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Tuesday, January 01, 2002

Compiled by Ed Bouchette

Steelers (12-3) vs. Cleveland Browns (7-8), 1 p.m. Sunday, Heinz Field. TV, radio: KDKA; WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970).

Bill Cowher has experience coaching meaningless games at the end of the season, and he said he won't change his approach this time.

The Steelers, who have the top seed in the AFC for the playoffs locked away, end the regular season against Cleveland at 1 p.m. Sunday in Heinz Field. The game was originally the Heinz Field regular-season opener but was postponed because of the terrorist attacks.

"Health will have the utmost to do with the decision of who plays and who doesn't play," Cowher said. "And certainly our emphasis is on coming out and playing well, winning this football game. ... There are no playoff implications, but we would like to play well."

Cowher has used these last games to rest some players in the past but also has tried to win them. At times, he has played some of his better players for most of the game. He said who plays and for how long will be determined late in the week and also during the game. "We'll see how the game unfolds and kind of go from there."

The Steelers might have been the benefactors of an illegal use of instant replay when they beat Tampa Bay, 17-10, Oct. 21.

Referee Jeff Triplette in Cincinnati denied Cowher's request to challenge the ruling on an onside kick the Bengals recovered with 2:46 left in regulation. The recovery allowed Cincinnati to mount the tying touchdown drive. Cowher believes Steelers receiver Bobby Shaw clearly had possession of the ball. Triplette ruled the play was not among those that legally are permitted to be reviewed.

However, replay was used to overturn a call in Tampa Bay in which officials first ruled the Buccaneers had recovered their onside kick in the closing minute. After viewing replay, they overturned the call and said tight end Mark Bruener had recovered.

"They were wrong in Tampa," Cowher said after discussing the situation yesterday with an official from the NFL. "I was told this morning they should not have been doing that in Tampa."

Cowher did not believe the playing field at Paul Brown Stadium constituted conditions dangerous enough to cancel it the way an exhibition game was canceled in Philadelphia this year, but "it was just bad."

"I mean, it was one of those games where, when you were a kid, you say, 'Let's go out and play.' It's a cold, sunny afternoon. You [could] find some yards that were as bare as that field we played on. It was bad, it really was, particularly in the middle ... I've never seen conditions like that."

Kordell Stewart, who leads all NFL quarterbacks with 499 yards rushing, did not have a rushing attempt Sunday for the first time since Oct. 15, 2000, also against Cincinnati. The last time Stewart started a game at quarterback and did not have a rushing attempt was Nov. 28, 1999, against Cincinnati, a game in which he was benched early in the second quarter. The only other time in his career in which he started a game and completed it at quarterback and did not have a rushing attempt was Dec. 6, 1998, against New England. The Steelers are 0-3 when Stewart has started at quarterback and not had at least one rush.

According to records kept by the Steelers, the game in Cincinnati tied for the fourth-coldest at kickoff in club history. It was 20 degrees in Paul Brown Stadium at kickoff. Those records, however, likely don't include the years before 1970. The coldest game recorded also was at Cincinnati, Dec. 10, 1977, when it was 2 degrees (also a Steelers loss). The others were Dec. 17, 1989, vs. New England at home, 5 degrees; Jan. 4, 1976, the AFC championship game against Oakland at home, 16 degrees, and Dec. 18, 1983, at Cleveland, 20 degrees.

Cowher declared CB Jason Simmons (hamstring) out for Sunday's game with RBs Jerome Bettis (groin) and Amos Zereoue (shoulder) questionable. Seven players will be listed as probable: S Brent Alexander (back), OG Alan Faneca (shoulder), LB Joey Porter (shoulder), WR Hines Ward (ankle), FB Jon Witman (ankle), LB Earl Holmes (knee) and OG Rich Tylski (ribs).