Dec 30, 2002 By Mike Ciarochi 5 min read

PITTSBURGH – The Steelers added some icing to their playoff cake with a 34-31 win over the Baltimore Ravens Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams. Pittsburgh (10-5-1) enters the NFL playoffs as the AFC’s third seed. Baltimore finishes its season at 7-9 and out of the playoffs.

The Steelers will host Cleveland in an AFC wild-card playoff game next Sunday.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Browns finished second to Pittsburgh in the AFC North with the Ravens third.

“It’s great to finish on a positive note,” Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. “We had an opportunity to sweep our division and we were able to do that and tune up for the playoffs at the same time.”

The Steelers actually got practice coming from behind. They trailed the Ravens, 31-20, with just under 13 minutes remaining, but came back to claim the win.

“That showed a lot of the character that we have on this team,” outside linebacker Joey Porter said. “To be down 11 like that and to come back, that shows a lot of character.”

Even after they had reclaimed the lead, the Steelers had to hold off Baltimore. It all came down to Dewayne Washington’s interception of a Jeff Blake pass in the end zone with 14 seconds remaining. Washington had been victimized on a 33-yard pass to 6-3 Ravens rookie Randy Hymes earlier in the drive.

“They were making plays on us all day, up and down the field,” Washington said. “At the end of the day, you obviously still want to win the game and we had a chance to do that. I was glad I was able to make a play that helped us win.”

The Ravens opened the game with an impressive drive, but it ended when Deshea Townsend intercepted a Blake pass intended for Todd Heap in the end zone. Blake connected with Heap on passes covering 42 and 22 yards and Jamal Lewis ran twice for another first down earlier in the drive.

Gary Baxter’s interception and 24-yard touchdown return of a Tommy Maddox pass was nullified by Anthony Weaver’s roughing the passer penalty. Given new life, Maddox made the Ravens pay. Amos Zereoue ran for a first down, then Maddox passed to Plaxico Burress and Dan Kreider for two more and the Steelers were set up at Baltimore’s 27-yard line.

An illegal contact penalty against Chris McAlister on third-and-11 kept the drive alive and Maddox capped it with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward to give Pittsburgh a 7-0 lead with 5:43 remaining in the first quarter.

Blake passed to Hymes for 43 yards on Baltimore’s ensuing possession and on the next play Lewis fumbled into the end zone and fullback Alan Ricard recovered it there for an apparent tying touchdown. Cowher challenged but the play was upheld on review and the score was tied, 7-7, with 4:32 remaining in the first.

Pittsburgh drove to the Ravens’ 5-yard line at the end of the first quarter and Jeff Reed opened the second with a 23-yard field goal to give the Steelers a 10-7 lead 14:56 before halftime.

Every Steelers scoring drive to that point included a personal foulnalty against Baltimore and the Ravens kept that streak alive when Chad Williams grabbed Maddox’s facemask on a third-down sack, giving Pittsburgh a first-and-goal at the Ravens’ 3-yard line. Zereoue scored from the 1 three plays later to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 17-7 with 6:48 remaining in the half.

Baltimore got back into the game when Chester Taylor took the kickoff back 54 yards and Jamal Lewis added runs of 2 and 24 yards before Ricard scored on a 9-yard run to make it 17-14.

The Steelers added a score on the last play of the half. After a Jason Gildon sack resulted in a fumble that Aaron Smith recovered, Maddox passed to Burress for 21 yards to set up Jeff Reed’s 48-yard field goal that made Pittsburgh’s lead 20-14 at the intermission.

Baltimore closed to within three when Matt Stover connected on a 43-yard field goal with 9:25 remaining in the third quarter. His kick capped an 8-play, 38-yard drive that began when Burress dropped a fourth-down pass from Maddox.

The Ravens then took the lead when Blake passed to Heap for 31 yards and a touchdown with 7:07 remaining in the third. The 2-play, 47-yard drive followed a Baltimore interception and gave the Ravens a 24-20 lead.

Baltimore padded its lead to 31-20 when Blake passed to Chester Taylor for a 20-yard touchdown with 12:57 remaining in the game.

The Steelers stayed in it with a couple of big conversions. Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala ran for 18 yards on fourth-and-1 and Maddox ran for 21 on third and 10. Zereoue capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 7:51 remaining. The two-point conversion run by Zereoue failed and Baltimore’s lead was 31-26.

Pittsburgh got the ball back when the Ravens fumbled the ensuing kickoff.

Maddox capped the 9-play, 31-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Antwaan Randle El and passed to Burress for a 2-point conversion to give Pittsburgh a 34-31 lead with 2:29 remaining.

“They were trying to keep Hines and Plex from making a play and they almost had me for a sack,” Maddox said. “But Antwaan broke free and I got the ball to him.”

“I came around and just came out the back door,” Randle El said. “Once I broke open, he got me the ball as quick as he could.”

“Defensively, we didn’t play very well at all,” Cowher said. “Offensively, we did a lot of good things. I was really pleased with the way we came back in the fourth quarter. That showed me a lot.”