Pittsburgh's stealers

More Robinson: Redskins' do-it-all defense

CINCINNATI – Someone is going to swipe it. And they're going to rob the credit from the Pittsburgh Steelers just as quickly as Carson Palmer was robbed of the rest of his postseason.

They'll talk about Pittsburgh defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen's hit – the one that rocked Palmer and blew out his left knee, flattening the foundation of the Cincinnati Bengals' glorious season. And in the next breath, someone will contend that if Palmer hadn't gotten hurt, surely everything would have been different. Surely, we'd be talking about how the Bengals plowed forward in this magnificent playoff race, and not bitterly reciting what could have been after a 31-17 loss.

They'll say it would have been different. And they'll be wrong.

Of course, we never can prove it. Not without magically going back in time and sliding Palmer one foot to the right on that fateful first-quarter throw, when his left knee popped from von Oelhoffen's direct hit, and seconds later, the defensive end was bent over Palmer apologizing. Despite a game where Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt unveiled his most daring passing tricks of the season – and the Steelers won despite not being able to run all that well – Palmer's injury unfairly stifled the polish on a team that dominated the final three quarters.

Pittsburgh may have bounced back from two 10-point deficits and showed it still has the goods to compete for a Super Bowl, but on Monday, we'll talk about Palmer and how his injury changed everything. Which is bogus.

"People are going to try and make any excuse to try and take away from the luster of the win – you have to expect that," Steelers offensive lineman Max Starks said, shaking his head. "But you know, they still competed with Jon Kitna. It's not like they curled up and died. If people want to take away from it, then oh well. They can say what they want. But guess what? We're still moving on to next week and [the Bengals] aren't."

That's a bitter pill to swallow in Cincinnati, where a buzzing sellout crowd moaned in unison in the first quarter (imagine the sound of 60,000 simultaneous hangovers) when Palmer's knee was bent like a protractor. At that moment, towering above the 50-yard line, a gigantic banner proudly declared "After 15 yrs, pigs DO FLY." Seeing Palmer lying on the ground, you half expected the sky to begin raining bacon.

I won't argue the injury didn't make a difference. That would be absurd. But it's equally ridiculous to assume Palmer's injury handed the game to Pittsburgh on a platter.

As Steelers wideout Hines Ward put it, "He doesn't play defense, does he? You saw it, we went out there offensively and did what we had to do. That's the bottom line. That didn't have anything to do with Carson Palmer."

Ward is right. Palmer wouldn't have been on the field to protect Cincinnati's 10-0 first-quarter lead – a margin built on a fast 6-for-7 passing start by Kitna. And he couldn't have stopped Cincinnati linebacker Odell Thurman from getting sucked inside on a screen pass to Pittsburgh running back Willie Parker – a play that turned into a 19-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

With or without Palmer, Sunday was destined to expose Cincinnati for what it is: a young, inexperienced team with a vulnerable defense and too much reliance on turnovers. Unlike the Bengals' 38-31 road win over the Steelers on Dec. 4 – when they forced four costly Pittsburgh miscues – Cincinnati's defense wasn't able to produce even one. The Bengals came up empty despite Pittsburgh's attempts at several risky plays, including unsuccessful halfback and wide receiver passes and a cross-field flea flicker from Antwaan Randle El to Ben Roethlisberger that resulted in a 43-yard touchdown pass to Cedrick Wilson.

"It shows that we're aggressive and will do whatever it takes to win," running back Jerome Bettis said. "Sometimes we hear that playoff teams tend to play tight and don't take chances. That shows we're willing to take chances."

Not that those chances will be the enduring memory. This game will be remembered mostly as Carson Palmer's playoff debut – in which his first and only pass established a dubious stat line: 1-for-1 for 66 yards and an ACL surgery.

But if there's any justice, Sunday will be remembered for a Cincinnati team that still looks one year away from being a Super Bowl contender and a Pittsburgh team that still looks more than capable of challenging for a championship right now. The game should be remembered for a Ben Roethlisberger who looked more mature and playoff steady than ever. And it should be remembered for tested veterans like Jerome Bettis, who carried the ball only 10 times but provided the game's exclamation point when he battered two Cincinnati defenders and carried Bengals cornerback Tory James into the end zone on a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.

"We had to score a touchdown there," Bettis said. "It's all heart once you get stopped, and I think I've got a pretty big heart."

A big heart and a big win. And you can't steal either one of them from the Steelers, no matter what you say about Carson Palmer's knee.