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Monday, January 06, 2003

Sure, it was good television. Close game to the very last. Long game, lingering a Lord of the Rings-ish three hours, 39 minutes. Stunning rally from a 17-point, second-half deficit, the greatest comeback in the Steelers' rich postseason history.

But come on, Phil Simms, somebody such as Oakland's wise old hand of a quarterback would've eviscerated that Steelers secondary yesterday, right?

"I don't think Rich Gannon would do any more than Kelly Holcomb did," said Simms, the CBS color commentator, while exiting Heinz Field after this 36-33 Steelers triumph. "Because Rich might take four passes to do what Kelly did on one.

"If that last throw was a yard out in front more, the Browns are trying a tying field goal."

So, in the end of the long, dramatic telecast, America's best football booth analyst came away relatively impressed with the Cleveland backup quarterback, the Steelers' starting quarterback, the breadth and depth of the Steelers' receiving corps, and the Steelers' chances Saturday at Tennessee.

Simms, a wise old hand of a quarterback himself, thought Holcomb got quickly in sync with Cleveland's pass catchers, and stayed that way. When Andre Davis got hurt on the Browns' final kickoff return, that forced into action lightly played Andre King, he of five catches and four inactive games this season. Simms figured that Holcomb's fatal flaw was failing to fully lead King on a pass across the middle with seven seconds left, causing King to try and fail to scramble out of bounds around the Steelers' 21 as time expired.

Tommy Maddox, conversely, was out of sync in Simms' view. "All it was, it was just a matter of getting in a rhythm. Desperation does that sometimes." Maddox and his receivers began dancing to the same beat by the fourth quarter, and that was good enough.

"Everything that Bill Cowher said about Tommy Maddox came true in the game," Simms said. "He throws well. He's a calculated risk-taker. That's what got them back in the game in the end. He threw some ugly balls, and he got away with them.

"It's a new day and age. The Steelers do it with the passing game now. It's not by running it and playing tremendous defense and winning, 17-13."

Saturday brings an AFC divisional playoff date with the Titans. A rematch with the team that battered the Steelers Nov. 17, the team that sent Maddox into temporary paralysis.

"The Steelers are going to be a tough matchup because of their receivers, because of that passing game," Simms said. "It makes them able to come from behind and make plays."

OK, but what about the Steelers' secondary that yielded 429 yards to a backup quarterback, the most passing yards in the history of NFL playoff games that didn't go overtime?

"The Tennessee Titans are not going to line up and throw it on you all day long," Simms said. "So that should help their defensive backs some. And so would Chad Scott, if he comes back."

More football

Maybe ABC should tap deeper into that ESPN bench strength -- its announcing lineups grew kind of thin by the end of New Year's Day. The Dave Barnett-Bill Curry-Mike Golic booth, to name one, would've done a sight better than a couple of the network's teams.

Speaking of ABC, Gary Danielson on Saturday criticized Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy at the opening coin toss, for failing to defer. How college. It really affected the outcome, huh?

See, the games are the thing: John Madden's presence still couldn't stem the ratings slippage for "Monday Night Football," which dropped 0.1 to 11.4. Elsewhere, NFL ratings were up a couple of ticks for Fox (10.5) and 17 percent for ESPN (7.4).

With Jake Ploeger going from weekend sports anchor to weekend news anchor, Jon Burton sheds most of his producer duties to officially become weekend sports anchor at WTAE-TV.