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Monday, January 06, 2003

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

At one point, Lee Flowers looked around at the carnage that was the Steelers’ secondary and began to wonder where and when it would all end.

“I was saying, somebody please stop the bleeding,” Flowers said.

It is debatable whether the Steelers did accomplish that against the Cleveland Browns. Not in a game when quarterback Kelly Holcomb threw for 429 yards -- 1 yard shy of the all-time record against the Steelers -- and three touchdowns.

If it hadn’t been for a dramatic 17-point comeback by the Steelers, capped by Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala’s 3-yard touchdown run with 54 seconds remaining, the secondary was ready to spend the off-season as the latest scapegoat for another Steelers home playoff failure.

Move over 2001 special teams. Another culprit was on the horizon.

When it was all over, it was difficult to tell which was in worse shape -- the secondary or the players who comprise the unit.

“We got beat up a little bit,” said dime safety Mike Logan, one of the injured.

He was talking about the players. But he could have been referring to the collective pride of the secondary. The only thing that soothed the hurt was the 36-33 comeback victory that advances the Steelers to a divisional playoff game Saturday in Tennessee.

“We got one more touchdown than them,” said cornerback Deshea Townsend, who started for injured Chad Scott (broken hand) for the second consecutive game. “That’s the main thing. We just have to go and watch film and try to get better for next week.”

After the Steelers lost, 24-6, to Houston, a game in which they outgained the Texans, 422-47, Coach Bill Cowher prohibited his players from watching the film the next day, wanting them to expunge the horrid game from their memory. He would be wise to order the same ban today for the secondary.

The Steelers held the Browns to 38 yards rushing on 28 attempts, the third time in the past five games they have held the opposition to 50 yards rushing or less. But Holcomb came within 1 yard of eclipsing the all-time passing performance against them -- 430 yards by Washington’s Doug Williams in 1988.

“Kelly Holcomb is a good quarterback and I was fearful because you saw the same thing today that he did early in the season,” Cowher said. “He made a lot of big throws and we were just fortunate that we made some plays on third down.”

Holcomb didn’t stop passing until he ran out of time. He threw a 16-yard pass to wide receiver Andre King that moved the Browns to the Steelers’ 29 when time expired.

Even when the Browns were leading, 24-7, Holcomb never stopped throwing. He passed for 207 yards in the second half.

The Steelers weren’t surprised.

“Not at all,” cornerback Dewayne Washington said. “They knew they needed as many points as they could to beat us.”

“This is a rivalry,” Flowers said. “If you have the opportunity to embarrass your most hated rival, you’re going to do it.”

To be sure, Holcomb embarrassed the Steelers’ secondary.

Granted, the Steelers were playing without Scott, who was deactivated. And they lost Logan (hyperextended knee) in the third quarter on the play in which he had the Steelers’ only interception, and backup cornerback Chidi Iwuoma.

Holcomb was picking on Scott’s replacement in the dime defense -- cornerback Hank Poteat -- beating him for an 83-yard pass to Kevin Johnson to set up the Browns’ first touchdown and a 32-yard touchdown throw to Dennis Northcutt to make it 14-0. After Logan was injured, the Steelers had to use rookie safety Chris Hope in the dime.

Holcomb wasted little time going after him, throwing a 22-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Andre Davis to make it 33-21 with 10:17 remaining. On the play, Hope was out of position and was late covering the receiver.

“I was just trying to cover my teammates instead of doing my job first,” he said. “It was my fault because I was supposed to stay in the middle of the field. But [Holcomb] gave me a pump fake and got me out of position.”

Through it all, the Steelers managed to hang together. Logan’s interception set up the second touchdown -- a 6-yard pass from Tommy Maddox to Plaxico Burress -- that cut the lead to 24-14. And with a little luck, they managed to get off the field on third-and-12 with 2:42 remaining when Northcutt dropped a pass after badly beating Poteat across the middle.

“We’re taking this emotional high and we’re going to ride on,” said Logan, who said he’ll be ready to play against the Titans.

With or without the goat horns.