Five things that stand out this morning from last night's 35-24 Steelers victory over the San Diego Chargers in the AFC divisional playoffs at Heinz Field:

1. Several Steelers, including head coach Mike Tomlin, remarked on the Steelers' offensive balance. In fact, Sunday was the first time since a 38-10 win over Cincinnati in Week 10 that the Steelers had both a touchdown pass and a 100-yard rusher in the same game.

2. As with the weekend's other three divisional games, it didn't pay to hold the early lead. All four losing teams scored first this weekend. The Titans led 7-0 and then watched the Ravens score the next 10 points. The Panthers led 7-0 and saw the Cardinals run off 33 unanswered points. The Giants took a 3-0 lead on the Eagles, who outscored them 23-8 after that. And the Chargers used four quick plays to go up 7-0, only to see the Steelers score 28 of the next 31 points.

3. After Ben Roethlisberger executed a quick kick that pinned the Chargers inside their 10-yard-line in the first half, the one-liner in the press box was that struggling punter Mitch Berger might be out of a job. All joking aside, Berger was much better Sunday. He punted four times for a 48-yard average, including a 51-yard punt. While he still had one punt that resulted in a touchback and failed to force the Chargers to start a drive inside their 20, he was far from the disaster he had been at times this season. Berger's effectiveness will be even more vital this week as the Steelers wage what shapes us as a field-position battle against the Ravens.

4. The Steelers had three rushing touchdowns for the second straight game after going 15 weeks with no more than two. More importantly, two of the scores came from close range, with Willie Parker scoring on a toss play from three yards out and Gary Russell crashing in from the 1-yard-line. Earlier in the season the Steelers struggled badly in goal-to-go rushing situations, but they appear to have worked things out.

5. The line did a nice job of protecting Roethlisberger, who was coming off a concussion suffered in the Browns game. Roethlisberger was sacked only once, which was the only time he was hit. He had time to check down to second and third receivers on several plays, including an eight-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller on which Miller blocked for several seconds before releasing underneath.

-- John Dudley