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Momentum deflated by special teams

Monday, September 16, 2002

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

There was no way it would happen again, members of the Steelers' secondary said. No way the Oakland Raiders would attempt to duplicate what the New England Patriots did to them a week earlier. No way Rich Gannon would wear out his 36-year-old arm by coming out and doing what Tom Brady did to their secondary -- throwing passes on 25 consecutive plays.

And they were right.

Gannon and the Raiders outdid the Patriots.

"We did not expect them to come out and throw the way they did," Coach Bill Cowher said. "I did not think they would come out just winging it."

By halftime, Gannon had already attempted 41 passes. What's more, he completed 29 for 257 yards. It took Brady an entire game to complete 29 passes against the Steelers. And he attempted 43 passes in four quarters.

OK, so Gannon didn't attempt a pass 25 plays in a row. But, in the second quarter, after Charlie Garner scored on a 36-yard run -- that's right, a run -- Gannon attempted to pass on the next 20 plays. One of those resulted in a sack by Joey Porter, but Gannon's intention was nonetheless the same.

Throw, throw, throw on a Steelers secondary that is beginning to feel like a duck in a shooting gallery.

"Until we show something that we can stop it, we're going to see it," Cowher said.

But for all of Gannon's throws -- he attempted a club-record 64 passes, completing 43 for 403 yards -- it was not the secondary that ultimately did in the Steelers.

To be sure, the Steelers did not have an answer again for a team that treated the running game as if it developed the West Nile virus. For the second week in a row, their self-proclaimed Big Nasty D was just that -- nasty -- as the Steelers were defenseless to stop the Raiders, 30-17, at Heinz Field.

But when the game somehow managed to be on the line in the fourth quarter, when the Steelers managed to get a little life from Porter and crawl within three points of the lead, a familiar chink in the black-and-gold armor was exposed.

The Steelers allowed a special-teams touchdown.

Right after they got back to 20-17 on Kordell Stewart's 5-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward, the Steelers let Terry Kirby skirt through the middle of their kick-coverage unit for a 96-yard touchdown.

"That took all the momentum out of us," Ward said. "And they got it back."

"We were battling to get back in the game," said cornerback Deshea Townsend, the last player to have a shot at Kirby. "To have something like that happen kind of deflated the team."

"That was huge -- huge," said Raiders Coach Bill Callahan. "They're right back in the game, then Kirby busted it back open for us."

Understand, the defeat cannot be put on the desk of new special teams coach Kevin Spencer. Not on a night when Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala blocked a punt to set up a field goal at the end of the first half. Not when Antwaan Randle El and Lee Mays continually gave the Steelers good field position on kick returns.

But, immediately after Porter gave the Steelers a lift with an 84-yard interception return to set up Ward's touchdown, the special teams discombobulated at the wrong time.

"I don't know what the reason was for the return," Spencer said. "I'm not sure where the breakdowns were. But you can't give up big plays like that. They got a seam. And you give Terry Kirby a seam, he can do some damage."

Damage is a good word for the Steelers, right now.

Damage control is what they will attempt to do with their upcoming bye week.

"I don't know what the problem is," Ward said. "I'd be the first volunteer [for special teams] if I knew that would help."

Kirby didn't waste any time putting the finish touch on the Steelers. The buzz hadn't even dissipated from Ward's touchdown when Kirby took the ensuing kickoff, started up the middle of the field, then broke it to the outside. One of players between him and a Raiders victory was Todd Peterson. At the 50, Kirby got around Peterson and raced down the right side.

"When he caught the ball, his wedge was in the middle of the field," Peterson said. "I thought we would blow it up. Once he got up the middle, I was going to give it my best shot."

Kicker versus return man is not a fair battle. But, as Kirby raced down the sideline, the last Steelers player with a chance to stop him was Townsend, who was coming from the other side of the field. Townsend caught him at the 15, but didn't have enough to bring Kirby down. Or, even knock him out of bounds.

"I just knew I had to try to make that play," Townsend said. "Any way I can, I got to bring him down."

Instead, it was the Raiders who brought the Steelers down.

That noise you heard was the air rushing from the Steelers' Super Bowl balloon.

"It seems every time we make a play and get back in the game, we're shooting ourselves in the foot," Cowher said.