Home >  Sports >  Steelers

Sunday, October 21, 2001

By Fred Goodall, The Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. -- Jerome Bettis staggered Tampa Bay with his arm, then finished the Buccaneers off with his legs.

Bettis threw a 32-yard touchdown pass on a halfback option and ran for 143 yards and a TD on Sunday as the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated the Bucs 17-10 for their fourth straight victory.

	Steelers tight end Jerame Tuman celebrates his touchdown against Tampa Bay in the second quarter, after catching a halfback option pass.from Jerome Bettis. The Steelers won, 17-10. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette)

The Steelers' top-ranked defense sacked Brad Johnson 10 times and intercepted one of his passes in the end zone to kill Tampa Bay's bid to get back into the game in the third quarter.

The Bucs (2-3) scored on Johnson's 5-yard pass to Frank Murphy with 28 seconds remaining, then appeared to recover an onside kick at their 43 to give themselves another chance to come back.

The officials ruled that Tampa Bay's Brian Kelly leaped into the air and came down with the ball before it squirted loose when he landed on the ground.

The ruling was reversed after was reviewed on instant replay and the Steelers (4-1) ran out the clock to stay atop the AFC Central standings with their best start since 1996.

Bettis ran for all but 25 of his yards in the second half. He threw the second TD pass of his career to Jerame Tuman for a 7-3 halftime lead, then ran 46 yards untouched to break it open during a brief rain storm in the third quarter.

The Steelers, averaging 192 yards rushing, finished with 220 against a defense that's struggled in three of Tampa Bay's last four games -- all losses.

The Bucs went in with the league's stingiest defense on first down. But they were next-to-last on third down, allowing opponents to convert 50 percent on their opportunities.

The trend continued with the Steelers converting four-of-six third downs in the first half, including Bettis' touchdown pass to Tuman, who slipped in the secondary unnoticed when Tampa Bay became preoccupied with stopping Bettis from sweeping right end.

The TD finished an 8-play, 80-yard drive aided by the officials' decision to wave off an apparent holding penalty against the Steelers that would have wiped out Ward's 22-yard reception that gave Pittsburgh a first down at the Bucs 40.

The officials huddled as Warren Sapp remained on the ground pointing at the penalty flag. The play stood, though, when it was ruled that Sapp slipped down trying to get around a blocker.

Bettis was held to 25 yards rushing on eight attempts before taking over with his first carry of the second half. The 255-pound running back hesitated at the line of scrimmage and cut back through a huge hole and outran the pursuit on his second-longest run of the season.

Bettis gained 15 yards on his next carry and went over 100 for the fourth straight game with a 29-yard burst off right tackle that set up Kris Brown's 35-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

A week after scoring a season-high four touchdowns in a 31-28 overtime loss at Tennessee, the Bucs were limited to Martin Gramatica's 31-yard, first-quarter field goal until Murphy's TD in the final minute.

Keyshawn Johnson became the first Tampa Bay receiver to have consecutive 100-yard games since Mark Carrier in 1989, finishing with 10 catches for 159.

But the Bucs' running game was virtually nonexistent and Brad Johnson was not nearly as effective as his statistics -- 24-of-40 passing for 283 yards -- would suggest because of Pittsburgh's pass rush.

Kordell Stewart completed 10 of 16 passes for 100 yards for Pittsburgh. He was intercepted twice.