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Monday, November 12, 2001

CLEVELAND -- There is a time to pass the football. Kordell Stewart is throwing better than he ever has. His receivers even are making the catches once in a while.

There also is a time for trick plays. The direct snap to Hines Ward didn’t work against the Cleveland Browns yesterday, but two Statue-of-Liberty plays with Stewart went for big yards.

Most of all, there is a time to give the ball to Jerome Bettis and let him win the game.

Fortunately for the Steelers, offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey realized his best option just in time. After a long, questionable afternoon of play-calling, he finally hopped on Bettis and rode him hard to the finish.

It was Bettis left in overtime and Bettis right and Bettis left ...

“Sounds like a song,” Mularkey said afterward. “Has a nice tune to it.”

It sounded even better after Bettis’ eighth carry on a nine-play drive set up Kris Brown’s winning field goal in a 15-12 victory that left the Steelers at 6-2, in first place at the season’s halfway point.

Beautiful music, indeed.

“They had a mind-set in overtime, ‘Stop him,’” Mularkey said of Bettis and his blockers. “I did, too.”

Why not earlier in the game?

There never would have been an overtime. The Steelers would have won by two touchdowns. The Browns never did stop Bettis, who finished with 29 carries for 163 yards.

OK, so the Browns stopped him for a 1-yard loss in the first quarter for a safety. But after that?

“The offensive line was unbelievable,” Bettis said. “I just ran through the holes. There was no one there.”

That’s why it was surprising Mularkey got away from Bettis in the third quarter. Bettis had 69 yards in the first half but carried on only three of the Steelers’ 12 third-quarter plays.

It was hard to believe Bettis didn’t get the call on first-and-goal at the Cleveland 2 late in the third quarter. Mularkey called for a pass after a fake to Bettis, and Stewart fumbled the ball out of the end zone after a scramble.

It was hard to believe Bettis didn’t get the ball early in the fourth quarter after he ran for 4 and 11 yards on consecutive plays to give the Steelers a first down at the Cleveland 29. Three pass plays produced 9 yards before Brown had to kick a field goal.

And it was hard to believe Bettis didn’t get the carry midway through the fourth quarter after he ran for 5 yards on first down from the Cleveland 45. The Steelers had to punt after two pass plays gained 2 yards.

“I’ll take the blame if I didn’t run him enough,” Mularkey said.

It’s too simplistic to say the Steelers should just give the ball to Bettis every play. “A lot of times, they lined up more guys than we could block,” Mularkey said.

But it’s fair to suggest the Steelers didn’t use Bettis enough -- until overtime. Maybe Mularkey outsmarted himself just a bit. It happens. Sometimes, coaches have a hard time believing simple can be good, even better.

That was the case yesterday. The Browns came in with a mediocre run defense and were playing without middle linebacker Wali Rainer.

But that should almost always be the case with the Steelers. It shouldn’t matter if they are playing the best run defense in the world. Bettis is their best chance of winning.

Stewart is throwing the football well. Mularkey and quarterbacks coach Tom Clements should share the assistant coach of the year award for their work with him. But the receivers still are dropping too many passes. Plaxico Burress dropped a touchdown pass yesterday.

There is no such inconsistency with Bettis and his blockers. They show up every week. Bettis’ 100-yard game was his fifth of the season.

“We feel like we can’t be stopped, especially late in a game,” fullback Jon Witman said.

Bettis wants the football, thrives on it. He was so confident yesterday he found Brown after his missed 45-yard field goal late in regulation forced overtime and told him, “I’m going to give you another chance to win the game.” Then, he went out and ran for 27 yards on the first play. His eight overtime carries produced 48 yards.

Said Browns linebacker Brant Boyer, who could have picked a better day to fill in for the injured Rainer, “He’s the best back we have seen this year.”

If you have a horse like Bettis, you don’t wait until overtime to ride him.

You ride him all day long.

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