Necessity being the mother of invention, perhaps the Steelers have been forced to take a patent out on something new -- a passing game behind Kordell Stewart.
 |
 |
|
Kordell Stewart follows center Roger Duffy into the end zone on a quarterback sneak Sunday in the Steelers' 48-28 victory against the Bengals. Stewart did most of his damage with his arm, though, passing for 182 yards and three touchdowns. (Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette) |
It might have taken two poor games by their defense for the Steelers to invent it or at least find one.
The offense had its best production of the season as the Steelers scored their most points in five years, and Stewart had the second-best passing game of his career in a 48-24 victory Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Steelers might have their defense to thank for bringing it all out in them.
"For a while there, we just needed to play closer to the vest when we were in struggles where we didn't want to really take a chance," offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. "But in the last few weeks, we've had to take chances and our guys have responded very, very favorably to that."
With Jacksonville running all over them and piling up 34 points Nov. 19, the Steelers' offense cut loose. Stewart threw for one touchdown, ran for two and would have had close to 300 yards passing if six of his passes weren't dropped by his receivers.
Sunday, with the Bengals matching them score for score in the early going, Stewart came back and threw three touchdown passes, including passes of 45 yards to Bobby Shaw and 34 yards to Hines Ward. He has thrown three of his five longest passes this season in the past two games, all for touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown against the Bengals.
Gilbride said the offense is willing to do whatever it takes to win, but that it's nice to know "if we had to, we could win a shootout."
Stewart's passer rating of 125.4 Sunday in Cincinnati was the second best of his career only to the 126.0 he had Nov. 15, 1998, in a loss at Tennessee. It lifted his season passer rating to 71.8, not far off his 75.2 rating from 1997, when he became one of the most popular players in the league.
"I think he made good decisions where to go with the ball and threw very accurately," Gilbride said. "That was great to see. I think that comes with confidence, his belief that his receivers will be where they're supposed to be. He can count on them to make plays and to be dependable for him.
"That just lets him go out and play the way he's capable of playing."
The way Stewart played against Cincinnati was reminiscent of the way he played in 1997. Besides his four touchdown passes in the past two games, he has run for three touchdowns. That's more than he had in each of the past two seasons.
Gilbride has seen the improvement in Stewart and believes the confidence he has been gaining might perpetuate itself.
"He certainly showed a lot of favorable signs Sunday, and it's just a matter of proving that he can do it on a week-in and week-out consistent basis.
"There's no reason why he can't. He's really played pretty well over the last few weeks. We didn't have the wins to show for it, but he's certainly given our team a chance to win by his performance.
"As everyone knows, your reputation, your image is very much short-lived based on what did you do this week. What happened this week is very encouraging. It should give him the confidence he needs to go out and be in position to have a good game next week and the weeks thereafter. But it's still a week-to-week proposition."
Gilbride believes the team's passing game will continue to improve with Stewart.
"I don't think there's any question that there's a sense we're headed in the right direction. We're doing things a little better and that kind of puts you in a position, I think, that there's a greater likelihood that it will continue."
The Steelers' coaches believed at other times they were on the verge of something good with their passing game. In the middle of the '98 season, Stewart led the team to six consecutive games with more than 200 yards passing, then everything fell apart.
Last season, they opened with a rousing 43-0 victory in Cleveland and won in Baltimore, 23-20. But it collapsed to the point that Stewart was banished to wide receiver for the final five games.
"It's hard to get in that cycle where you have success so you expect to have success, and because you expect it, you probably do," Gilbride said. "When things are not that way it's hard to feel that."
Shaw also believes Stewart has gained more confidence with himself and in his teammates.
"Kordell is comfortable with knowing where guys on the line are going to push guys, so he knows how to slide away from it. He knows where I'm going to break, where Hines is going to break, things like that where guys are getting on the same page, knowing what others are doing, and it helps an offense click."
And that, said Jerome Bettis, can only help the running game out too.
"It's big for me. Now the defense understands it cannot just load up on me because he will complete the pass, he'll hurt you down the field. As long as that thought is there, it's harder for teams to load up on me and it makes it that much easier."
But can it continue?
"That's what we'll see," Bettis said. "You would hope everything would start to click and he feels comfortable. It didn't look like he was just lucky out there. It looked like he really new what he was doing. He was real crisp, real quick to the receivers. He was throwing it on time, getting it to the open guy. As long as that keeps happening, it gives yourself a chance."
It comes to pass: Steelers' offense finally clicking behind Stewart's leadership 
E-mail this story 
