a player in the past season than I have with Favre. I hope it was worth it for the Jets. Now they will go into this season not knowing what they have at QB because they wasted an entire season on Favre. Good luck with that.

The Browns are on this list as well, choosing between Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson. They appeared to have made the call last season, but with a new coaching staff, who knows. I think it will be Quinn, which also leads me to believe that Anderson will need to be traded somewhere else.

Several other teams also have to make some QB choices. The Chiefs will need to decide whether or not Tyler Thigpen in the answer. The Eagles will need to make another call on Donovan McNabb. The Bears will have another off-season to ponder the QB situation, most likely going outside the organization this time. The Lions will have to decide if they should use the first overall pick in the draft on a QB. The 49ers will also have to make the call on Shaun Hill.

- The Free Agent Market

There is a pretty good group of free agents hitting the market. The pack is led by Titans DT Albert Haynesworth. I have a pretty good feeling that Tennessee recognizes his worth and shows him the money, but if they don't get it done by the start of free agency, several other teams will be throwing wads of money at the guy.

Julius Peppers is hitting the market as well and has pretty much sealed the deal that he won't be back in Carolina. He spoke on the sidelines at the Pro Bowl and basically said as much. If I were a Carolina fan, this wouldn't make me very happy with the guy, but it's a business and he has to do what he wants to do. He has mentioned that he wants to play in a 3-4 defense and if he holds true to that, he narrows the list of potential teams. If you're bored during the off-season, just visit the message board of any team and read "legit" reasons why an elite player like Peppers would want to go to their team.

Baltimore also has to make the call on Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs. Head Coach John Harbaugh has slightly hinted that the team could only bring one of these players back and made it seem like it will be Suggs. I personally couldn't picture Ray Lewis playing for another team. His name is synonymous with the Baltimore Ravens and he should stay. There have been rumors of him jumping ship to Dallas, but I think that will be a mistake on both parts. Dallas really isn't that good of a team, no matter what the media wants you to believe and Dallas needs to focus on building a winning team, not getting big names and building a fantasy football team. I've also read about him playing for the Jets and his old defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan. Speaking as a fan who sees the Jets twice a year, no thank you.

- Off-Season Moves

Along with a few moves I've mentioned before, there are a few others that will be interesting to watch. Anquan Boldin is again wanting out of Arizona. He mentioned during the Pro Bowl that he loves playing with his team, but doesn't necessarily like the front office. That is all fine and dandy for him, but he needs to stay in Arizona. I don't think he realizes how good he has it lining up opposite of Larry Fitzgerald. I've seen this situation play out several times and it never ends well for the receiver who leaves town. Can you say, Peerless Price? Fitzgerald and the Cards will be hurt slightly if Boldin is shipped off, but they will recover and move on.

One destination I've read about was Boldin going to the Giants. This could be a possibility because the Giants were definitely a different team without Plax and who knows if he'll come back or when he'll come back. Boldin would be a decent fit with the Giants, but I still think his best career move would be to stay in Arizona. Speaking of Plax, he still has legal matters to address before he can think of playing again. I think the Giants miss him and want him back, but that relationship is all but finished. He displayed some pretty stupid and selfish behavior last season that most likely caused them to miss out on a second straight Super Bowl trip.

I hate mentioning the guy, but T.O. will be in the news plenty this off-season. I'm not even going to bring up his reality show since that is a joke, but whether or not he stays in Dallas is also being brought up. It took a few more years for the real T.O. to show up in Dallas, but he did last season and they suffered for it. The Cowboys got swindled in a trade for WR Roy Williams last season, and on the outside he could be the replacement for T.O., but I don't see that working out at all. I'd say this will be an interesting story to follow, but just about anything T.O. related gives me a migraine, so I'll let everyone else fill me in on the details.

The Pacman era is officially over in Dallas, as the Cowboys released the cornerback on Monday. Looking back, it wasn't a terrible move by Dallas. They barely gave up anything for the guy, so it was worth a shot (sorry, poor choice of words), but it didn't work out. Not that Pacman should be worried about this though; he has many more important things to worry about.

On a similar note, Michael Vick will be out of jail soon and Dallas..errr..I mean Oakland..err I mean some team might be willing to give him a chance to play. Truth be told, he is the perfect QB for the Wildcat, if some team wants to implement that gimmick offense. I don't agree with it, but he will get another chance in the NFL. Of course, this is all assuming that he has stayed in the shape during his prison term. I'm guessing he has and he'll see he way back on to an NFL roster soon enough.

For now these are some of the bigger issues heading into the NFL off-season. There will surely be more and I'm sure I missed a few. The Combine is coming up on February 18th – 24th which leads us to the draft. Be sure to check back with us between that time as we'll be joining that masses with our own mock draft before the big day.

One of the nice things about writing is that every once in awhile the things you say come true and you have some sort of evidence as vindication. Now, I didn't really go on any limbs with my AFC preview exactly, but I did throw out a few fairly specific things I thought could happen, and as it turned out, I wasn't too far off.

Simply for bragging purposes, I'll point out a handful of things I wrote about last Monday:

"Both defenses are simply going to bring it and turnovers will likely play a huge role in this game as well. I would put money on the fact that there will be a defensive touchdown scored in this game at some point."

"Flacco is going to have to be kept away from Harrison as well as LaMarr Woodley to avoid making mistakes and if he can't, Polamalu is the type of player that always capitalizes."

"Ultimately, I think it comes down to Flacco being pressured or not. If the Steelers can't get to him for some reason, the Ravens will have their best shot at a victory. I just don't see that being the case though. The Steelers fans will be crazy as ever with Terrible Towels in hand and they'll pump up their defense to make big plays. I see this one coming down to a turnover forced in the 4th quarter leading to Pittsburgh getting the late game winning score yet again. Steelers 20-13."

I guess I could say that I saw the Polamalu interception coming ahead of time, and while I wasn't right on the score, I wasn't far off. Simply put, Pittsburgh's defense was the best in the league this season and Flacco's rookie magic was due to run out. Those things kind of went hand in hand of course, and when they both came together, you saw the end result.

Anyways, enough of my pompousness, let's take a quick look at the game itself. As expected, the defenses were the dominating storyline in this one. Neither offense looked all that impressive at all, but Ben Roethlisberger managed to cobble together one of those good games without huge numbers that he's become rather famous for. 16-33, 255 yards, and 1TD don't really jump out as you as stellar, but against the Baltimore defense, it's all he really needed. Especially when you consider Joe Flacco went 13-30 for 141 yards, and most importantly, through 3 interceptions. Baltimore had mild success on the ground against the Steelers for the 3rd time this season, but it wasn't enough to keep the Steelers blitz away from Flacco.

One of the big storylines heading into the game was about the star safeties on each team, Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu. Reed was virtually a non factor with just 2 tackles on the day, while Polamalu of course had the interception return for a touchdown that virtually sealed the win for the Steelers with 4:39 to go. Flacco dealt with a lot of pressure all day long, getting sacked 3 times, and forced to make bad throws several others.

The win marks the 7th time the Steelers have advanced to the Super Bowl, with a 5-1 record in previous appearances. The two week layoff will certainly do them some good as a few players were banged up in yesterday's extremely physical game. Most notable amongst them was Hines Ward, who appeared to injure his knee after a reception in the 2nd quarter. Pittsburgh will look to continue it's defensive dominance against a red hot Arizona Cardinals team lead by a Kurt Warner to Larry Fitzgerald combination that has been on fire in the postseason.

Make sure you check back as we give you a full preview of Super Bowl XLIII next week, and don't forget to look for new stories from all throughout the sporting world in the meantime.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

6:30 PM EST - CBS Sports

Baltimore Ravens (13-5) VS Pittsburgh Steelers (13-4)

It would be easy for me to tell you that as soon as the playoff brackets were finalized, this was the matchup I had for the AFC Championship, but since there is no documentation of this fact, you'll have to take my word for it. The reasoning behind that pick is a simple one. I'm a firm believer in the old adage that defense wins championships. Well, it doesn't get any better than #1 vs. #2 right? The Steelers and their top ranked defense will host the second best unit in the league when the Ravens come to Pittsburgh for the AFC Championship.

These teams are certainly no stranger to one another, both residing in the AFC North, they've already faced off two times this season. Pittsburgh won both of those games, but they were very tight contests and I think we can expect the same this coming Sunday. Nearly every time these two teams do battle, it's a close, hard hitting game and a chance to go to the Super Bowl will only serve to amplify those facts. Before we take a look at the previous matchups from this season, let's first see how both teams made it this far.

Baltimore snuck into the postseason as the 6th seed, edging out New England for the final Wild Card spot. As the final seed, they were forced to win on the road if they wanted to progress in the playoffs. Their first stop was South Beach, to battle the AFC East Champion Miami Dolphins. To nobody's surpise, Baltimore used it's stellar defensive play to force 5 turnovers out of a team who has only coughed up 13 in the regular season. NFL Comeback Player of the Year, Chad Pennington has perhaps his worst performance of the season, throwing 4 interceptions, as the Ravens dominated the Dolphin offense. Baltimore walked away with a 27-9 victory, advancing to face the top seeded Tennessee Titans.

Tennessee had a very stout defense of their own, and there was some concern as to whether or not rookie QB Joe Flacco would be effective in leading the Raven offense. As it would turn out, he didn't necessarily have to be, as the defense continued to prove itself as Baltimore's best weapon. The Titans were also stingy with turnovers throughout the regular season, but the Ravens managed to force 3, while not giving up the ball themselves. With less than a minute to go, Matt Stover kicked a 43 yard field goal to put the Ravens up 13-10, which proved to be the final score.

Pittsburgh finished the regular season with the 2nd best record in the AFC, and in the process, earned themselves a first round bye. After San Diego managed to knock off the early favorite of many in the Indianapolis Colts, they headed to Heinz Field to face the Steelers. As if Pittsburgh's league best defense needed any extra help, they got it when LaDainian Tomlinson was ruled out of the game due to an injured groin. Still, many were impressed by the performance of his replacement, Darren Sproles in the Indy game, and thought he would be capable of putting up big numbers yet again. Pittsburgh had other ideas though. The Steelers took away San Diego's ground attack completely, holding the Chargers to a mere 15 yards on the ground. Despite good numbers from Phillip Rivers, the Steelers has an answer for him as well. In what has to be one of the most lopsided quarters in playoff history, Pittsburgh held the ball for 14:47 in the 3rd quarter, allowing San Diego only one play, which was an interception thrown by Rivers. Willie Parker lead a ground control attack, on his way to 146 yards and 2 TDs. The Steelers never looked back and advanced with a 35-24 victory.

As I stated earlier, these two teams are very familiar with one another as division rivals. Their first contest of the season took place in week 4 on Monday Night Football in Pittsburgh. Close is far and away the best word for this game. Statistically, there was very little difference between the teams in what turned out to be a game marred by injuries. Baltimore ran the ball fairly well even after Willis McGahee was knocked out of the game, as Le'Ron McClain picked up the slack. Joe Flacco only threw for 192 yards, but 137 of them went to the man who has become his primary target, Derrick Mason. The difference making play in the game came as James Harrison, who had 10.5 tackles and 2 sacks in the game, hit Flacco and forced a fumble, which LaMarr Woodley then picked up and ran into the end zone. McClain would score late in the 4th quarter to tie up the game, but in overtime, Pittsburgh marched down the field with their first possession and Jeff Reed hit a 46 yard field goal to give the Steelers the 23-20 victory.

Baltimore would have to wait until week 15 to have a chance at revenge, as the Steelers headed to M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens once again ran the ball fairly effectively against the usually stingy Pittsburgh defense, but Joe Flacco would struggle, managing only 115 yards passing and 2 interceptions. Despite this, Baltimore found itself leading 9-6 late in the 4th quarter. Ben Roethlisberger (22-40, 246 yards) would go 7-11 during a 92 yard drive and find Santonio Holmes on a 4 yard TD with under a minute remaining. There was some controversy however as the TD had to be reviewed. Holmes was standing in the end zone with his arms outstretched in front of him, in the field of play, as he caught the ball, and was hit from behind knocking him back into the playing field at nearly the same time. The review ruled that the ball had broken the plain of the goal line when Holmes caught it and therefore the TD was good. Pittsburgh snuck away with a 13-9 win.

With the track record between these two teams, and the two tight battles from this season, it stands to reason that more of the same can be expected in Pittsburgh this weekend. Both teams will be coming into this game fairly healthy this time around, with only the Ravens possibly missing a few key players. So far, the Ravens have relied very heavily on their defensive playmakers creating turnovers to advance in the postseason, while Pittsburgh showed a bit more offensive prowess in their victory over San Diego. Willie Parker looked very good against the Chargers, but the Chargers defense can't really be compared to that of the Ravens either. I'd expect them to slow him down greatly, and force Big Ben to make plays instead. Pittsburgh will likely try a similar tactic in making Joe Flacco have to win the game for Baltimore. Flacco is the first rookie QB to win 2 postseason games, but he has merely managed both wins thus far.

Roethlisberger may only be in his 5th season, but he obviously has a big experience advantage in this matchup, having already won a Super Bowl in his short time in the league. Ben has not been known to be a big play quarterback so far in his career, instead also playing the manager role for the Steelers. He has however shown flashes of brilliance with an occassional 300+ yard, multi-touchdown game. I would suspect you won't see one of those against the Ravens however.

The keys to winning this game for both teams are very similar. Whichever team is able to establish the run first and take some of the pressure off their quarterback will hold the advantage. Both defenses are simply going to bring it and turnovers will likely play a huge role in this game as well. I would put money on the fact that there will be a defensive touchdown scored in this game at some point. While I don't think either team will be particularly successful in their running attack, I'd give the edge to Willie Parker and the Steelers, again, based on experience.

Key matchups for this game also look similar for both teams. For Baltimore, it will be the play of Joe Flacco facing Pro Bowlers at linebacker in James Harrison and safety in Troy Polamalu. Flacco is going to have to be kept away from Harrison as well as LaMarr Woodley to avoid making mistakes and if he can't, Polamalu is the type of player that always capitalizes. The Ravens offensive line has their work cut out for them stopping the Steelers blitzes as well as trying to make space in the middle for the running game against big tackle Casey Hampton. By contrast, Pittsburgh faces much the same issue. This time, it's Roethlisberger facing Pro Bowlers Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. Much has been made about Ed Reed in recent weeks, with some going so far as to call him the best player in football right now. I don't agree and I think it's simply a case of most people in the media being infatuated with what's happening right this second. Surely I'm not going to discount Reed's big play ability, but his tackling has been highly suspect as of late. He has dealt with some neck and shoulder injuries and it's very obvious when you watch him try to bring guys down. He has done a lot of arm tackling lately and not lead with his shoulder. Watch for this to play a role if Parker manages to get past the nasty Raven linebackers and into the secondary. Additionally, Pittsburgh has been running several plays from a Trips Bunch package. 3 WRs lined up tight together, interweaving routes and generally breaking down the defense into leaving one guy open. These are middle range routes and are going to require the safeties coming up to make the tackles.

All this being said, I still think this is going to be a fairly low scoring, defensive battle, you'd almost be foolish to say otherwise. Ultimately, I think it comes down to Flacco being pressured or not. If the Steelers can't get to him for some reason, the Ravens will have their best shot at a victory. I just don't see that being the case though. The Steelers fans will be crazy as ever with Terrible Towels in hand and they'll pump up their defense to make big plays. I see this one coming down to a turnover forced in the 4th quarter leading to Pittsburgh getting the late game winning score yet again. Steelers 20-13.