Tuesday, September 23, 2003

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The most astounding thing to occur for the Steelers in Cincinnati Sunday was not Joey Porter's comeback three weeks after getting shot in the rump. It was not Alan Faneca knocking helmets off Bengals as if they were bobblehead dolls. Nor was it Jeff Reed blowing a 24-yard field-goal attempt.

	Fullback Dan Kreider had a career-high three rushing attempts for 13 yards Sunday in the Steelers' 17-10 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette)

Try fullback Dan Kreider's career-high three carries from scrimmage.

Where does a guy set the bar after that? Four in one game?

"My goal is to maybe get another one this year," Kreider said.

He's not kidding. Kreider is in his fourth season with the Steelers. He has been a starter since 2000, when he took over for injured Jon Witman. In all that time, he never carried the ball more than twice in a game. Last year, he had six carries. He had seven runs from scrimmage in 2001, his high-water mark that may quickly fall because Kreider is on a feverish ball-toting pace with four carries in three games.

When Kreider touches the ball, it's considered as crafty a play as a fake field goal. Last season, two of the team's wide receivers and two quarterbacks had more carries than Kreider.

	More Steelers Coverage: Steelers Report: 9/23/03

They should change his name to fullblock because throwing blocks is as much part of his job as changing oil is to the attendant at Jiffy Lube.

"I understand what my abilities are and what my role is here," Kreider said. "You get a couple token runs here and there. It's good to get them. But, honestly, I'm the lead blocker."

His best block and his best carry did not hit the statistics sheet Sunday, but it did make the highlight shows. It came in the second quarter of a scoreless game in Cincinnati when Hines Ward fought to stay on his feet and drive into the end zone with two Bengals trying to prevent him from doing so.

Kreider barreled in on them with just one thought in mind: Make something happen. He hurled into the four like a Brunswick picking up the 3-5-6-9 spare and knocked Ward into the end zone for a touchdown.

"I got hit, my breath got knocked out of me and my teammate comes and hits me in the back to just push me over," Ward said. "It was a great play, a team effort. I was trying to go down, Dan came up and pushed me into the end zone."

Believe it or not, Kreider once carried the ball and not a teammate into the end zone. It occurred Dec. 16, 2001, in Baltimore on a 4-yard run in a place where he also once lifted the great Ray Lewis off his feet with a thundering block. It's his only rushing touchdown as a pro.

Not that Kreider is inexperienced around the goal line. He scored 32 touchdowns his senior season at Manheim Central High School in Lancaster County. He rushed for 518 yards as a senior at New Hampshire.

But his lot in the pros is putting guys on their back and paving the way for Amos Zereoue and Jerome Bettis, something that's a bit of a lost art in the NFL these days for fullbacks. Good blocking fullbacks are difficult to find. Witman is the only real fullback drafted by the Steelers who started for them. Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala and Verron Haynes have played there, but they really are tailbacks and emergency fullbacks.

Kreider, who made the team as an undrafted rookie, is the only fullback on the roster with tight end Matt Cushing the emergency backup. At 5 feet 11 and 246 pounds, Kreider says he's "built to play the position -- kind of short and squatty."

Used to be, fullbacks went by the names of Jim Brown, Franco Harris, Jim Taylor and the like. They were the star ball carriers. The position evolved into either a pure blocking back such as the Steelers use, or a combination blocker/receiver in the West Coast offense. The good blockers are hard to find because the colleges do not develop enough of those fullbacks and it is difficult to project a good blocker in the backfield without seeing him do it. Blocking on the run is an acquired art.

"I guess more teams are converting linebackers, who are a little bit shorter, to the fullback position," Kreider said of the colleges. "That's who I was, a linebacker converted to a fullback."

As Ward can attest, he still hits like a linebacker.

"You have to be able to make those hits," Kreider said. "You have to have some hands maybe to catch the ball. Obviously, you're not there to make the big plays, the tailback is."

Kreider's idea of a big play comes from a different perspective.

"I would say getting a block that springs somebody for a touchdown. I think that's what I'm here to do."

That, and sometimes springing a guy into a touchdown.

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