The quarterback emerged from the trainer's room -- is there any other way to describe what he did but to say it was Bradshaw-like? -- to bring the team back from the dead in the second half.
The inside linebacker, so proud, so sick of losing, had tears in his eyes at halftime when he challenged his defensive mates to play the best two quarters of their life.
The tight end caught the pass and felt the safety between him and the end zone and knew there wasn't a man alive who was going to keep him out.
The strong safety dived into the huge, nasty pile of humanity, where no sane man would go, and emerged with the fumble recovery that altered the game's direction.
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Jerome Bettis carries in the second half as Raiders Anthony Dorsett defends.(Matt Freed, Post-Gazette) | |
The big running back ran and ran and ran.
And you wonder why the Steelers beat the best team in the AFC yesterday?
"Everything was on the line in this one," Jerome Bettis said after the 21-20 win against the Oakland Raiders.
"You lose this game, your playoff hopes go away. You lose another game at home. The fans begin to disappear. The team starts to fall apart mentally.
"A lot of bad stuff, man. We couldn't allow it to happen."
This would have been an incredible win if the Steelers had hauled in a 10-2 record like the Raiders did. But 6-6? Going nowhere? Down, 17-7, at halftime?
Doctors told Kordell Stewart he was done for the day when he aggravated a calf injury late in the first quarter. "Kordell almost had tears in his eyes on the sideline," Bill Cowher said.
But Stewart played in the second half. He didn't just play, he sparked the comeback. He scrambled for 17 yards on a second-and-16 play from the Steelers' 14 and completed six of eight passes on the touchdown drive that cut the deficit to 17-14. He ran for 17 yards on a quarterback draw to score the winning touchdown.
"I'm out there thinking, 'This is one tough son of a gun,' " Mark Bruener said.
It inspired everyone on the Steelers' sideline.
Not that Levon Kirkland needed any inspiration. He was sickened when the defense blew a late 10-point lead at home against the Philadelphia Eagles Nov. 12, embarrassed when Jacksonville's Fred Taylor ran through it for 234 yards the next week. The 17-7 deficit pushed him over the edge.
"It was something to hear," Lee Flowers said of Kirkland's halftime speech. " 'We're playing for each other now. Put everything on the line. You can rest tomorrow. Rest Tuesday. But leave that field with nothing left in you.' "
There would be no blown fourth-quarter lead on this day.
Bruener must have overheard Kirkland's talk. On the Steelers' first third-quarter possession, he caught a Stewart pass at the Raiders' 1 and was immediately driven back to the 4 by safety Calvin Branch. But he kept chugging, kept pushing for the end zone. "I saw the yellow out of the corner of my eye and I'm thinking, 'Somehow, some way, I've got to get there.' " Branch kept riding him, kept pushing toward the right sideline. When the two finally fell, it was on the yellow turf.
"He's the man!" Stewart said. "Just call him Touchdown Bruener."
"Amazing," Flowers said. "An incredible individual play."
There were a lot of them.
Flowers appeared to have no chance to recover a third-quarter fumble by Tyrone Wheatley when he jumped into the pile late. Those scrums, by the way, are filthy places.
"You have to protect everything," Flowers said, grinning.
Fingers, eyes, crotch ...
Somehow, Flowers got his hands on the ball at the Steelers' 49. He didn't let go even when someone grabbed his facemask and twisted. The Steelers got a big break in field position. They didn't score on that possession but scored the winning touchdown on the next.
Bettis had a 30-yard run to set it up. He isn't supposed to have quick feet, but he burst through a hole over left guard. Later, he had a 22-yard run. He isn't supposed to be nimble, but he made safety Marquez Pope miss at the line with a sweet move. He finished with 128 yards on just 24 carries.
"Guys knew Kordell was out there banged up," Bettis said, shrugging. "Each guy took it upon himself to make a play."
It was something to see.
"We've got a lot of fighters on this team, a lot of warriors," Flowers said.
"Don't be fooled by that 6-6 record. There wasn't just one good team out there today. There were two."
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
Cook: Inspired half quiets demons 
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