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Monday, October 22, 2001

TAMPA, Fla. -- It was hard to take them seriously despite their 3-1 start. Who had they beaten? Wasn't Kordell Stewart still the quarterback? How do you believe in a team with a quarterback who passes for 100 yards per game? And hadn't they broken our hearts before? Didn't they start fast in '98 and '99 and finish out of the playoffs?

Of course, it was hard to think the Steelers were for real.

But you know what?

It's not so hard to believe today.

The latest win was a beauty. It wasn't against the Kansas City Chiefs or Cincinnati Bengals or Buffalo Bills. It was against a real team.

"Didn't a lot of people pick Tampa Bay to win the Super Bowl?" Steelers safety Mike Logan asked with a grin.

It says plenty about the Steelers that they came down here and put a licking on the Buccaneers that was much more thorough than the 17-10 score. They ran for more than 200 yards for the third consecutive week. Jerome Bettis led the way with 143 yards. They sacked quarterback Brad Johnson 10 times and batted down five passes. They held running back Warrick Dunn to 47 total yards.

One team looked like a Super Bowl contender, but it wasn't the Buccaneers.

"I think we're getting better. We're getting more confidence," Bill Cowher said. "The players have bought into what we're trying to do. They believe in it."

Cowher was at his emotional best. You probably saw him on the field -- going crazy -- after Bettis' 46-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. You should have seen him afterward. On his way to the locker room, he did a Carl Lewis leap, thrust his fist in the air and screamed, "Yes!" He knew what this win, against this team, on the road, meant.

Apparently, Cowher did his best motivational work Saturday night. He found some innocuous quote from Tampa Bay fullback Mike Alstott about the Buccaneers feeling comfortable running against the Steelers defense. By the time he finished delivering it to his team, you would have thought Alstott had insulted the defensive players' mothers.

It infuriated Lee Flowers. "I'm tired of Tampa. They talk so much. They go to the Pro Bowl because they talk so much. But they're paper champions. That's all they are and all they're ever going to be."

Joey Porter was more philosophical -- "They wanted the Pittsburgh Steelers? Well, we gave them the Pittsburgh Steelers" -- but no less motivated. He sacked Johnson four times.

"All week, he told me [rookie tackle] Kenyatta Walker couldn't block him," defensive coordinator Tim Lewis said. "During the game, he's looking up at me in the press box, gesturing for me to keep calling his blitzes."

It didn't matter what Lewis called. It worked. It didn't even matter who was on the field. Brent Alexander left in the second quarter with a hip injury. Logan went in and had a sack and interception.

"I've never seen our guys this high," Lewis said. "It reminds me of my first year here. We went to Chicago and they were like 6-1. We won that game and got on a roll."

The year was 1995. That roll didn't end until the Super Bowl.

Mike Mularkey's offense was just as impressive. Stewart didn't have much of a day in a stadium that haunts him. He didn't cry this time or point his finger in Cowher's face, but he did throw two horrible interceptions. Fortunately, Bettis and the running game covered his mistakes. Bettis even threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jerame Tuman.

The halfback pass was the latest twist from Mularkey. There was a reverse to Troy Edwards after a fake pitch to Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala. Another time, Hines Ward took the snap as the quarterback in the shotgun and ran around right end. Don't be surprised if you see that play again with Ward throwing a pass.

Can the Steelers keep winning when their star running back has as many touchdown passes as their quarterback? Why not if they keep running the ball and playing defense?

"Our best football, I like to think, is ahead of us," Cowher said.

The best thing about the Steelers' 4-1 start is that four of the five games were on the road. Seven of the final 11 will be at home. The Tennessee Titans come to town next Monday night.

"National television," Flowers said, quietly. "If people don't know about us yet, they're going to find out real soon."

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.