The season reaches the halfway point today. The leaves have changed and so has the Steelers' outlook.
"Right now," safety Lee Flowers said, "we smell blood."
Earlier, it was their own, spilling like an oil tanker run aground after they lost their first three games. They have since salvaged the season by winning four in a row. They pull into Baltimore for a 1 p.m. kickoff today with a chance to leapfrog the Ravens (5-3) into second place in the AFC Central Division.
Next Sunday, they play in Nashville against the team at the top, the 6-1 Tennessee Titans. Offensive tackle Wayne Gandy called it "a tale of the tape."
"We have the two teams ahead of us in the next two weeks," Gandy said.
A split will keep them afloat, a sweep could rocket them toward the playoffs, coming up empty should doom their chances. They put themselves in this position by upsetting Jacksonville and the New York Jets on the road with Kordell Stewart as their starting quarterback, then they dusted off the lowly Bengals and Browns at home.
Stewart will make his third start today, and he's 5-0 against the Ravens and 6-2 in his past eight road starts.
Baltimore has been reeling. The Ravens have lost two in a row and haven't scored a touchdown in the past four games.
Linebacker Levon Kirkland, captain of the Steelers' defense, hopes none of this has gone to anyone's head.
"We haven't really done much," Kirkland said. "We're still 4-3. It's not like we're 7-0 or something like that. Then we could talk."
Kirkland goes by the old theory that if you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it.
"I think anybody who's been on this team the last two years understands that winning is something you appreciate, but you know how to keep it in perspective. You understand that we still have a lot more games to play and there's no reason to get on our high horse until we get into the playoffs."
The memory of last season, when the Steelers were 5-3 at the halfway mark, burns inside him. They had won three in a row and, much as they are now, were playing some of the best defense in the NFL. They had allowed just 18 points, including one touchdown, in those three wins.
Then came the crash. They lost seven of their final eight, their defense collapsed and they finished 6-10. It had happened to them the previous season, too, when a 7-4 record turned into 7-9.
"We dug ourselves out of the hole," Kirkland said, "but you can easily go back into the hole if you don't keep it in perspective."
And if newcomers or those with short memories need any more reminders, they can review the opener of this season, when Baltimore bounced 16-0, held Jerome Bettis to 8 yards rushing and Priest Holmes ran for 119 yards against them.
The Steelers expected the Ravens to open in their "kings" formation that day with three wide receivers, a tight end and one back. They had prepared for that during training camp and the week leading up to the opener.
Baltimore surprised them by going with two tight ends, one wide receiver, two backs and splitting the fullback out at times.
Holmes is the only back to run for more than 100 yards against the Steelers this season, and they've faced a bevy of good ones since, including Eddie George, Curtis Martin and Corey Dillon.
"Our goal the rest of the season is to keep every running back under 100 yards," Flowers said. "I guess once a team has success with a certain play, they're just going to keep running and that's what they did. They ran the ball pretty much on us the whole game."
In that game, Kirkland and linebacker Earl Holmes were weakened by ankle injuries and nose tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen was in and out because he had problems with the heat.
"It was our first game of the year," Kirkland said. "Also, there were some guys down. Me and Earl were hurt with ankles; those are not excuses because you shouldn't create any."
Tony Banks hit two big passes against them that day, one a 53-yard touchdown to Qadry Ismail. Now the Ravens will turn to Trent Dilfer, and he's not just another backup quarterback.
Dilfer was the sixth overall pick in the 1994 draft, by Tampa Bay. He has started 76 games and made the Pro Bowl in the 1997 season. He had the Buccaneers humming toward the playoffs last season when he sustained a broken clavicle Nov. 28 and missed the rest of the season.
Tampa Bay released him in a salary cap move, betting that then-rookie Shaun King, who helped them reach the NFC championship game after Dilfer's injury, could do better.
They may regret that now because Dilfer had performed well for the Buccaneers over the past three seasons, perhaps maturing into the quarterback Tampa Bay officials thought he might one day become.
He had a 25-17 record as a starter in those three seasons, fourth-best in the league. He threw 53 touchdowns and 37 interceptions, the NFL's fourth-best ratio during that span. He is 4-0 in his past four starts with a passer rating of 92.5.
"He came in and we were in the middle of a rebuilding process," said Steelers wide receiver Courtney Hawkins, Dilfer's teammate from '94 through '97. "As the years went on, he got better. He's the first one to lead the team to the playoffs in a number of years. He's a big, strong guy. He can throw the ball a mile and runs pretty good for as big as he is."
He can't run as well as Kordell Stewart, though, and Stewart could make a difference today. His ability to run, to throw on the run and to escape a pass rush is one reason Cowher will start him against the aggressive Ravens. Stewart vowed this week that he will not sit back in the pocket and boasted that "my legs are in our favor."
Something struck him during the time when he was benched with five games left last season and then lost a competition with Kent Graham for the job this season.
"Once I had time on the side to watch," Stewa]rt said, "I said to myself 'If I have a chance to play again, I'm just going to go out there and do some things, make some things happen.'"
He has done that against Baltimore in the past. If he can do it again today, the Steelers would find themselves in second place and headed to Nashville for their biggest hoedown in three years.
"You know what," said Kirkland, the voice of restraint, "we're just taking this Baltimore game and we'll see what happens there. We look at it that way and then you move on. For right now, we're just worried about Baltimore."
Two-game stretch pivotal for Steelers 
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