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Monday, November 05, 2001

Stifle that Super Bowl claptrap. Forget that foolish babble about a playoff run. Unless the Steelers' defense learns to seal the deal, unless the league's statistical No. 1 unit conjures some character and resolve, it might not even get this club to the holy grail of the postseason.

These were the wretchedly offensive Ravens that toppled your mighty Steelers yesterday at Heinz Field, 13-10. These were a Baltimore bunch of fellows playing without their starting quarterback, Elvis Grbac, and their entire ground game, Jamal Lewis and replacement Terry Allen. So the NFL's top-ranked defense crumpled in the final, fateful moments against Randall Cunningham, a quarterback who should go back to laying tile in Nevada's kitchens and bathrooms, and some first-year third-teamer named Jason Brookins, Lane College's second-most famous graduate after the late Fred Lane.

Sure, future Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe had something to do with the outcome, opening the eventual winning, 40-yard drive with a 26-yard catch and run. The worst part was, the Steelers were expecting that pass play. They were schooled on the formation and the pattern and the inevitability of a play that the Ravens finally unfurled on the first snap of that final drive. The "Seven Route," safety Brent Alexander called it.

Still, the Steelers couldn't stop it.

The same way on Baltimore's final three possessions they couldn't stop Brookins, who rushed for 23 yards, and Cunningham, who completed 5 of his last 7 passes for 71 yards. Much the same way they couldn't stop Kansas City and Tampa Bay and Cincinnati in the end of games the Steelers otherwise dominated.

Now there's a T-shirt slogan that won't sell: The 55-Minute Men.

"We're going to get criticized on the way we've been finishing games," Alexander said. "It's something we've definitely emphasized every day in practice. It's an emotion thing. And it's something we will definitely address."

You cannot instill leadership in practice. You cannot forge mettle on the South Side fields where steel mills once stood. It must be earned in games, and these Steelers continue to squander such chances.

Remember Week 2 in Cleveland last year? The Browns marched 95 yards to kick the winning field goal in the final seven minutes.

Tennessee? The Titans marched 63 yards in the final three minutes for the winning touchdown in Week 3 last year and 62 yards in the final four minutes for the winning field goal in Week 9.

Philadelphia? The Eagles marched 44 yards for the tying field goal and 39 yards for the winning kick in Week 10.

Even Oakland in Week 13 got close before botching its potentially tying 44-yard field goal.

Linebacker Jason Gildon snapped at the suggestion: "We do have it licked." But the problem seems to persist for the 55-Minute Men. Battered Baltimore yesterday succeeded where Cincinnati and Kansas City and Tampa Bay failed previously this season. The wretchedly offensive Ravens collected 75 yards in the first 40 minutes, then 108 yards in the final 20 minutes.

"That's way bigger than Kris Brown," safety Lee Flowers said, referring to the Steelers' kicker who had three field-goal tries fade right on him and one partially blocked. "I think we're strong enough to think that we've got to stop them from getting into the red zone."

The heck with thinking that. Just do it.

Long-standing veterans such as Flowers, Gildon, Earl Holmes, Chad Scott and Dewayne Washington should infuse a swagger, a confidence to a defense that appears tenuous, timid in a game's final minutes, if not earlier. Holmes, for one, was supposedly at fault for Sharpe's wide-open touchdown reception in the second quarter. Scott, for another, would have been beaten for a Qadry Ismail touchdown on the third-down play before Matt Stover's winning kick if Cunningham had lofted the pass inbounds, into the end zone.

Sharpe crowed afterward: "I don't know if there's a better defense in the league than what we saw today. I never played against our defense, what we have right now. Definitely, [the Steelers] are as good as I've played against in 12 years of football." He was either being kind or setting up the Steelers for their return engagement Dec. 16 in Baltimore.

"Champions find a way to win," Flowers concluded. And his less-than-steely defensive mates are nowhere close yet.

In addition to The Big Picture, Chuck Finder writes a general-sports column exclusive to the http://www.post-gazette.com/ every Tuesday. He can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com