Chargers' Philip Rivers will be feeling it

It's not on his throwing hand, and it's not on his left hand, either. It's a blemish on his otherwise spectacular season as quarterback of the San Diego Chargers, a sore thumb that jumps off the stat sheet. And it came courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Two interceptions. A fumble in the end zone resulting in a safety. A season-low passer rating of 44.4. A forgettable performance he's surely unable to forget.

"I think anybody in this league is a proud person," Steelers defensive end Justin Smith said. "If you don't have your best game, you can't wait to get out there and try to prove yourself against them. That's why most of us are here. So I would expect the best from him."

And the Chargers will need Rivers' best Sunday in a divisional playoff game at cold and windy Heinz Field. Tight end Antonio Gates is banged up, and running back LaDainian Tomlinson is worse. Receiver Vincent Jackson is coming off a zero-catch game and the distraction of a DUI arrest. And 5-foot-6, 181-pound running back Darren Sproles will be facing a top-ranked Pittsburgh defense that hasn't yielded a 100-yard rusher all season.

"I think there is no question that it is the best defense we've played all year," Rivers said. "Since Saturday, obviously, a lot of us having been preparing for them. . . . When you throw that defense up there and look at those categories and see a '1' by almost every one of them, first in the league, obviously you already know what challenge you're against."

A lot of the pressure falls on Rivers, who finished the regular season with a league-high passer rating of 105.5 and broke Dan Fouts' team record with 34 touchdown passes.

Rivers has answered the challenge before. He guided the Chargers to the AFC championship game last season, where San Diego, with Tomlinson and Gates hobbled, gave the then-undefeated New England Patriots a scare before the home team pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Later, the mind-numbing revelation: Rivers gritted through that bitter-cold game in Foxborough with, in essence, no anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

"I remember watching him in that game," said Byron Leftwich, Pittsburgh's backup quarterback who has a reputation for playing through pain. "As a quarterback, you watch other quarterbacks do certain things and you respect it. When I found out he was playing with a torn ACL, I respected that. And I think I'll always have a certain respect for him because of what he went out there and did."