01:00 AM EST on Monday, January 24, 2005

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH -- "This is what I came here for," said Corey Dillon. "I'm going to bask in it a bit."

The Patriots running back had a workmanlike AFC Championship yesterday against the Steelers with 24 carries for 73 yards. He scored once on a nifty 25-yard burst in the third quarter and was hammered around pretty well by the league's best run defense, but his presence helped make Pittsburgh commit to the run and that's when the Pats made their big plays over the top.

The once-maligned, but now celebrated, Dillon was playing in just his second playoff game after spending seven often miserable seasons in Cincinnati.

"I'm more happy for Corey than I am for myself," said safety Rodney Harrison. "He worked so hard his whole career and his one goal was to get to the Super Bowl. He made his sacrifices and now he's going."

"For those of you who doubted me and called me a whiner, look at this," Dillon said, pointing to his AFC Champions hat.

Seymour doesn't play

Patriots All-Pro defensive lineman Richard Seymour was inactive for last night's game. Earlier this week, head coach Bill Belichick uncharacteristically said that Seymour wouldn't start but made it sound as if Seymour could get in some "situational" work. He noted it would be a game-time decision.

It smelled like a ruse when Belichick said it, likely prompted by the fact that, earlier in the week, Keith Traylor said point-blankthe Patriots would be without Seymour.

Also inactive for the Patriots were Kevin Kasper, Earthwind Moreland, Cedric Cobbs, Antwan Harris and Jed Weaver. No snow here A remarkable job of snow removal was done at Heinz Field. Even behind the team benches, there wasn't enough white stuff to make a decent snowball, much less a snowman.

Frigid conditions

When the Patriots were in Pittsburgh for the 2001 AFC Championship Game, the temperature was about 55 degrees warmer than it was yesterday. Instead of Jet Skis on the Ohio River, as there were before the 2001 game, there was ice.

It was the coldest game of the year for the Patriots. Temperature at game time was 11 degrees. That also was the low temperature for a game in the four seasons Heinz Field has been open.

Crowd silenced

Athletes and coaches often encourage their fans to "get the stadium rockin' " for a big game, and encouraged or not, Steelers fans did just that last night.

Just before kickoff, on their feet as one, their yellow towels waving frantically, the press box at Heinz Field began to shake from the motion of the fans on the upper deck.

The manmade quake didn't last long -- after a 4-yard gain on the opening play of the game by Jerome Bettis and a 3-yard scamper by Ben Roethlisberger, the rookie quarterback threw an interception, a pass intended for Antwaan Randle El that was tipped by Asante Samuel and caught by Eugene Wilson. Squib kicks

Belichick and Tom Brady yesterday were trying to improve on the best coach-quarterback playoff record since 1970. They are 7-0. Also in the mix are the combinations of Jimmy Johnson-Troy Aikman (6-0), Mike Shanahan-John Elway (7-1), Tom Flores-Jim Plunkett (8-2), Don McCafferty-Johnny Unitas (4-1) and George Seifet-Joe Montana (4-1) . . . Yesterday was the 10th time since 1990 that the AFC Championship Game has been a rematch of a regular-season meeting. Six times the winner of the first meeting won the rematch . . . Corey Dillon's 1,853 in 2002 for Miami is the highes . . . . The Steelers, who had committed 12 turnovers in their previous 5 games, committed 2 on their first 2 drives yesterday -- a pick by Roethlisberger and a fourth-down fumble by Bettis.

Jim Donaldson and Shalise Manza Young contributed to this report.