Monday, September 15, 2003

By Ed Bouchette, Ron Cook and Bob Smizik, Post-Gazette Sports Writers

Steelers vs. Bengals, 1 p.m. Sunday, Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati. TV: KDKA. Radio: WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970) and Steelers Radio Network. The Steelers have averaged 35 points per game in their previous three trips to Cincinnati.

Mike Logan, Steelers S, left in the fourth quarter with a bruised thigh. He expects to play Sunday in Cincinnati.

Steelers RB Amos Zereoue rushed for 48 yards on 11 carries, and he wasn't happy about it. Zereoue split time with Jerome Bettis, who ran four times for 7 yards. Zereoue said it was hard for him to get in a rhythm, watching from the sideline. "Most definitely," he said. "As a back, you want to get some rhythm and it's tough to get into that when you're sitting on the sideline." Zereoue's totals would have been much worse had he not picked up consecutive gains of 15 and 22 yards in the fourth quarter as the Chiefs played more of a prevent defense with a 34-20 lead. The Steelers managed only 60 yards rushing on 16 carries, one week after they opened the season against Baltimore with 88 yards rushing on 34 carries. Clearly, the ground game has not gotten off the ground. "Certainly, it's got to get better," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "We're going to have to run the ball better and there's no question that we can't count on 300-plus-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 effectively." Said WR Hines Ward: "Their front four was getting into the backfield and our running backs didn't have a chance to get started."

The notorious crowd noise in Arrowhead Stadium disrupted the Steelers' offense. "The crowd noise was tremendous," Ward said. "We couldn't hear anything. There was miscommunication out there." Said QB Tommy Maddox: "You know coming in it's going to be tough. It's tough on the offensive line; they're not hearing the snap count to get off. You're playing behind the eight ball a little bit, and when you're doing that, you can't make the mistakes we made." The Steelers were charged with eight penalties for 82 yards, compared to the Chiefs' four for 32. "One time we had to call timeout because we couldn't hear anything," WR Plaxico Burress said.

Burress thought he scored a touchdown to give the Steelers a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. Instead, it was ruled he had bobbled the ball on the third-down play, and the Steelers had to settle for Jeff Reed's 20-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead instead. Cowher challenged the play but all it got him was a lost timeout when referee Larry Nemmers ruled Burress had both feet in bounds but didn't have control of the ball. An angry Burress rolled on the ground and tossed a baseball cap onto the playing field from the sideline after Nemmers' ruling, but was more subdued after the game. "It was a close call," Burress said. "If I catch it clean, it's a touchdown. It may change the game, but you can't go back on one play. I thought it was a TD, but the referee thought otherwise.

Steelers S Mike Logan had visions of another knee injury when he blitzed Chiefs QB Trent Green early in the fourth quarter. "I saw their [blocker] was going to cut me so I leaped in the air to get my knee out of the way." Logan, who spent a tough off-season rehabilitating after knee surgery, ended up with a left thigh bruise. He left the game briefly, then left for good with five minutes remaining. No. 1 draft pick Troy Polamalu finished the game at Logan's safety spot. "It's fine, really," Logan said of his injury. "It just stiffened up a little on me at the end. But I'll be good to go next week."

Steelers TE Mark Bruener, who did not dress in the opener, played yesterday but Jay Riemersma and Jerame Tuman saw the most action at the position. No tight end caught a pass for the Steelers.

One of the two Chiefs RBs from Penn State dressed yesterday, but it was Omar Easy, not Larry Johnson. Easy, who had a less-than-spectacular career for the Nittany Lions, is a backup fullback and played on special teams. Johnson, the Chiefs' No. 1 draft choice in the spring after rushing for 2,087 yards during a spectacular senior season at Penn State, was deactivated for the second consecutive week. The Chiefs' coaches aren't comfortable with Johnson's knowledge of the passing game and their blocking schemes.

Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil was clearly pleased with everything about his team's victory. "I think we came back from some real adversity against a real good football team. No one's going to put us on top but I think we took a giant step today, in some ways the hard way. It's a great feeling to be able to present a full game like that to our fans and to our ownership. Every phase of our football team competed, really competed."

Officials threw a flag when the Chiefs' Dante Hall returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and announced they were bringing it back because there was tripping on the play. They then huddled when they realized the flag had been thrown against Steelers K Jeff Reed, the final player between Hall and the end zone.

Former Kansas City coach Hank Stram was presented with his Pro Football Hall of Fame ring during halftime ceremonies.

Steelers: LB Joey Porter (thigh), TE Matt Cushing, WR Freddie Milons, G Keydrick Vincent, OT Mathias Nkwenti, DT Chris Hoke and LB Erik Flowers.

*Chiefs: CB William Bartee (ankle), CB Julian Battle (back), DE Eddie Freeman (elbow), RB Larry Johnson, OT Jordan Black, DE Jimmy Wilkerson, OT Brett Williams.

Steelers WRs Plaxico Burress and Hines Ward continued a torrid pace after two games. Ward caught nine passes for 146 yards to give him 18 for 237. Burress caught seven for 115 and has 13 for 231.

Steelers LB James Farrior intercepted his first pass in his second season with the Steelers, and his fourth pass as a pro.

Steelers CB Chad Scott's interception return for a touchdown was his second in his past two games in Kansas City.

Tony Gonzalez, who caught two passes for 8 yards, became the third Kansas City player and the fourth active tight end to catch 400 passes. Only Otis Taylor (410) and Henry Marshall (416) have caught more passes than Gonzalez for the Chiefs.

Dick Vermeil, Chiefs coach, on the Steelers' early 10-0 lead: "There was a knot in my stomach. Everything you strive to do early in the game we did just the opposite. But it is great to be able to do just the opposite and recover from it. I think that shows the depth of the competitiveness of our football team and the poise of our coaching staff."

Steelers QB Tommy Maddox used his right arm for more than throwing 47 passes yesterday. He also slammed it into the facemask of DE R-Kal Truluck with two minutes left in the game after the whistle blew because of a false start and Truluck did not stop. Maddox was penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.

"I just didn't appreciate him coming in and hitting Hines [Ward]," Maddox said. "I got more mad with the whistle blowing and him trying to bone up Hines, and then he grabbed me and wouldn't let go of me. The official was just standing over there. With the official blowing [the whistle] and he's waving his arms, he needs to jump in there so they can see him. The guy had a running start on Hines and tried to let him have it so I was a little upset by that."

Maddox, whose 134.3 passer rating led the NFL after one week, had a rating of 62.0 yesterday that dropped his two-game total to 89.6.

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