LOOKING AHEAD
Steelers (11-2) vs. Lions (1-12), 1 p.m. Sunday, Heinz Field. TV, radio: WPGH, WWCP; WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970). Detroit hasn't won in Pittsburgh since 1955. The Steelers are 6-0-1 at home against the Lions since then.
NOTEBOOK
RB Jerome Bettis spent eight minutes as a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS-TV yesterday and much of their conversation dealt with a groin and spit -- Bettis' injured groin and the spit Coach Bill Cowher sometimes spews in excitement.
"I don't know if you ever had a groin injury," Bettis asked Letterman.
"Sure I have," Letterman answered. "What kind of guy do you think I am?"
Said Bettis, "Imagine sitting down and splitting your pants; that would be splitting myself ... inside of me."
Letterman asked Bettis if his coach was nuts, and the Bus laughed.
"I have to play for him. I have to go back to work tomorrow so I can't say he's nuts ...
"A couple things in dealing with him you need to know. Game day, you need to stay a little away from him; once he gets going and that spit gets going it's like, whoa."
Letterman, on what teams need in a coach: "Do you need a smart guy doing this or a guy to just spit on you?"
Bettis: "You need both, and that's what you have ... you can't just spit at everybody. You pick the guys you spit at and guys you just talk to."
Bettis, pressed by Letterman as to which team the Steelers might play if they make it to the Super Bowl, chose the St. Louis Rams. "That would be sweet considering I played for the Rams," Bettis said.
Bettis praised Steelers fans and said coming here was "the best thing that ever happened to me in my career."
The show was taped yesterday afternoon in New York and shown last night.
Cowher made a startling statement to open his news conference, which is broadcast live on radio and television.
"I would like to address one issue before we get started here," he said. "Unfortunately, rumors have resurfaced regarding my marriage. I am just going to say that Kaye and I are fine. Our marriage is well and thriving, as it always has been. That is all I am going to say."
Two years ago, the Cowhers endured rampant rumors that they had split, but near the end of the season they addressed them to the news media and declared everything was fine between them and that they had not separated.
After his 100th victory as a coach Dec. 2, Cowher's eyes became watery as he thanked his wife.
"She and I have been through so much. It's special when I reflect back on all the things that we've been through, and she's a big part of why I'm still sitting here today. She's a friend and a tremendous soulmate of mine."
John Stallworth and Lynn Swann? They had nothing over Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress, who can give the Steelers their first dual 1,000-yard receivers in history.
Ward needs 138 yards for 1,000 and Burress needs 198 to reach 1,000. They have three games to do so. At his current pace, Ward, who has 862 yards, would finished with 1,161; Burress, who has 802 yards, would finish with 987.
Each has already has reached personal highs, both in catches and yardage. Ward has 80 receptions, Burress 53. They need two receptions combined to become the most productive Steelers receiving tandem in history. The record-holders aren't Swann and Stallworth, but Stallworth and Louis Lipps, who combined for 134 catches in 1985. That's also when the Steelers came closest to having two 1,000-yard receivers. Lipps had 1,134 yards and Stallworth 937.
Yancey Thigpen was the last Steelers' 1,000-yard receiver. He had 1,398 yards in 1997, the team's record.
Watching the Steelers has become more popular than watching "The Sopranos" on cable television. Their game at Baltimore Sunday night, televised by ESPN, was the most-viewed show on cable in 2001. An average of 7,826,000 homes tuned in to see the game. That's the largest audience for an ESPN game since Dec. 5, 1999, when Dallas played at New England and 8,204,000 homes watched. The TV rating from the Sunday night game was 9.14, the largest on ESPN since Dec. 12, 1999, when Minnesota-Kansas City drew a 9.17.
QB Kordell Stewart was named "Miller Lite NFL Player of the Week" after he threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-21 win against the Ravens in Baltimore Sunday night. It is the second time in his career he has won the award, which is voted on by a panel of journalists and broadcasters.
LB Jason Gildon needs one sack to surpass pass Keith Willis and rank third among the Steelers' all-time sack leaders. L.C. Greenwood had 73 1/2, Joe Greene 66, Willis 59 and Gildon 58 1/2.
Coach Bill Cowher called the NFL's taunting rule "complicated" and explained why the penalty against Ward on Sunday after the play ended was not a dead-ball foul. Instead of getting a first down after the catch and the penalty then assessed, the penalty was marked off as if Ward never got a first down.
"I wasn't real clear on it myself," Cowher said. It comes down to whether the clock is stopped or is still running.
"If it was an incomplete pass, and something takes place, then it would be marched off on the next play because the clock stopped," Cowher said.
He believes the rule might be changed after the season.
Cowher listed two players as questionable for the game Sunday. RB Amos Zereoue (shoulder) and guard Rich Tylski (ribs). Probable: LB Earl Holmes (knee), LB Joey Porter (shoulder), DE Kimo von Oelhoffen (thigh), LB Clark Haggans (shoulder) and FB Jon Witman (ankle).
Steelers Report, 12/19/01 
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