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Tuesday, October 08, 2002

Kendrell Bell stood very nicely in the doorway of the South Side complex Monday. He distributed his weight equally on both his healthy and his highly sprained ankles. He didn't scream, wince or fall over once during a two-minute conversation.

So he looks good to go Sunday.

Heck, he's supposed to stroll down a runway on a team charity fashion show three days before then, so if he's hale enough to walk that walk, Bell better play against the Bengals.

"Right now," he said of the Steelers' curtained defense, "something is missing."

Yeah.

Him.

The difference between the stout Steelers of 2001 and the sieve Steelers of 2002 is threefold: no Bell, no Earl Holmes, no crunch.

The problem is that simple. Sure, the club probably still would've lost to New England and Oakland with those big three elements, but there are no guarantees. Bell's smacking tackles and Holmes' smack, side by side at inside linebacker, helped to stoke a defense a year ago that walked, talked and hit like a heavyweight. This season, it's a featherweight unit that throws a lot of jabs and winds up picking its rump off the end zone canvas.

Pay no heed to the attack of the spread offenses and the quarterback quandary and the grounded running game.

It's the defense, stupid.

Take the Cleveland game ... please, Butch Davis might add. If the Browns coach doesn't stubbornly stick with quarterback Tim Couch for that contest and for half the game against the Ravens this past Sunday, his bunch would be sitting in even more glorious position atop the AFC North Division than 2-2. The Steelers' defense was the beneficiary of the play of Couch and a sofa-soft offense, otherwise it would be near the bottom of the league barrel.

Minus Cleveland, the Steelers are graciously permitting 374 yards per game, sixth worst in the NFL.

Minus Cleveland, they're graciously permitting 30.6 points per game, fourth worst.

Minus Cleveland, they're graciously permitting 48.8 percent of all third-down conversions, second worst.

Come to think of it, if Kimo von Oelhoffen's head is any smaller, they're 0-4.

As it is, the defense that ranked No. 1 last season currently wallows in the league's bottom one-third: 20th overall, 24th in points allowed (not to mention yards per rush and passing yards), 27th on third down, 31st in turnover margin.

Going beyond mere numbers, the Steelers aren't stopping foes at crucial times, aren't socking people with regularity, aren't causing quarterbacks to tremble and running backs to jitterbug and receivers to grow alligator arms. They're playing, perish the thought, Seahawks Football.

They aren't getting Holmes back from free agency and Cleveland. But they can get Bell back after missing the past four weeks and three-quarters of the New England game, when he re-injured that high ankle sprain from the preseason. They can get back their rough edges, too. And it all can start Sunday against the woe-and-5 Bungles.

Not that the F-Troop -- new inside linebackers James Farrior and John Fiala, the likely replacement this week for rookie Larry Foote -- and the rest of the Steelers defense can yawn over Cincinnati. This, after all, is the very team that spawned the beat-them-with-the-spread attack with 411 yards passing from Jon Kitna in December. This is the team with dangerous Corey Dillon at tailback. And they're on a roll, for Bungles: They rallied from a 21-0 deficit at Indianapolis so well, Kitna was throwing passes inside the Colts' 20 in the final half-minute with a chance to tie or, conceivably, win.

Even the lowly Bungles should feel pretty good about their chances, as safety Lee Flowers reasoned, "after they sit down and look at the films and see that Duece McAllister ran for 123 yards."

"Guys are trying to make plays and compensate for other people," defensive end Aaron Smith said. "Doing other guys' jobs and not their responsibilities. If everyone does their job, I think we'll be all right."

"We're not playing with enough emotion," Flowers added.

How vital a role did Bell, the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2001, play on this defense? "Oh, a huge part," cornerback Dewayne Washington continued. "Him and Earl. They were huge parts of the defense. Obviously, we want to get KB back as soon as we can."

Bell won't say whether his ankle is supple enough to play in Cincinnati. He defers such injury issues to Coach Bill Cowher, who said of Bell after the 32-29 loss to New Orleans Sunday, "You miss his presence." The second-year fellow from Georgia will admit to only: "Personal health, I'm fine."

Well, that's good enough for this defense.

"The guys, they're doing OK," Bell said, from his sideline view. But he allowed as how unity certainly was a hallmark last season. "Just being comfortable with each other. Two new inside linebackers, it takes time for the team to gel together. If I'm out there, they know how I run around, they're familiar with me and what kind of mistakes I make."

Right now, they would take those mistakes. Along with the thudding blows that earned him the nickname, "Contact," last year. Along with the ferocity and the pass rush and the punishing element and the injection of emotion, if not turnovers, so absent.

Bell isn't everything these Steelers need. But he's a necessary start.