Home >  Sports >  Steelers

Sunday, December 17, 2000

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Jerome Bettis, who had his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season, showed once again why the Steelers should re-sign him and prevent The Bus from becoming a free agent.

	Richard Huntley celebrates after scoring his second touchdown yesterday. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette)

But Richard Huntley wanted to show everybody what he can do if asked to be the featured back in the offense, just in case the Steelers choose not to bring back Bettis.

He would like everyone to forget that fumble.

"Without a shadow of a doubt," Huntley said when asked if he would like to be the main back in the Steelers' offense. "That's the reason I play this game. I know I can be one of the top-notch guys. Just give me an opportunity. In my mind, I know I can."

What has been mostly a quiet, injury-stained season for Huntley took a modest positive turn in the 24-3 victory yesterday against the Washington Redskins. He rushed for 56 yards on seven carries and scored two touchdowns, the latter on a 30-yard run that will go down as the final touchdown in Three Rivers Stadium.

Later, though, he positioned himself as the answer to another trivia question when he fumbled after an 11-yard gain to the Redskins' 9 -- the final fumble in Three Rivers history. The ball was recovered by Redskins linebacker Greg Jones.

"Hopefully, I'll remember that last touchdown and not that last fumble," Huntley said. "Don't make that a reverse trivia question -- who had the last fumble in Three Rivers?"

Coach Bill Cowher tried to have the fumble expunged when he requested a video challenge, albeit belatedly, of the play.

"I had taken my [buzzer] off and I couldn't find it and I didn't know where it was," Cowher said. "I thought his knee was down."

The replay officials saw otherwise, and the fumble stood. On the sidelines, Huntley was angrily swinging his arms, upset that the fumble had soiled his best outing of the season.

"I felt like I had a pretty decent game and I didn't want the last memory in the stadium to be anything negative," Huntley said.

On a day when Bettis rushed for 104 yards on 25 carries, Huntley provided the game's best run -- a 30-yard touchdown jaunt in the fourth quarter that highlighted, equally, his desire, but also the Redskins' growing lack of intensity. It also provided graphic evidence of why the 5-foot-11, 225-pounder teases the Steelers with his combination of speed and strength.

On the run, he turned the corner, broke a tackle by safety Mark Carrier and barreled through Redskins cornerback Champ Bailey to the end zone.

"I was like a dog -- when he smells food, he's hungry, he's going to eat," Huntley said. "I smelled that end zone

Then Huntley added, "It was my chance, my opportunity to go out and make a play. That's one thing I wanted, that end zone."

The season has not been what Huntley expected, not after the Steelers signed him to a big contract extension in the offseason. Huntley expected to be more of a contributor after rushing for 567 yards on 93 carries and averaging 6.1 yards per attempt in 1999. But he injured his hamstring in training camp, re-injured it again in the preseason, then aggravated it a third time in the second game of the regular season in Cleveland. He missed the next three games.

Even when Huntley came back, he played tentatively. His runs lacked explosion. What's more, he had been replaced as the third-down back by Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, who was productive in his absence. Huntley's best outing was in the overtime loss to Philadelphia, when he had 31 yards on four carries, with a long run of 13 yards.

Yesterday, though, was a bit of redemption, a day he will remember not just because it was the finale at Three Rivers Stadium.

"It's being a part of it, something I can cherish and show my kids," Huntley said. "I'm going to sit here and think about it."

Everything but the fumble.