Steelers receiver Mike Wallace has all the motivation he needs Sunday to help his team clinch the AFC North title and second seed in the playoffs.
View full sizePittsburgh's Mike Wallace has been one of the NFL's most dynamic receivers this season.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Steelers receiver Mike Wallace has all the motivation he needs Sunday to help his team clinch the AFC North title and second seed in the playoffs.
The Browns were one of 31 teams that passed over Wallace in the first two rounds of the 2009 draft, and he's still snortin' mad. The Browns took Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi in the second round while Wallace sat around waiting for the phone to ring. The Steelers finally nabbed him in the third round.
"I always take it personally and I'm going to always take that with me every time I go out and try to make plays for my team," said Wallace. "Every team looked over me twice and it was on the way for everybody looking over me a third time. I'm just trying to make everybody pay for overlooking me."
Wallace (6-0, 199) isn't really sure why teams snubbed him coming out of Mississippi, especially considering he had a personal-best in the 40 of an astonishingly fast 4.21.
"I guess I didn't get much hype going into the draft," he said. "I think those draft analysts can either make you or break you, no matter what anybody says. To me it doesn't really matter. The only thing that matters is they did look over me and I'm out to make them pay for it."
Wallace made the Browns pay in the first meeting when he caught three passes for 90 yards, including a 29-yard TD and another 50-yarder that led to a touchdown.
"The thing that makes him so good is definitely his speed," said cornerback Joe Haden, who gave up a 70-yard TD to Wallace as a freshman at Florida. "He's by far the fastest receiver we've faced this year. He's a deep threat. He's had so many catches over 40 yards. You've got to make sure you stay on top of him because he's one of the best deep threats in the game."
Wallace has plenty of eye-popping numbers this season:
• He has 24 catches for 20-plus yards, the most for a Steeler since Hall of Famer John Stallworth in 1984.
• He's posted his first career 1,000-yard season and leads all Steelers with 57 receptions for 1,152 yards and nine TDs -- all career highs.
• He's second in the NFL with 20.2 yards per catch, after leading the NFL in receiving average as a rookie in 2009.
• The Steelers are 11-1 when Wallace scores a touchdown.
• He has six 100-yard receiving games this season, second most in team history.
• He's caught seven TD passes of 40 or more yards from Ben Roethlisberger for the duo to tie a team record.
• He posted career highs of eight catches, 136 yards and two TDs vs. the Patriots this season.
"We felt pretty good about him obviously when we selected him," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. "Of course, during the course of his rookie year we realized that this guy had big-time potential and that's one of the reasons we felt comfortable enough to move Santonio [Holmes to the Jets]."
Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown has been impressed.
"He's got exceptional speed, and can stretch the field vertically," said Brown. "He's not only a deep threat, but can take it the distance on short throws. You'd expect him to be playing well because he has a leader in Hines Ward who's demanding the best of him and that's always a good thing."