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Thursday, October 25, 2001

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Steelers (4-1) vs. Titans (2-3), 9 p.m. Monday, Heinz Field. TV: WTAE. Radio: WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970) and Steelers Radio Network.

LB Joey Porter accepted his award as AFC defensive player of the week yesterday not so much for himself but for his teammates.

"It's a compliment for what our defense did and how we played," Porter said.

Porter led the Steelers with four sacks, one short of Joe Greene's club record, as the Steelers tied their single-game record with 10 sacks of Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Brad Johnson. Those four sacks are the most by a player in an AFC game this season.

Porter, who also had seven tackles and knocked down a Johnson pass, loves this time of year. Last season, he was selected AFC defensive player of the month for October.

"It's a great honor," Porter said. You get recognition around the league and respect from all the players you play against."

It wasn't a newspaper clipping that caused S Lee Flowers to go off on the Buccaneers, Sunday when he called them "paper champions." It was Warren Sapp strolling through the Steelers' pregame stretching drills that angered Flowers and his teammates.

"This has been my first season where while we're stretching, teams are running through our stretch and kicking balls through our stretch," Flowers said.

The other instance happened in Buffalo, Sept. 30, when the Bills' Jake Arians kicked through the Steelers' warmups.

"We just got fed up with it," Flowers said. "Warren Sapp ran through our stretch. I think teams are eager for us to come down and play them. That's what all the talk was all week. Then they disrespect us while we're trying to get some work done. There's no place for that kind of action in this business."

Porter said it wasn't just Sapp who walked through their drills.

"He's their leader, so they want to follow him. A lot of guys tried to just walk through the stretch. They were doing a lot of jawing before the game. Just the whole attitude of them trying to intimidate somebody, and that wasn't going to work. All it did was make us mad."

Flowers expects a different reaction from the Titans, Monday night.

"I think a lot of people in here respect a team like Tennessee because they work so hard."

The Steelers are happy to be playing on the national stage of Monday Night Football after missing out last season for the first time in 11 years.

"There are guys around here wearing new shoes today," Flowers said. "Everybody's getting prepared for this Monday night game. It's going to be exciting, but at the same time while we're stretching and enjoying the sight, once the whistle blows, we have to work and try to beat this team."

Lynn Swann will make it two Hall of Fame inductions in less than a year when he is enshrined in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, March 14 in San Francisco. A former Steelers wide receiver, Swann was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.

Swann, who graduated from Serra High School in San Mateo in Northern California, will join three other inductees: Pitcher Dennis Eckersley and swimmers George Haines and Mary T. Meagher. Swann was an All-American at Southern California and was MVP of Super Bowl X.

Titans All-Pro CB Samari Rolle, who has not played in the past two games because of a bruised spinal chord, might return Monday night. He is listed as questionable. So, too, is S Blaine Bishop, who missed last week's game with a mid-foot sprain. Bishop is an all-pro strong safety but he moved to free safety before he was hurt.

"I feel better about Samari's possibility of playing today than I did on Monday," Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said. "I just think he has an outside chance now."