KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In the barbecue capital of the world that has become as comfortable to them as a backyard picnic, the Steelers entered all kinds of unfamiliar territories yesterday.
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Safety Myron Bell flattens Chiefs quarterback Trent Green after an incompletion yesterday. The Steelers also sacked Green four times. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) |
They scored a touchdown with a pass for the first time this season. Cornerback Chad Scott returned an interception for his first career score. Kris Brown kicked a franchise record-tying 55-yard field goal. Tight end Jerame Tuman caught the first pass of his three-year career.
And the Steelers found themselves alone in first place in the AFC Central Division with a 3-1 record after they beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-17.
Although they started 3-1 in 1998 and 2-0 in 1999, first place has been a long time coming for a team that has not made the playoffs the past three seasons and began 0-3 last year.
"It's still a long season and we know we have to go out there and be better," Hines Ward said. "But it does feel great. Compared to the year we had last year and being 3-1, it's a great feeling."
Ward caught a 5-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter from Kordell Stewart to put the Steelers ahead 20-2 and end a 16-quarter stretch without one, dating to last season. It came after two Brown field goals of 42 and 55 yards, which tied Gary Anderson's team record for length. And it came after Scott's sizzling 61-yard touchdown 12 minutes earlier when he stepped in front of a Trent Green pass in stride and never stopped running.
Kansas City mounted a fourth-quarter comeback with two Priest Holmes rushing touchdowns that nicked the Steelers' defensive pride and made the final minutes interesting, but the Chiefs (1-4) rolled over at home for the third time in three games this season. They also lost to the Steelers for the fourth time in six regular-season games in Arrowhead Stadium over the past decade.
"I like this place," said Jerome Bettis, who rang up his third consecutive 100-yard game and his fifth 100-yard game in six visits to Arrowhead. "There's something about this place."
Bettis ran for 112 yards and a 5.9-yard average per carry yesterday, Stewart added 47 and Amos Zereoue pitched in 42 as the NFL's top rushing attack piled up 203 yards against Kansas City.
Holmes did more damage against the Steelers' defense with 150 yards rushing and two touchdowns, but he did not get nearly as much help from his quarterback, Green.
Stewart completed 15 of 25 passes for 141 yards, no interceptions and ran the new Steelers offense as if he were back in Colorado. He pitched, he faked passes and ran, he flipped head over heels to get a first down, and he threw the ball on the button for most of the day.
"Right now, he's kind of on a mission," Coach Bill Cowher said. "He wants to prove that he can quarterback this football team to wins and be an integral part of that. Kordell's playing with some confidence right now. He should. He's played very well the last couple of weeks."
Said Stewart: "Truthfully, I am [on a mission] ... I'm more involved now. My abilities are being displayed whether it's running, faking, throwing it -- it's keeping me involved."
Stewart and his running game played well in the first half but had only a 6-2 lead to show for it because long drives wilted the deeper they got. Two 14-yard runs by Stewart put the Steelers in position for Brown's first field goal, from 42 yards.
Brown kicked his 55-yarder after a penalty negated a 19-yard, fourth-down run by Bettis to the 16.
"It was a feast-or-famine day for us," tackle Wayne Gandy said. "We had a couple of big runs called back. The good thing is we didn't let that get us down. We went back to the huddle and converted some big third downs."
The Steelers converted 6 of 14 third-down tries, but it was a fourth-down play that nearly cost them the game.
Instead of running the clock out and taking a 6-0 lead to the locker room at halftime, the Steelers tried a pass on a series that began from their 15. That incompletion was enough to allow 40 seconds left when Josh Miller went back to punt from his 21.
Kansas City's Mikhael Ricks blew past Mike Logan's block on the right side and easily blocked Miller's punt. The ball bounced backward through the end zone before Ricks or any other Chiefs player could pounce on it. Thus, it was a two-point safety rather than a possible seven-point touchdown.
Logan blamed himself for trying to break downfield to cover the kick before he made sure he blocked his man.
"They kind of set me up. I should have respected that," Logan said. "They were giving me the outside portion and sort of holding me up. You can't lose focus like that and do your own thing."
The score looked as though it might be Kansas City's only one as the second half wore on.
Green, acquired from St. Louis this year for a first-round pick, played poorly. He underthrew and overthrew receivers and the Steelers' pass rush rarely allowed him to get into a rhythm, sacking him four times, two by rookie linebacker Kendrell Bell.
"It's a different kind of pass rush," Chiefs Coach Dick Vermeil said of the NFL's only defense that uses a 3-4 alignment. "It includes one or two of the four linebackers and a safety from time to time."
Green completed only 16 of 33 passes and did not have a touchdown.
"We were playing tight coverage," safety Lee Flowers said. "His balls were low. Chad should have had three interceptions but two were thrown in the dirt and one was right to him."
Scott's interception early in the third quarter staked the Steelers to a 13-2 lead.
"He's a timing quarterback," Scott said. "I got a good break and I was able to step in front of it."
Ward's 5-yard touchdown reception late in the quarter broke things open, giving the Steelers a 20-2 lead entering the final quarter. It was only their third offensive touchdown of the season to go with two by the defense, but they hope their first scoring pass will become an ice-breaker.
"We finally got it!" Ward declared. "I think we were pressing so hard to get the first touchdown [passing]. Now it finally came."
Their advantage seemed safe even after, on fourth-and-1, Holmes ripped through their right side untouched for a 26-yard touchdown with 13:02 left.
The Chiefs, though, put together another drive mostly behind Holmes' runs against the Steelers dime passing defense. He scored from the 1 with 2:39 to go and Green threw one of his few perfect passes on the two-point conversion to tight end Tony Gonzalez to cut the lead to three.
Last season, the Steelers' offense was put in similar positions with the lead late in games. At Tennessee, they could not get a first down to run out the clock and the Titans kicked a field goal with four seconds left to win it.
The Chiefs did not try an onside kick. They figured they could kick off, hold the Steelers' offense and get one final chance.
That never came. This time, the Steelers did run out the clock. Facing a third-and-3 at the 27, they discussed several plays during the two-minute warning. Finally, Stewart came out, pitched the ball right to Zereoue and he scooted 10 yards for a first down.
The Chiefs had no timeouts left, and the game was over.
"We can throw the ball, we can run the ball, we can run the draw, we can get outside," Zereoue said of their options on that play. "We can do a lot of different things from that formation."
They did plenty of different things yesterday in a foreign place they've come to love. It put them in another foreign place, first place.
Steelers get unusual contributions as they take over lead in AFC Central 
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