Don't call one game a trend, Bill Cowher instructed yesterday. So, how is three out of six? Three out of four?
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Earl Holmes wraps up Bengals wide receiver Peter Warrick, who had 10 catches Sunday against the Steelers. |
The Steelers' pass defense did not just suddenly collapse against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday when Jon Kitna torched them for 411 yards, it merely was the most against it in 13 seasons. But Steve McNair also lit up the Steelers Nov. 25 for 334 yards passing, and Daunte Culpepper and Todd Bouman combined for 340 yards against them Dec. 2.
The No. 1 pass defense after the 10th week of the season ranks eighth today, falling four spots after Kitna exposed it in freezing Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals might have shown potential playoff opponents how to beat the Steelers' defense: Throw them silly.
Even Cowher acknowledged that others might copy what the Bengals did.
"You better stop it," Cowher said. "Plagiarism exists in the National Football League. It's legal. There's nothing wrong with that. We're going to have to stop that.
"How much of that goes back to the Minnesota game when they kind of opened it up against us? ... People are starting to do that. They're spreading it out. They're not thinking they can make a living of running the football against us, keeping people tight in the box.
"Certainly, when you allow a team to have success like that, you best be prepared to see it again until you show that you can stop something like that."
The Steelers not only gave up a lot of passing yards in three of the past six games, they've not been getting many sacks. They sacked Lions rookie quarterback Mike McMahon six times, but in the other five games since Nov. 25, they have not had more than two sacks a game and they are the only NFL team to be shut out in sacks in consecutive games.
But that's not the only trend.
Without Jerome Bettis, they don't have much of a running attack.
Cowher took issue with that, pointing to his team's 215 yards rushing against the lowly Detroit Lions Dec. 23.
"Don't put a trend to something that's just a one-game thing," Cowher demanded. "That's what sometimes you guys do."
Then how about three out of the past four? Against the Jets Dec. 9, Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala started for Bettis and gained 50 yards on 21 carries. He had 15 yards on nine carries against Baltimore. He had 55 yards on 25 carries against Cincinnati.
Clearly, the Steelers need Bettis back in the lineup. They might get him Sunday in a game against Cleveland rendered meaningless when they locked up the AFC's No. 1 seed in the playoffs because Oakland lost in Denver.
Cowher will list Bettis as questionable to play Sunday because of a groin injury that has caused him to miss the past four games. He insists he would like to see his big back return to play one time before the playoffs so he can get the feel of game action again.
"I think it would be good, yeah," Cowher said. "I think all things -- considering how much time he's had off, again, if he's healthy, then I think it would be good for him to get to play in this game. But certainly not at the risk of setting him back and not having him for the playoffs. If he's healthy, [he'll] go through practice and see how he is."
Bettis ran yesterday, and Cowher said he felt good afterward, but "you can't simulate the speed of the game, seeing cuts, doing those things in practice."
Whether Bettis plays Sunday for a few series against the Browns is not as important as getting him back to play Jan. 19 or 20, particularly the way the Steelers are playing on pass defense lately. They need to keep the ball away from opposing offenses, especially if they come up against Oakland and the NFL's No. 3 passing offense. If Kitna and the bottom-feeding Bengals passing game could do that against the Steelers, what would Rich Gannon and the Raiders do against them?
Cincinnati ran 99 plays Sunday, 34 more than the Steelers. Cowher pointed out three times yesterday that his team had the ball at the 50 with a 13-point lead and four minutes left Sunday.
"We had a chance to win that football game and should have won it," he said. "Didn't deserve to win it, should have won it, though."
But they were unable to run the ball all game and they are not an offense that can consistently control the clock by passing it. They made just 6 of 17 third downs in Cincinnati.
"It's converting some third downs," Cowher said. "That's a big part of our makeup. Hopefully, we'll be able to get back to that. Hopefully, [Sunday's] game was one of those exceptions to the rule in a lot of different ways."
Bengals show Steelers' upcoming opponents how to expose defense 
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