PITTSBURGH 17, TAMPA BAY 7

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Steelers pushed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers around Raymond James Stadium before and during their Monday night showdown.

Pittsburgh clinched another division title under coach Bill Cowher with a 17-7 victory over Tampa Bay as Tommy Maddox passed for 236 yards and a touchdown.

During pregame warmups, Steelers running back Jerome Bettis shoved Buccaneers defensive tackle Warren Sapp. Pittsburgh's defense controlled the field during the game, harassing quarterbacks Shaun King and Rob Johnson in the absence of injured starter Brad Johnson.

"It was just a matter of who is the bigger bully," explained Bettis, who rushed for 66 yards on 26 carries. "They said they were waiting a full year for this. We came out and bullied them and showed them we're the baddest on the block."

Tampa Bay (11-4) avoided its first home shutout loss since 1996 when Rob Johnson connected with Keyshawn Johnson for an 18-yard touchdown with 74 seconds to play.

The Buccaneers were trying to keep alive their chances of gaining home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. But they had a six-game home winning streak snapped and are in danger of losing a first-round bye.

"We certainly aren't pleased with how we played, but now next week takes on added importance," Tampa Bay safety John Lynch said. "If we're going to get that bye, we need help. But if you're good enough to win the Super Bowl, you just go out and do it. The Ravens did it, the Patriots did it. You just do it."

The Steelers (9-5-1) did all of their scoring in the first quarter. Maddox hit Antwaan Randle El for an 11-yard TD to cap the game's opening possession. Just 41 seconds later, cornerback Chad Scott picked off King and returned the interception 30 yards for a score.

A 26-yard field goal by Jeff Reed made it 17-0, and Pittsburgh was well on the way to nailing down its seventh division title in Cowher's 11-year tenure.

"We are playing well at the right time of year," said Cowher, whose team has won four of five and is 8-2-1 since losing three of its first four games. "I think last week was the closest thing we came to playing our most complete game in three years."

The Steelers took the opening kickoff and moved 81 yards in six plays. Maddox set the tone on the first play from scrimmage when he connected with Plaxico Burress for 41 yards. He also hit Burress for an 18-yard gain, two plays before his toss to Randle El put Pittsburgh in front.

Two plays after the ensuing kickoff, Scott stepped in front of Keyshawn Johnson along the right sideline and raced to the end zone.

"Chad's play was huge," Cowher said. "Getting off to a 14-0 lead in this type of stadium was very important to keep the crowd out of it. From there, we were able to play solid defense and we were able to make some big plays."

Tampa Bay gained four yards on its second possession and gave the ball back to Pittsburgh, which moved 70 yards on nine plays to another score. Maddox again hooked up with Burress for 28 yards to set up Reed's field goal.

"The first five minutes were catastrophic tonight," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "We had some opportunities in the red zone area, we turned the ball over and never got going after that."

Martin Gramatica kicked a 50-yard field goal late in the first quarter, but Gruden accepted a defensive holding penalty and took the points off the board. The decision proved costly when Mike Alstott fumbled at the Steelers' 7-yard line.

Making his first regular-season start since December 24, 2000, King completed just 9-of-26 passes for 73 yards. He was replaced by Rob Johnson, who was 12-for-18 for 159 yards and a touchdown but was sacked five times.

Gruden hopes to have Brad Johnson back for next week's regular-season finale against Chicago.

"I'm not going to make excuses (about injuries)," the coach said. "We couldn't overcome it tonight. I'm not going to point fingers at me or Shaun. We didn't do enough as a team to win tonight."

Maddox was 17-of-23 without an interception, although he left briefly in the second quarter after Sapp rolled into his left ankle and was penalized for roughing the passer.

Burress had five receptions for 127 yards while Hines Ward caught six passes for 78 yards.