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Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Compiled by Dejan Kovacevic

Steelers (5-1) vs. Baltimore Ravens (4-3), 1 p.m. Sunday, Heinz Field. TV, radio: KDKA; WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970). The Steelers are 7-3 all-time vs. the Ravens but lost their final two meetings at Three Rivers Stadium, including a 16-0 defeat in the opener last season.

Eddie George, Titans RB, left early in the third quarter because of a hyperextended left knee and did not return. His status for next week was not immediately known.

The Steelers deactivated TE Matt Cushing, C Chukky Okobi, G Keydrick Vincent, OT Mathias Nkwenti, LB Justin Kurpeikis, DE Chris Combs and DT Chris Hoke. The Titans played without WR Justin McCareins (ankle), WR Eddie Berlin, FB Wes Ours, OT Barry Hall, G Gennaro Dinapoli, DT John Thornton and DT Joe Salave’a. FS Blaine Bishop was unable to start because of a sprained foot and seldom played.

The crowd of 63,763 was the largest to see a Steelers game in Pittsburgh. Fans were jammed in on the various rotundas and bridges, and the line along the fence behind the south end zone was as many as five or six deep. A few of the Steelers had mentioned after their previous home game, Oct. 7 against the Bengals, that the crowd wasn’t as loud as they would have liked. There were no such complaints last night. Even before the Steelers emerged from their tunnel, Heinz Field resounded with chants of “De-fense!” Coach Bill Cowher had decided before the game he would have the offense introduced. “When I heard that, I wondered if I made a mistake.” Cowher was effusive in his praise of the fan support: “It was electric. The fans were great. ... We have special fans here. They appreciate solid football. We’ve been a little down around here for a couple of years, but that’s changing.” WR Plaxico Burress: “It was just outstanding out there. It gave me chills. It was a really special feeling, for myself and for all of us, to have the crowd behind us like that.”

Cowher ran his first special-teams fake of the season with less than a minute remaining in the first half. On fourth-and-5 at the Tennessee 29, PK Kris Brown lined up for a 47-yard field-goal attempt. Instead, he took a pitch from holder Josh Miller and sprinted around left end to pick up a first down which Tennessee hotly contested. Brown stepped out of bounds with his left foot about a yard short of the first down, but officials on the field ruled his lunging attempt to stretch the ball forward had made the difference. Officials went to a video replay, after which referee Terry McAulay announced to the crowd there was not enough “conclusive visual evidence” to overturn the original call. The Steelers did little with the play, though, advancing 5 more yards to set up Brown for a 42-yard field goal. “Hey, he can run the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds,” Miller said. “I’m serious.” Cowher acknowledged Brown’s speed was influential in his decision, but he said the play was drawn up specifically because of something he and his staff detected while studying the Titans’ tendencies: “What’s wrong with it? We thought it was there, and Kris is fast. We’re running those kinds of plays every game. I think they’re great. It gives them something to think about.”

The Steelers dominated Titans RB Eddie George. He entered the game averaging only 2.7 yards per carry and found little room to penetrate the middle, finishing with 13 yards on 10 attempts before leaving with a knee injury early in the third quarter. “It looked like they might be having some problem with chemistry in their running game, but I only worry about the Pittsburgh Steelers,” LB Earl Holmes said. “The thing with George is he gets a lot of his yards cutting back, and that was the thing we concentrated the most on. We didn’t want him making that extra move.” Once George was out of the game, the Steelers had an easy time stopping the run. “Without Eddie back there, they’re totally different,” SS Lee Flowers said. “I think he was hurting. I’m going to be honest: I’ve seen this guy for seven years run extremely hard. Tonight ... it wasn’t the same Eddie back there. Right now, they have some guys banged up over there. Until they get that right, they won’t be the same team.” George: “It’s very frustrating right now ... when you try to help the team and you can’t do anything.”

The Titans, two seasons removed from an appearance in the Super Bowl, fell to 2-4 and deeper into the AFC Central Division basement. “Unless we play perfect, we’re going to make it harder on ourselves, and that’s what we did,” Coach Jeff Fisher said. “They made a lot more plays than we did. We had a chance to make plays, and we just did nothing. I give the Pittsburgh Steelers and Coach Cowher and his staff credit. They had a game plan, executed and put a lot of points on the board. But I think we’re going to look at the tape and see that a lot of this was our own doing, not necessarily what the Steelers did.” George said: “When it rains, it pours. Well, right now, we’re in the middle of a hurricane.”

After winning the Steelers’ backup job in a much-publicized training-camp battle, QB Tommy Maddox finally made his first appearance, entering the game with eight minutes remaining and a 34-7 lead. He received a warm ovation upon being introduced and, on his second series, threw a 57-yard completion to WR Troy Edwards on his first pass attempt. From the Steelers’ 1, he fired a perfect 20-yard strike as Edwards cut across the middle, and Edwards picked up the rest.

Before the game, the NFL and its players presented a check for $50,000 to the American Red Cross in the name of the Western Pennsylvania firemen and other emergency personnel who worked to assist those involved in the Sept. 11 crash of United Airlines Flight 93 near Somerset. The donation is part of $10 million donated by the league and players to organizations dealing with the repercussions of the terrorist attacks.

Clarence Clemons, saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, performed “America the Beautiful,” and Beaver Falls’ Donnie Iris drew a rousing ovation for his rendition of the national anthem.

WR Plaxico Burress had a career-best six catches for 151 yards, making him the first player at his position to reach 100 yards receiving since WR Bobby Shaw had seven catches for 131 yards Jan. 2, 2000, against the Titans.

LB Jason Gildon’s sack of Titans QB Steve McNair in the fourth quarter gave him 53 1/2 for his career, tying him with LB Greg Lloyd for fifth place on the Steelers’ all-time list.

PK Kris Brown’s miss on a 48-yard FG attempt with five minutes left in the first quarter -- it sailed wide left -- marked the first time in seven tries he missed from 40 yards or longer. It was only his second miss of the season.

The Steelers’ defense has allowed five offensive touchdowns in the past five games, giving up only TE Frank Wycheck’s 4-yard catch early in the second quarter last night.

QB Kordell Stewart reached 200 yards passing for the first time since Dec. 10, 2000, when he had 224 against the Giants. He was 13 of 22 for 232 yards. It was the 16th 200-yard game of his career.

The 34 points was the most for the Steelers since a 48-28 victory Nov. 26, 2000, at Cincinnati, their most against the Tennessee franchise since a 34-17 victory Sept. 10, 1995, at Houston.

Lee Flowers, Steelers SS, who had complained the previous week that his team gets little respect around the NFL: “You know what? It really doesn’t matter, man. You don’t have to respect us all the way up to January. We don’t care. We understand what we have in this locker room. We have some special guys in this locker room. There are still some people out there saying we’re not that good, and that’s fine. We’re a young team, and we just beat Tennessee. That’s good enough for me.”

How tight is the security at Heinz Field?

Ask Bill Cowher.

Guards at the gate for team employees and media personnel said they rifled through Cowher’s bag yesterday with just as much diligence as they have shown with anyone else.