Monday, September 15, 2003

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When Kansas City's Priest Holmes rushed for 150 yards against them two years ago in Arrowhead Stadium, the Steelers quickly noted that he gained 92 yards on the final two series while they were in the dime defense.

	Steelers running back Amos Zereoue is limited to 48 yards on 11 carries against the Chiefs yesterday. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) Click photo for larger image.

Try as they might, the Steelers couldn't put a positive spin on their running game in yesterday's 41-20 loss to the Chiefs. Even after Amos Zereoue added to the meager total with meaningless 15- and 22-yard runs in the fourth quarter.

"We have to improve our running game," wide receiver Hines Ward said. "We acknowledge that. Everyone on the team knows that."

The Steelers, once known as one of the premier running teams in the NFL, might not even have the best ground game on the South Side right now. They rushed for only 60 yards on 16 carries, thanks primarily to the 37 yards Zereoue gained on back-to-back carries in the fourth quarter when the Chiefs were leading by 14 points.

Some of the players wanted to say it was difficult to run the ball when they trailed by so many points. But the Steelers had only 13 yards on eight carries in the first half when they led until the final 4:50 of the second quarter.

"It's got to get better," coach Bill Cowher said. "We knew, coming in, they brought a lot of guys up to the line and try to take it away. We tried to stay with it pretty much. But if they're going to do that, then we should be able to throw the ball. We have to run the ball better. We can't count on 300-yard passing games and have that be the answer to winning. You got to have balance and right now we're not running the ball as effectively as we need to."

Granted, the Chiefs' defense did a good job shutting down San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson in the season opener, holding him to 34 yards on 13 carries. And it did a good job against the Steelers, using strong safety Greg Wesley (nine tackles) on run blitzes and nose tackle Ryan Sims, a No. 1 pick in 2002, to stuff the middle of the line. It didn't help that a boisterous crowd of 78,416 added to the confusion, preventing some of the offensive linemen from hearing the snap count.

"They were doing a lot of run blitzing trying to take us out," said Jerome Bettis, who finished with 7 yards on four carries.

Zereoue, who finished with 48 yards on 11 carries, had only 11 yards on nine carries going into the fourth quarter. Take away his two long runs when the Chiefs were leading, 34-20, with 9:13 remaining and the Steelers had only 23 yards rushing on 14 attempts.

"They were doing a lot of blitzing, but they were making a lot of lucky guesses and coming up with plays in our backfield," guard Kendall Simmons said.

"Give credit where credit is due -- they did a good job," quarterback Tommy Maddox said. "They came in with a game plan and they played it very well.

"I don't think they did much conventional all day. They mixed their defenses very well. They did some different stuff to get themselves in good situations."

Two years ago, the Steelers led the NFL in rushing. Since then, the attack has been in decline, its fall coinciding with the advent of the passing game under Maddox, who threw 47 times for 336 yards against the Chiefs. As a team, the Steelers haven't rushed for more than 100 yards in five of their past six games, dating to last season. And they've had only one 100-yard rusher in their past 11 outings -- Zereoue, who had 104 yards on 26 carries in the 2002 regular-season finale against the Ravens.

The Steelers had 98 yards in the season opener against the Ravens, but they rushed 33 times, an average of 2.9 yards per attempt.

"We just didn't execute the way we need to from the beginning," said left tackle Marvel Smith, who held Chiefs defensive end Vonnie Holliday without a sack. "We didn't get into the type of groove we need to be effective. It was a tough environment. Half the time I couldn't hear the cadence and they'd bring pressure. That's tough."

But Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca said the noise wasn't a factor.

"We handled that pretty well," he said. "I don't think we had too many communication breakdowns. They were bringing extra guys in the box on running plays and doing a lot of slanting. The creases weren't there."

Good news is on the horizon for the Steelers, who play at Cincinnati Sunday. The Bengals allowed an average of 183.5 yards rushing against the Steelers in 2002.

"We definitely have to get better in the running game to get where we have to go," Ward said. "We have to be more balanced."

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