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Monday, December 04, 2000

By Ed Bouchette and Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writers

Steelers vs. New York Giants, 1 p.m. Sunday, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. TV, radio: KDKA; WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970). It will be the continuation of a rivalry which dates back to the Steelers' first game, a 23-3 loss to New York Sept. 20, 1933, at Forbes Field. The Steelers are 28-44-3 vs. the Giants all-time, with a 10-6 victory in their most recent meeting Oct. 23, 1994.

Neither the Steelers nor Raiders reported any injuries.

Steelers RB Jerome Bettis ran 24 times for 128 yards to give him 1,147 yards this season. With three games left, that's already the eighth-best season in franchise history. It puts him on pace for 1,411 yards, which would be the fourth-best in Steelers history. Barry Foster leads with 1,690 yards in 1992, then the next two belong to Bettis -- 1,665 in '97 and 1,431 in '96. And today, at 3:30 p.m., his agent, Lamont Smith, is scheduled to meet with the Steelers' Art Rooney II to open negotiations on a new contract. Bettis' 30-yard run in the fourth quarter set up the winning touchdown by Kordell Stewart and was his longest of the year. "We said we were going to pound the ball," SS Lee Flowers said, "and you have a running back pretty much annihilating their secondary. Jerome set the tempo." Raiders Coach Jon Gruden also was impressed with Bettis: "What can you say about The Bus? He's a load, and he was feeling it today."

After giving up an average of 224.5 rushing yards in each of the past two games, the Steelers' defense clamped down on the NFL's No. 1 running game yesterday, holding the Raiders to 117 yards on 28 carries and no touchdowns. RB Tyrone Wheatley led the Raiders with 60 yards on 16 tries, and QB Rich Gannon gained 39 yards on six carries. "I thought we did a good job with their running game," Coach Bill Cowher said. "Wheatley had the one run he broke, but that was kind of the focus coming in, to stop the running game."

The Steelers' defense also did not commit to an all-out blitz of Gannon at any times. For the most part, they rushed only four players and they had no sacks. LB Jason Gildon missed a sack because Gannon threw the ball away as he was going down and drew a flag for intentional grounding.

A crowd of 55,811, only the third-largest of the season, turned out on a cold, sunny day with the temperature 33 degrees at kickoff. "It was a great crowd today," Cowher said. "It was something you could feel in the air. I had a guy come out of the Doubletree Hotel this morning at 9 o'clock when I was getting ready to leave the hotel, and he was already in rare form. I think that is the first time that I've had that happen. You could feel it in this city. A lot of these players didn't know what the Pittsburgh-Oakland rivalry was, but they were starting to get a feel for what it is."

Gruden acknowledged, too, that even though the Steelers and Raiders hadn't met in Pittsburgh since 1980, a trace of the old rivalry appeared to be in the air: "If you're a historian, like me, you appreciate the history between the two teams. I love the NFL, and how can you not appreciate this series between two proud franchises?" DT Darrell Russell: "You could definitely feel some of those vibes."

The Steelers, for the most part, would not discuss their playoff possibilities after raising their record to 7-6 with their second victory in a row. They likely must win their final three games to get in. When they were 5-4, Cowher began talking to them about the playoffs and they proceeded to lose their next two games. "We just have to think about the Giants," Bettis said of their game next Sunday in New York. "That's what we have to worry about. We've spent a lot of time doing that and we lost football games. We have to worry about this next football game, and we'll worry about the other stuff later."

The Raiders lost a timeout in the second quarter when Gruden challenged an official's call with instant replay when Wheatley fumbled and Flowers recovered for the Steelers. Gruden thought Wheatley's knee hit the ground before the ball came lose, but referee Tom White upheld the original call.

Spotted flying over Three Rivers during the game: An airplane carrying a banner touting the new XFL as the "Toughest Football Ever." You don't suppose that was Vince McMahon in the cockpit?

The Steelers deactivated FB Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala (ankle), FB Jon Witman (leg), C Dermontti Dawson (hamstring), WR Kamil Loud, OT Shar Pourdanesh, LB Clark Haggans, DE Chris Combs and DE Jeremy Staat.

The Steelers closed out their renowned series with the Raiders at Three Rivers Stadium with a 4-3 edge. It ended a two-game losing streak at home to the Raiders, who won here 16-6 in 1977 and 45-34 in 1980, the last time they played in Pittsburgh.

Steelers TE Mark Bruener's touchdown catch was his third in the past five games after he played 27 without catching one.

QB Kent Graham threw his first interception as a member of the Steelers when Raiders CB Eric Allen returned his first throw for a 21-yard touchdown.

Bettis fumbled for the first time since Dec. 2, 1999. However, Steelers OT Wayne Gandy recovered, so he still has not lost a fumble since Oct. 25, 1999.

The Steelers have rushed for 140 or more yards in four consecutive games.

Steelers FB Dan Krieder's first NFL carry, and the first play of the game from scrimmage, was a 22-yard run up the middle.

Raiders WR Tim Brown, who had seven catches for 99 yards, passed Michael Irvin for 10th place on the NFL's all-time receiving yards list. Brown has 11,971, Irvin 11,904.

HE SAID IT

Darrell Russell, Raiders DT, on what he felt was poor officiating: "You've got to understand, we're the Raiders. When we go out there every Sunday, we're going against more than just the other team."

What was up with the Raiders on the game's final play?

Better question: What was the down?

Seven seconds remained, and Oakland had the ball at the Steelers' 41, down by one point. The Raiders had one timeout left.

Coach Jon Gruden, aware that it was third-and-1, wanted QB Rich Gannon to throw a quick strike to TE Rickey Dudley across the middle for 6 or 7 yards, then call a timeout. That would give PK Sebastian Janikowski a chance at field goal.

But Gannon, thinking it was fourth down, threw incomplete to the right side in the direction of RB Jon Ritchie, so the Steelers took over on downs with two seconds left.

It then took the officials several minutes to confirm that it had been fourth down, then to explain that to Gannon.

"I just wanted to make sure, so they counted the plays for me," Gannon said. "That was all my fault. There was a lot of confusion, and I take responsibility for that. That call came from the huddle."

Gruden had tried to tell his players it was third down.

"You can scream and yell and try to get it to everybody, but with the noise and the crowd, it's not easy," he said. "I'm sure not everybody was 100 percent on the same page. Rich was confused. One of the markers had third down, the scoreboard had third down. That's unfortunate, but we're not going to use that as an excuse."