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Monday, November 26, 2001

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It took them four weeks, but the Tennessee Titans finally made cornerback Chad Scott pay for his aggressiveness. And they did it on their first offensive play of the game with a 68-yard touchdown pass from Steve McNair to Kevin Dyson.

The Steelers' reaction?

Good.

	Chad Scott and Lee Flowers celebrate after Scott's interception return for a touchdown seals the Steelers' victory. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette)

"There are times we want him to get beat deep first so he can wake up and play a better game," safety Lee Flowers said. "Once he got beat he came to the sideline, apologized and said, 'I guarantee I make up for it.' "

And Scott did.

After getting beat for a touchdown and penalized twice for defensive pass interference, Scott put an end to the suspense at Adelphia Coliseum yesterday when he intercepted McNair's pass for tight end Frank Wycheck and returned it 45 yards for the final touchdown in the Steelers' 34-24 victory.

"I was having a tough day early on," Scott said. "I came out kind of sluggish, and they got a touchdown on me. I told the guys on the team I was going to get that one back and I was glad I was able to do it."

It was Scott's second interception return for touchdown this season and gives him 194 return yards on four interceptions, an average of 48.5 yards per return.

The only player who had returned two interceptions for touchdowns this season was Chicago Bears safety Mike Brown, who did it in back-to-back weeks in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns.

"You don't get paid a $20 million contract for just being average," said Flowers, referring to the five-year, $25 million contract extension Scott signed at the beginning of the training camp. "You give up a big touchdown, but, at the same time, defensively you score a touchdown, that's huge."

"Chad has the resolve unlike any person I know," said cornerback Dewayne Washington. "He's going to keep at it no matter what happens."

Scott's touchdown return came on a play in which McNair, who completed 23 of 37 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns against the NFL's No. 1 pass defense, was supposed to throw to his left. But, when the Steelers blitzed from that side, McNair mistakenly threw to his right toward Wycheck, who wasn't looking.

There was Scott, who had spent most of the day playing single coverage against Dyson, waiting in the right flat. By the time he reached the end zone, untouched and unbowed, Scott had secured the Steelers' third win in a row that left them atop the AFC Central at 8-2.

"I guess it was in their game plan to pretty much go after Chad, but he stepped up and made the play when we needed to." Washington said. "That's all the mark of a good corner."

"Chad had one of his roller-coaster days -- up and down, up and down," Coach Bill Cowher said. "But he made the play at the end. That's the mind-set a corner needs to have."

In other words, have a short memory.

The Titans set up Scott for a touchdown, and they did it by watching film of the Steelers' 34-7 victory Oct. 29 at Heinz Field. The Titans noticed that Scott sat on a deep comeback route over the middle, aggressively trying for the interception.

So, right after Kris Brown gave the Steelers a 3-0 lead with a 39-yard field goal, the Titans goaded Scott into thinking they would run the same play again. But, instead of Dyson coming back on his route, he ran a deep post and easily beat Scott for a touchdown.

"I even asked Dyson about it, and he said they were going to try to go deep on me," Scott said. "It worked. They set me up pretty good."

But Scott got his revenge. After a day in which Dyson finished with four catches for 112 yards, Scott stepped in front of McNair's dump pass and went 45 yards for the touchdown. Just for good measure, he broke up a deep fourth-down pass in the end zone for wide receiver Drew Bennett with 2:09 remaining.

The day that started so poorly for Scott ended on a much better note.

"That just fires me up a little bit," Scott said. "I was having a tough day early on. I don't let anything get me down. I know my ability, I know how good I am. They went to the well one too many times."