PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers needed just 15 minutes to provide the Cincinnati Bengals a refresher course on what it takes to win in December. Run the ball. Create turnovers. A big play or two on special teams helps. So does having a quarterback who knows what hes doing when the games dwindle to a precious few. Its a formula the defending AFC champions have used for years. It has rarely looked as effective as it did in a 35-7 win Sunday. Ben Roethlisberger threw two touchdown passes to Mike Wallace, Rashard Mendenhall ran for two more and the Steelers used an explosive second quarter to crush error-prone Cincinnati. "Were in it now," linebacker James Farrior said. "Right now is our time. ... We already started our playoffs." It certainly looked like it as Pittsburgh (9-3) swept the season series from Cincinnati (7-5) for the second straight year to end any realistic hopes the Bengals have of winning the AFC North. "Its tough," said Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green, who caught an 11-yard touchdown pass but also committed a false start penalty that wiped out another score. "We shot ourselves in the foot sometimes. Being the veteran team they are, they capitalized on everything we did." Its what the Steelers do this time of year. Pittsburgh has been a mixed bag at times this season, often playing to the level of the competition, regardless of who it is. The same team that handled New England with ease six weeks ago is the same one that barely escaped woeful Kansas City with a win last Sunday night, raising concerns about Roethlisbergers fractured right thumb, the running game and a defence nursing injuries to safety Troy Polamalu (concussion) and LaMarr Woodley (hamstring). There were no anxious final moments against the Bengals. Pittsburghs best quarter of the season left little room for doubt, scoring four touchdowns in a span of less than 12 minutes to break it open. "Finally," Wallace said. "We always make it harder than it has to be. Today, we came out with a lot of emotion and a lot of energy. The guys just wanted to win. We knew what we had to do. Its getting closer to the playoffs and its time for us to get better." While the Bengals appear to be getting worse. Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton passed for just 135 yards, was sacked three times by Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison and spent the fourth quarter on the bench as a preventative measure with the game out of reach. "We cant let this hurt us," Dalton said. "We cant let this affect the next four." Blocking it out might be tough. Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis did little to downplay the games importance, practically admitting his teams hopes for an outside shot at a divisional title would all but disappear if his surprising team couldnt earn a split with the Steelers. The Bengals hung tough in a 24-17 loss to Pittsburgh three weeks ago, the kind of gritty performance that gave them hope they could earn a split with their division rivals and stay alive in their quest for a second division title in three seasons. No chance. Thrust into the role of contender, the Bengals wilted in the spotlight, reverting back to the kind of mistakes theyve avoided while rebuilding on the fly behind the tandem of Dalton and Green. Cincinnati committed 10 penalties for 109 yards and offered little resistance to lose for the third time in four games. "They beat us in every area today -- beat us on offence, beat us on defence, beat us in special teams," Lewis said. Roethlisberger, who aggravated his injured thumb in practice during the week, overcame a slow start to complete 15-of-23 passes for 176 yards and the two scores to Wallace. His final completion, a nine-yard toss to tight end David Johnson in the fourth quarter, was the 2,026th of his career, breaking Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaws club record. "Its obviously an awesome honour," Roethlisberger said. "Anytime you break a guy like thats record, its a great thing." It was that kind of day for Pittsburgh. Wide receiver Hines Ward became the 19th player in NFL history to eclipse 12,000 career yards while Harrison joined Chad Brown and Mike Merriweather as the only players in team history to record at least two three-sack games in the same season. "You have to start playing good, all-around football," Ward said. "Today, we displayed that." The Bengals did not. Cincinnatis miscues started early. Green flinched ever so slightly just before the snap to negate a four-yard touchdown pass from Dalton to Jermaine Gresham on the Bengals opening possession. Mike Nugent came out to kick a short field goal only to have it called back after being flagged for delay of game. Nugents kick never had a shot the second time around. Rookie Cam Heyward swatted it out of harms way to record Pittsburghs first blocked kick in more than two years. Its as close as the Bengals would get to making it interesting. Mendenhall, who has been erratic, gave the Steelers the lead with a three-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. He upped the lead to 14-0 with a nifty five-yard cutback run. The Bengals continued to self-destruct on the ensuing kickoff when Brandon Tate fumbled and the Steelers recovered at the Cincinnati 23. Roethlisberger needed just three plays to hit Wallace for a 12-yard score to make it 21-0. Dalton found Green for an 11-yard score to briefly give the Bengals life, but Antonio Brown extinguished any momentum with a scintillating 60-yard punt return just before the half that gave the Steelers a 28-7 lead at the break. The Bengals came in with an NFL-record three double-digit second half rallies, but not this time. Playing with a lead Pittsburghs defence teed off on Dalton and sent fans sprinting to the exits early with victory in hand. "Its just embarrassing," Cincinnati defensive back Chris Crocker said. "You dont feel good at all. When theyre beating you so bad that their fans leave, thats just a bad feeling." Notes: The Steelers have swept the Bengals seven times in the last 11 seasons. ... Woodley started for the first time since getting hurt against New England on Oct. 30, but left in the first half after "tweaking" his left hamstring according to Tomlin. ... Pittsburgh hosts Cleveland on Thursday night, while the Bengals host Houston on Sunday. cheap nfl jerseys . It marks the final selection of the 2011-12 season and there was no womens sports in competition. Verreault-Paul, a fourth-year psychology student from Mashteuiatsh, Que. cheap jerseys . -- Former AL MVP Miguel Tejada has made the Kansas City Royals opening-day roster as a utility infielder. http://www.jerseysnflwholesale.us.com/ . 21-year-old rookie Jake Gardiner is seemingly never tired, despite the heavy minutes hes logging this season for the Leafs. cheap jerseys from china . Desharnais scored at 1:43 of overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators. Desharnais stripped the puck from defenceman Mattias Ekholm along the left boards, skated to the left faceoff dot and put a slap shot over goalie Carter Huttons left shoulder. wholesale nfl jerseys . And fans of the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs will have to wait a little longer to see those teams meet again in the post-season.Winnipeg Goldeyes third baseman Amos Ramon came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning with the game on the line. There is no situation he loves more. Wednesday night in front of 5,064 at Shaw Park, Ramon came up with two out and Tyler Graham on second base and blasted a double into the left-centerfield gap. Graham scored easily with the game-winning run and the Goldeyes had a 5-4 win over the visiting Sioux City Explorers. "You play the game to be in those situations," Ramon said after the game. "I just love that situation. I came up thinking just be relaxed and dont try to do too much. Everybody wants to be the hero, its kind of why you play. It was great to get a double, but I would have taken a single, anything to win that ball game." With the win, the Goldeyes won their second straight game against the Xs and wrapped up the three-game series. The final game goes Thursday night at Shaw Park. The Goldeyes improved to 39-36 on the season and remained six games back of Gary in the Wild Card hunt. In addition to Ramons heroics in the bottom of the ninth, it was a tremendous comeback by the Goldeyes. Sioux City scored three runs in the first and added a run in the fourth to build a 4-1 lead with starting pitcher Andy Noga dealing. But after the Goldeyes scored their first run in the third on an RBI sacrifice fly ffrom Ray Sadler, the Fish continued to chip away.ddddddddddddA double by Casey Haerther scored Sadler with Winnipegs second run in the sixth and then a single by Ramon scored Kevin Moesquit ion the seventh to make it 4-3. After going down 1-2-3 in the eighth, the Goldeyes rallied in the ninth. Fehlandt Lentini led off with a double and then, with two out, Graham singled home Lentini with the tying run. Graham went to second on the throw to the plate and that brought up Ramon who hit a long, high fly ball to the base of the wall to easily score Graham with the winning run. "We chipped away, slowly but surely and had some real good ABs in the ninth inning," said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney. "Amos has been seeing the ball real well since we returned from the Eastern road trip and over the last two weeks hes been swinging it as well as anyone on the team. It was a good win for us." Goldeyes reliever Brendan Lafferty (3-2, 3.63 ERA) got the win in relief of starter Matt Rusch, while Jimmer Kennedy (4-4, 3.06 ERA) gave up two runs on three hits in the ninth to suffer the loss. The Goldeyes and Explorers will play the final game of this three-game series on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Jason Jarvis (5-8, 3.40 ERA) will get the start for Sioux City while Matt Jackson (1-0, 5.19 ERA) will head to the mound for Winnipeg. cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '