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Monday, January 13, 2003

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

When the Steelers finish blaming the officials for another season-ending loss in the playoffs, they might look for the real culprit -- their pass defense.

	Titans wide receiver Drew Bennett makes a catch in front of cornerback Dewayne Washington in Tennessee's 34-31 overtime victory Saturday in the AFC divisional playoffs. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette) ... a word from our columnist The Big Picture Mixed reviews on the penalty

The Titans did not benefit from a poor call by the officials in a 34-31 overtime victory Saturday night in Nashville, Tenn., as much as it benefited from playing against the Steelers' secondary. The Steelers finished the season ranked 20th against the pass and then went downhill from there in the playoffs.

Steve McNair threw for 338 yards Saturday after Kelly Holcomb threw for 429 yards against the Steelers the previous week after Jeff Blake threw for 336 yards against the Steelers in the final game of the regular season. If you're counting at home, that's 1,103 yards passing in the Steelers' final three games and those weren't Marino, Elway and Montana doing it.

No sooner had the coin landed heads up to start overtime than McNair threw two passes that won the game, both to Justin McCareins, one for 31 yards and one for 22 to put the ball on the 16. Game over.

Cornerback Dewayne Washington missed the short pass and the tackle on the first one, and four Steelers were close enough to make a play on the second and did not after McNair rolled to his right and threw on the run.

After that, Washington ran into kicker Joe Nedney to give him a second chance to win the game with a 26-yard field goal. The official's call drew the ire of Coach Bill Cowher, linebacker Joey Porter and others in the losing locker room, but there was nothing they could do about it. There is something they can do about the team's secondary.

In April, when it comes time to draft, the Steelers won't be able to say -- as they did last year -- that they don't have any obvious holes to fill. There are holes in their secondary, and they will look to fill them with young, fast defensive backs. The Steelers haven't drafted a starting defensive back since Chad Scott in 1997, even though they have used two third-round picks and one second-rounder on defensive backs the past four years.

The Steelers learned what their weakness was in the first game this season when Tom Brady threw 25 consecutive passes against them and finished 29 of 43 for 294 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-14 victory by the New England Patriots. Rich Gannon then threw 64 passes against the Steelers in the second game, completed 43 for 403 yards and Oakland whipped them, 30-17.

Those first two games were the start of a trend. Teams came out throwing and scoring against the Steelers. Eight teams scored 30 or more points against the Steelers, including Cleveland and Tennessee in the playoffs. No other Steelers team has allowed as many 30-point games.

McNair and his receivers made it look easy Saturday. The Titans trailed, 31-28, in the fourth quarter when they took over after another special teams kickoff coverage lapse set them up on their 42. McNair completed three consecutive passes to put the ball on the Steelers' 22, and Nedney kicked a 42-yard field goal to tie the score.

The Titans nearly won it in regulation. Starting from the Tennessee 20 with 1:43 to go, McNair whisked them down field, completing a 10-yarder to Robert Holcombe, who scooted out of bounds at the 30 with three seconds left. But Nedney hooked his 48-yard field goal as time ran out.

The Titans enjoyed a 67-percent success rate converting third downs into first downs, making good on 12 of 18 tries. As a comparison, the Steelers were good on just 4 of 14 third-down conversions.

"You have to put this one on our guys," Tennessee Coach Jeff Fisher said. "They found a way to win it."

Fisher also had a different view of the 5-yard penalty against Washington for running into Nedney after Nedney missed his 31-yard field-goal try in overtime. The penalty gave him a second chance and he made it. Cowher called the penalty "ludicrous."

"It is the defensive player's responsibility to avoid running into the kicker under all circumstances," Fisher said.

As for the Steelers' complaints that officials ignored their pleas to call a timeout just before Nedney's winning kick, Fisher said, "If you want to call timeout, you have a whole bunch of time to call time out. You don't have to wait to the last second to call timeout and ice the kicker."

Receiver Hines Ward was one Steelers player who refused to blame the officials for a loss in a game in which they were outgained 430 yards to 324.

"The guy missed it, got a second opportunity and he made the field goal to win the game," said Ward, who led the Steelers with seven receptions, 82 yards and two touchdowns. "But it didn't even have to come down to that. We were out there on the field and we just didn't capitalize on our opportunity to win the game."

NOTES -- Lee Ann Robinson, wife of secondary coach Willy Robinson, died of cancer yesterday morning. A memorial mass will be held 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Teresa of Avila in Ross. Willy Robinson was not with the team in Tennessee this weekend. ... The Cincinnati Bengals want to interview offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey a second time this week for their head coaching job. Mularkey had a short interview a week ago but will be interviewed again at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. ... Steelers linebackers coach Mike Archer could not be reached to comment on reports in Kentucky that he will leave to become the University of Kentucky defensive coordinator. ... The Steelers report for a final meeting today. ... The NFL's supervisor of officials said that the running-into-the-kicker call was correct.