CINCINNATI -- For one game, it was 1997 again. Same quarterback, same number, same kind of performance. It was as if someone else had pulled on the No. 10 jersey the past two years and did a poor imitation of Slash.
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Hines Ward beats Bengals cornerback rodney Heath for a 34-yard touchdown on the Steelers' opening possession yesterday. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) |
But yesterday, Kordell Stewart was a perfect 10.
On a day in which the Steelers could not stop the run, Stewart supplied the sizzle that had been missing since '97. He threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as the Steelers wore down the Cincinnati Bengals, 48-28.
"Kordell threw the ball very well," Coach Bill Cowher said. "He made some very good decisions, pulled the ball down at times. I don't think there's any question it was Kordell's best game of the season."
His three touchdown passes were half of his '99 total and just one short of the four he had coming into the game. They tied a personal best he accomplished twice in '97, his first season as a starting quarterback and his best, one that helped land them in the AFC championship game.
Stewart completed only 11 of 20 passes for 182 yards, but several incompletions should have been caught. He did not throw an interception, ran six times for 31 yards and averaged 16.5 yards a completion. He crisply guided an offense that included 185 yards rushing, 93 of those by Jerome Bettis.
"He looked like the Kordell of old," Bengals defensive end Michael Bankston said, "sitting back, hitting his receivers or, if all else fails, taking off through a seam and running for big yardage. He has a lot of talent."
This time a year ago, Cowher had banished him to wide receiver.
"I'm throwing touchdowns, running for some, handing the ball to Jerome," Stewart said. "That's what I love to do."
It was a good time for him to do it, too, because the Steelers' defense folded at the beginning instead of the end.
Corey Dillon ran for 128 of the Bengals' 209 yards against the Steelers one week after Fred Taylor gouged them for 234.
"Our run defense is one thing we have to get rectified," Cowher said.
The teams traded touchdowns early and often before the Steelers' defense finally found its composure long enough to help put away their sixth victory in 12 games and end a three-game losing streak. Cincinnati fell to 2-10.
"We weren't worrying about them scoring," said Hines Ward, who led the Steelers with four receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown. "We kept driving the ball up and down the field. That's real big when they come out and score and we come right back and score. That hurts them."
Bettis failed to get his sixth 100-yard game, but he scored a touchdown and pushed his season total to 1,019 yards, his fifth in a row with more than 1,000.
"It's hard to find any fault in anything we did offensively," Cowher said.
Stewart struck early when he found Ward on a slant down the middle on the game's sixth play for a 34-yard touchdown pass.
It was the opening shot of a volley of early scores. Brandon Bennett tied it when he ran 37 yards untouched around right end on the Bengals' first drive.
Stewart hit several passes on the next drive, then ran a sneak from the 1 to put the Steelers in front, 14-7. The Bengals tied it on the next series when Dillon found little resistance on a 20-yard run around left end.
That was four series and four touchdowns by two teams that have played offense this season as if they were playing with matches and gasoline.
The Steelers finally punted on their third series, but even that became a big play for them. Amos Zereoue stripped Craig Yeast of the ball as he returned the punt, and Mike Vrabel pounced on the fumble to give the Steelers the ball at Cincinnati's 30.
Stewart found Bobby Shaw on the right for 21 yards and then hit Mark Bruener with an 11-yard touchdown pass for a 21-14 lead.
Kris Brown kicked a 44-yard field goal for a 24-14 halftime lead.
Dillon scored on a 4-yard run in the third quarter to bring the Bengals within three, but it was nearly all Steelers after that.
Stewart threw deep to Shaw on the next series, and he beat two safeties to catch the pass at the 6 and carried it into the end zone for a 45-yard touchdown that put the Steelers back on top by 10.
Linebacker Jason Gildon then spoke up for the defense on consecutive series.
He sacked Akili Smith, causing a fumble that end Chris Sullivan recovered at the Cincinnati 7. On the next play, Bettis ran for a touchdown and a 38-21 lead.
Gildon wasn't done. Smith dropped into the shotgun formation on third down on the next series, and center Rich Braham snapped it over his head. Gildon jumped on the loose ball, and since no one from Cincinnati had touched Gildon, linebacker Joey Porter picked him up and pushed him toward the goal line. Gildon ran it in for a 22-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
"I just wanted to get back there before he had a chance to recover it," Gildon said. "Fortunately, I did. I had little help. Joey pulled me up there, and it was a race for a touchdown."
He scored on the final play of the third quarter to put his team on top, 45-21. The Steelers' defense had blown four fourth-quarter leads this season, but not this time.
Peter Warrick did score on a 5-yard pass from Smith, but it came with 2:50 left. The Steelers recovered the onside kick, and Brown booted a 28-yard field goal to put an end to the Steelers' second-highest scoring game under Coach Bill Cowher.
"For a long time, we haven't been on the same page," Bettis said of what had been the NFL's 24th-ranked offense. "It's good to see when we're on the same page what we can do."
It was chapter and page brought to them by Stewart.
"Kordell is capable of great things," Bruener said. "He just needs to be patient and understand he can. He played extremely well today. I think you'll see some better things in the future."
Flashback: Stewart rekindles memories of '97 while crisply leading rout of Bengals 
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