"The cry came from an unidentifiable voice among the Oakland Raiders' running backs, likely Justin Fargas:

"Let's get out of this hell-hole."

You can bet the Raiders paid attention to Mike Tomlin's highlight quote in the aftermath of the overtime loss to Baltimore about unleashing a version of Hades in the next game, against Oakland. The Raiders, with fans infamous for their studded collars, instead put a leash on the Steelers yesterday, 27-24.

"It helped motivate us," offered quiet center Samson Satele.

"Oh, yeah. We had his comments up on the board," added receiver Todd Watkins. "That kind of drove us all week, when you make a statement like that. A similar situation when [Antonio] Pierce of the Giants made some comments about us, that just fired us up. I hope the next team says something about this team.

"Our receivers coach [Sanjay Lal] gave us a message: The Miracle on Ice, Buster Douglas knocking out Tyson. ... It wasn't unbelievable for us."

Local boy makes goodSeton-LaSalle High's Bruce Gradkowski wasn't merely 0 for 2 starting against his hometown team; he was statistically abysmal. He had a 20.2 passer rating combined in his Tampa Bay and Cleveland starts against the Steelers. He had five interceptions and nary a touchdown pass. He had a how-low-can-you-go 1.0 passer rating for the Browns last Dec. 28, enduring a woeful 5 for 16 for 18 yards and two Tyrone Carter interceptions, one returned for a score.

So, for him, a touchdown, let alone a victory, was intensely gratifying."