NEW ORLEANS -- Jerome Bettis corrected a questioner who wanted to know if his performance against the New Orleans Saints was reminiscent of the old Bus.
“It’s the same bus,” Bettis said. “I haven’t changed. I just need the opportunity. I’m the same guy.”
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Jerome Bettis celebrates after his 6-yard touchdown run. He finished with 84 yards in 19 carries. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) |
Bettis was making a point. Even though he and the offensive line had looked little like the components that fueled the National Football League’s No. 1 running attack last season, Bettis has been adamant he’s the same back with the same speed carrying the same weight as he did in 2001. Several times during the week, he facetiously cracked he’s washed up, a derisive reply to those who think he has lost a step and can no longer ramble through a hole.
But, until yesterday, Bettis has had few holes to run through. That all changed against the Saints. The offensive line looked like it did last year, moving more piles than a backhoe. Bettis ran for 84 yards on 19 carries and scored on a play that is considered the team’s bread-and-butter.
He also became the 12th player in NFL history to surpass 11,000 career rushing yards.
None of it mattered, though, because the defense reverted to its generous form in a 32-29 loss to the Saints in the Superdome.
“We’ve been close,” Bettis said. “It’s hard to see it when you don’t produce. We’ve been close, we knew it, and in this game it really came together for us.”
It hadn’t been working that way. The Steelers had managed just 239 yards on 76 carries in their first three games, with Bettis gaining just 100 yards on 32 carries. The running game was so lethargic that after he gained 24 yards on 14 carries against Cleveland, a team that ranked 27th in the NFL in run defenese, Bettis was benched in the second half and replaced by Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala.
Afterward, Coach Bill Cowher said he would bench any player who was not producing.
Bettis said that had nothing to do with the way he performed against the Saints, who came into the game with the league’s No. 11 run defense.
“Not at all,” Bettis said. “I’m a professional. The worst part is, they make decisions based on other positions, not our position. So what do you base it off of? That’s why I knew it was them trying to appease themselves. I mean, I wasn’t running bad; there wasn’t anywhere to run. I just ignored that.”
Bettis and the rest of the ground game got the opportunity against the Saints, even when the Steelers fell behind 19-7 and 26-14. In fact, after Deuce McAllister raced 52 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, giving the Saints a 26-14 lead, Bettis rushed six times for 30 yards in a 12-play, 80-yard scoring march. It culminated in a 6-yard scoring run on one of the Steelers’ favorite plays with Bettis -- the counter power in which guard Alan Faneca pulls and leads Bettis through the right side.
“It was beautiful,” Bettis said.
The Steelers were moving the ball so well on the ground that the only time they abandoned the attack was late in the fourth quarter when Tommy Maddox tried to rally the offense from a 32-21 deficit.
The Steelers have held the lead just twice in four games this season. They led the Raiders, 7-3, for 2 minutes, 47 seconds in the first quarter. And they didn’t take the lead against the Browns until they kicked the winning field goal in overtime.
“I’d like to see how this offense would work if we had a lead,” Coach Bill Cowher said.
The Steelers finished with 120 yards on 26 carries against the Saints. Sure, it’s well below their league-leading average from last season (173.4 per game). But it’s easily their best output this season, and a sign the running game has not disappeared.
Bettis and Amos Zereoue, who finished with 35 yards on five carries, had four runs longer than 10 yards. They had managed just two in the first three games.
“They did a great job up front,” said Bettis, who has carried 2,737 times for 11,060 yards in his career.
“We did a few things better,” Faneca said.
“It seemed like we were running consistently when we wanted to,” center Jeff Hartings said. “We just had to stick with it. I think we stuck with it as long as we could.”
He's the same old Bus, just detoured 
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