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Monday, September 30, 2002

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Bill Cowher made the pronouncement last week that a high-profile position is not safe, that another poor performance and he would be inclined to make a change in personnel.

Yesterday, against the Cleveland Browns, Cowher kept his word.

And not just with Kordell Stewart.

He also made a change at another key position that hasn't been productive -- running back.

Which is why, for a good portion of the second half, Jerome Bettis stood on the sideline and watched Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala take his spot with the first-team offense.

"We wanted to get Fu in there," Cowher said after the Steelers defeated the Browns, 16-13, in overtime at Heinz Field. "He's been running well in practice. We're going to play guys who give us the best chance to win. We're trying to get something going and we'll continue to do that."

The message was clear.

After an 0-2 start in a season that could have suddenly gone sour, Cowher did not hesitate to bench the two highest profile players on his offense. Unlike Stewart, Bettis got back into the game for the final series in overtime. But that was only because Fuamatu-Ma'afala was injured.

"They wanted to get him in a series and the first series kind of stalled, so they put him in the second series," Bettis said. "It was no big difference. Usually Amos [Zereoue] comes in for me. But, instead of Amos getting the reps, Fu got the reps."

Cowher said he has not decided if he will start Stewart or Tommy Maddox in New Orleans Sunday against the Saints. Even after Maddox came off the bench and rallied the team to the tying touchdown at the end of regulation.

There is no such debate at running back. Bettis will start against the Saints, as he always does when he's healthy, and he will come out in third-down situations for Zereoue.

However, Cowher displayed against the Browns that he will make whatever moves are necessary to jump-start the team after its miserable start.

He did that with Bettis, who had only 24 yards on 14 carries when he was replaced.

"A lot of guys are working hard," Cowher said. "I'm not saying the guys we took out weren't working hard. But we have a very unselfish team.

"Right now we're going to play guys who give us the best chance to win. We made a change just trying to get something going. We have options. We have good football players. It gives guys opportunities to go in there and make some plays."

The Steelers went into the game thinking they could run against Cleveland. In their first three games, the Browns had allowed two 100-yard rushers -- Kansas City's Priest Holmes and Cincinnati's Corey Dillon -- and were surrendering an average of 145.3 yards per game.

What's more, returning to an emphasis on the running game -- the Steelers' signature under Cowher -- was a good way to take the pressure off Stewart and control the ball. The Steelers did not do that in losses to New England and Oakland, and their average time of possession (25 minutes, 28 seconds) was indicative of the struggles they encountered on offense.

But that did not happen. The Steelers rushed for 93 yards on 34 carries against the Browns, an average of 2.7 yards per rush. Their leading rusher was Stewart, who ran seven times for 30 yards. Their longest gain on the ground was 9 yards, and that was also by Stewart.

"It's tough," Bettis said. "They got a good front seven and they made it tough for us. We didn't play that great. You have to find a way to win even when you're playing bad."

Asked if he was concerned about the running game, which has produced just 251 yards on 76 attempts in three games, Bettis said, "I'm concerned about winning. That's the bottom line."

For his part, Fuamatu-Ma'afala had 20 yards on five carries against the Browns, hardly Pro Bowl material.

But Cowher felt compelled to make a change because Bettis was surrounded everywhere he turned. He got 10 yards on his first three carries, then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to shake defensive tackle Gerard Warren and middle linebacker Earl Holmes from his back.

Left tackle Wayne Gandy said it was as though the Browns knew where Bettis was headed. And he thinks he has a culprit: former Steelers running back R.J. Bowers, who is on Cleveland's 53-man roster.

"You get the feeling he gave them some good information about what we like to do," Gandy said.

Nonetheless, Cowher demonstrated against the Browns that he will not continue to watch his offense struggle. If he has to bench Stewart, he will not hesitate to do that. And, apparently, he will not hesitate to replace Bettis if he thinks the running game, which ranked No. 1 in the National Football League last season, needs a spark.

"There's no position that can't, at least for one quarter or one game, be tweaked," Gandy said. "Sometimes, in baseball, if a star pitcher gets hammered for two innings, you replace him. That doesn't mean you don't start him next time. Sometimes, especially in a game like football, where there is much emotion, you have to go to different people."

Especially when a season that carried so much promise was on the precipice of washing down the drain.

"This was a must-win game for us," Bettis said. "If we had been 0-3, that would have put us in the hole."