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Monday, October 15, 2001

Compiled Ed Bouchette, Ron Cook and Bob Smizik

Steelers (3-1) vs. Buccaneers (2-2), 1 p.m. Sunday, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla. TV, radio: KDKA; WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970). The Steelers are 4-1 all-time against the Buccaneers, including a 2-1 record at Tampa Bay. But they are 0-1 at Raymond James Stadium.

CB Dewayne Washington left the game for one play with what was described as a sprained neck, but he returned to finish the game.

SS Lee Flowers left the game in the fourth quarter with a groin injury.

The win pushed the Steelers into first place in the AFC Central Division with a 3-1 record. Asked what it means, Coach Bill Cowher said, "Absolutely nothing at this point." Later, he said it was significant because three of the Steelers' games were on the road. They lost the opener in Jacksonville, then won in Buffalo. "That's important. You find out about the quality of a football team by how it performs on the road. Good football teams win on the road."

A fan escaped serious injury when he fell from the third to the first level of Arrowhead Stadium just before halftime. According to Gene Barr, the Chiefs' director of security, the man said he reached over to pick up something and "blacked out." He rolled over seven rows of people in front of him and over the edge of Section 323. He landed on the Club Level momentarily and continued his fall to the lower level, Section 116. A total of five people were injured and taken to a local hospital for treatment, but none of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

DE Aaron Smith keeps getting sacks but no respect from the opposition. He recorded a sack in his fourth consecutive game to lead the Steelers with four and match his entire production from last season. His one yesterday came in the fourth quarter, when he leaped over a blocker and pulled down QB Trent Green. It was not one of those "trash sacks" that teammates have been kidding him about, but Chiefs Coach Dick Vermeil wasn't impressed.

"I really don't think a defensive lineman really beat us on any pass rush," Vermeil said. "A defensive lineman got a sack on what we call 'fire pass protection,' where a running back is supposed to cut him down. [Smith] jumped over top of him."

Smith's own coach, though, saw that as a positive.

"Aaron smith made great play on one sack," Cowher said. "He jumped over a running back who tried to cut him. He's playing well."

The Steelers drafted TE Jerame Tuman in the fifth round in 1999 because he was a gifted receiver at Michigan. There, he caught 98 passes for 1,279 yards and 13 touchdowns. Yesterday, he caught his first pass in three seasons with the Steelers.

"He's been our hidden secret," Cowher said.

Tuman, with tight coverage, caught a 23-yard pass in stride from Stewart on a drive that led to PK Kris Brown's 55-yard field goal that tied a record set by Gary Anderson against San Diego in 1984. It also tied the longest field goal ever kicked against the Chiefs.

"It was a great throw by Kordell, I thought," Cowher said. "[Tuman's] played very well. He has a nice role on our team right now."

WR Plaxico Burress did not have a good day. He led the Steelers with 39 yards, on three receptions. But he fell easily to the ground after catching one, turned the wrong way on a deep fade that fell incomplete, had two penalties that negated long runs by RB Jerome Bettis and dropped a pass smack in his hands on a slant.

"Kordell threw a great ball to Plax on the slant and Plax has to make that play," Cowher said. "If Plax makes that play it's another first down."

Burress said, "It was one of those things, it got on me fast and I turned my hands the wrong way. I tried to cup it."

Chiefs RB Priest Holmes shredded the Steelers third-ranked run defense for 150 yards on 20 carries, which won't go well when they look at the video back home today.

"Tomorrow our defensive coordinator is going to kill us about stopping the run," Flowers said. "If you can't stop the run in this league, you're not going to go too far."

It was Holmes' ninth 100-yard game, the past three against the Steelers.

Although the Chiefs had only one timeout remaining after they scored to move within three points of the Steelers with 2:39 remaining, Vermeil chose not to try an onside kick. The strategy didn't work after the Chiefs kicked off into the end zone. On a third-and-3 from the 27, RB Amos Zereoue ran for 10 yards, which enabled the Steelers to run out the clock.

"I seriously considered the onside kick," Vermeil said. "Obviously, if I had known they were going to make a first down, I would have done it. I just thought the odds were better of us getting the back right away that way.

Holmes caught a pass that lost 10 yards.

The Chiefs' two-point conversion in the fourth quarter was their first since Oct. 26, 1997.

Rookie LB Kendrell Bell's two sacks give him three for the season, one behind Smith's team-high four.

Bettis needs 63 yards to pass Ottis Anderson for 13th place on the all-time NFL list. Bettis has 10,211 in his career.

Cowher's victory was his fourth against Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium, tying Dan Reeves for the most regular-season victories by an active coach in KC.

Vermeil was high in his praise of the Steelers: "We saw a real good football team out there in the Pittsburgh Steelers, and we didn't match up very well. They were squatting on our pass routes. They took a chance on getting beat deep and we couldn't do it. Give credit to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's a good football team, a real good one. They don't have a weakness."

Cowher does not want to take away from QB Kordell Stewart's aggressiveness on the run, but he acknowledged they may have to discuss the situation at some point in order to keep him healthy.

Stewart ran seven times yesterday for 47 yards, a 6.7 yard average. He also was sacked three times and a fourth, late in the game, did not count because a penalty against the Chiefs canceled it. But it did not negate the punishment he absorbed on the play.

Stewart really gave it up on the Steelers' second offensive series. On third and 6, he rolled right and, about to be tackled, dived and flipped for a 7-yard gain and a first down.

"I'm playing football, man, just playing football," Stewart said. "I don't care about nothing else. I love to play it, regardless what happens, as long as we keep winning."

There has to be a fine line between letting him play and protecting him.

"At some point we'll talk about him making sure that he uses good judgment," Cowher said. "But I thought at that point we needed a first down and I thought he made a great decision."

Stewart had his best passer rating of the season at 88.9 and, of course, that does not include his rushing yardage.