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Monday, December 11, 2000

By Ed Bouchette, Ron Cook and Bob Smizik, Post-Gazette Sports Writers

Steelers vs. Washington Redskins, 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Three Rivers Stadium. TV, radio: WPGH; WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970). It's the final act in Three Rivers Stadium. Including preseason and playoff games, the Steelers are 183-73 in the concrete bowl.

Lee Flowers, Steelers S, left the game in the third quarter with a left knee injury. He will have an MRI to determine what, if any, damage was done. "We have two games left," he said. "As long as there is no structural damage, I'll suck it up" and play.

No one took the loss harder than Steelers K Kris Brown. He missed second-half field goal tries of 36 and 44 yards, the first time in his two-year career that he missed two in the same game. "There's no excuse for me to go out and do that. That's unacceptable by my standards," he said. The miss from 36 yards was especially painful because that kick could have cut the Steelers' deficit to 13-6 early in the third quarter. The Giants scored a touchdown on their ensuing possession to take a 20-3 lead. "It seemed like my misses gave them momentum," Brown said. "What bothers me the most is we had 11 guys on each side of the ball busting their tails to get the job done, then I go out and don't do my job. I feel like I cost us the game."

The Giants came into the game with immense respect for Jerome Bettis and the Steelers' running game, and an equal intent to shut it down. "That was our biggest challenge," said DE Michael Strahan. "They are not an easy team to defend. If you watch film of their offense, Jerome Bettis is unbelievable. Our first thing was to limit him. Limit the amount of yards he picked up on every carry and try to shut him down." LB Jessie Armstead said: "Jerome is one of the best backs in the league and we were fortunate to hold him down. We just played real well." Added DT Keith Hamilton, a former Pitt standout: "We know he's a great back. But we feel confident in our ability to shut down the run. We watched him on tape. He did some good things. He has a good offensive line. But we feel we're pretty good. If you think you're going to run the ball, well, that's just how it is." Bettis carried 17 times for 39 yards.

The expected rumba between the big backs, Bettis and rookie Ron Dayne of the Giants, never materialized. Bettis gained just 39 yards on 17 carries, and Dayne had only 20 on 11 carries. It was the lowest production for Bettis since he gained only 8 yards on nine attempts in the opener against Baltimore. He now has 1,186 yards this season. "They did a great job against us stopping the run," Bettis said, "and we were able to stop their running game. We couldn't get into a rhythm, we couldn't complete third downs. When you can't get into a rhythm, you give yourself a chance."

Steelers WR Will Blackwell caught his first passes, two for 23 yards, in more than a year. He caught two passes Nov. 28, 1999 against Cincinnati, then did not play the rest of the season because of a sprained foot. He was on the physically unable to perform list for the first 11 games of this season after knee surgery. He played the previous two games without a reception.

WR Bobby Shaw led the Steelers with 88 yards on six receptions, and he scored their only touchdown on a 5-yard catch. But he also dropped two others that could have put the Steelers in position to score some more. Both were in scoring territory in the second half. "The one was a little high, and it seemed like it kept floating on me. The second one, I was thinking about making a move and I took my eye off it," he said. "Things like that happen. I was trying to press and make something happen."

The Steelers trailed, 6-0, early in the second quarter when DE Kevin Henry took a 15-yard personal foul penalty for grabbing the facemask of Giants G Glenn Parker long after the play had ended. That nullified a Giants' incompletion and set up the touchdown that gave them a 13-0 lead. "The play was over and he still was pushing me down the field," Henry said. "I said to him, 'What are you doing? The play is over.' But he kept pushing me. Finally, I was about to fall. All I could grab was his facemask. I wasn't trying to hurt him." Presumably, that explanation didn't satisfy Coach Bill Cowher. He temporarily yanked Henry out of the game and chewed him out.

Giants wide receivers Amani Toomer and Ike Hilliard combined for 14 catches for 226 yards and two touchdowns. "We thought we had a matchup advantage on the corners [Dewayne Washington and Chad Scott] and we tried to take advantage of that," said Toomer, who had nine catches for 136 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown. "We had a lot of good opportunities to catch some balls and show people what we can do." Hilliard, who had five catches for 90 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown, played after missing the past two games with a bruised sternum. "It was great to see him play," Giants Coach Jim Fassel said. "I think at one point he thought he might be a little tentative and not able to play the whole game. But I know Ike. Once he puts on a uniform, he is not going to want to come out of the game."

Kordell Stewart had a pass intercepted in the end zone, on fourth-and-2, by CB Reggie Stephens in the fourth quarter. It was Stewart's first interception in three games. "This was a game where when we had the opportunities, we had to capitalize on them and that is what we didn't do," Stewart said. "One minute you would have a guy open and the next minute you would miss a guy, miss a pass, dropped pass."

The Giants suspended rookie WR Ron Dixon for the game because he slept in and missed a meeting yesterday, his second such violation this season. Dixon has caught just six passes this season, but he was the Giants' leading kickoff returner.

Cowher will have his news conference today because of a shorter week. The Steelers play Washington at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The players will have off today and work tomorrow, their normal day off.

The Steelers deactivated OT Shar Pourdanesh, DE Chris Combs and LB Mike Vrabel, who was questionable with a knee injury.

Rookie S Ainsley Battles had the Steelers' only sack, the team's first since Nov. 26 at Cincinnati.

LB Earl Holmes led the Steelers with 11 tackles, 9 of them solo. CB Dewayne Washington was next with eight tackles, all solos. He also had two passes defensed.

The Giants led, 13-3, at halftime. In their 10 victories, they have outscored their opponents in the first half, 118-19.

The Giants outrushed the Steelers, 68-47. They are 10-0 when they outrush their opponent, 0-4 when they don't.

The Steelers' longest run was 8 yards. In 311 opposition rushing attempts, the Giants have allowed just one run longer than 20 yards, fewest in the NFL.

The seeds for the Steelers defeat yesterday were sown on third downs. The Giants converted 64 percent of theirs, turning 9 of 14 into first downs.

"Third down just beat our brains out today," S Lee Flowers said.

Said LB Earl Holmes, "We would play very well on first and second downs but couldn't get off the field on third down."

Many of them came on third-and-long. Two were most critical on the Giants' touchdown drive that broke the game open in the third quarter.

Leading 13-3, New York had a third-and-9 at the Steelers' 36. Kerry Collins flipped a shovel pass to Tiki Barber, who took it 23 yards to the 13. Then, on third-and-6 at the 9, Collins found Ike Hilliard, who broke tackles by safeties Brent Alexander and Ainsley Battles at the 3 to get into the end zone for a touchdown that made it 20-3.

"Our inability to get off the field on third down, and our inability to make some third downs to keep drives going ... the game really boiled down to that," said Coach Bill Cowher.

The Steelers' offense made 5 of 13 third downs for 38 percent and also missed on two fourth-down tries.