Rolle has a role in Steelers' downfall

Monday, September 29, 2003

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Plaxico Burress said he knew he was in trouble when he saw cornerback Samari Rolle start to break to the inside as soon as Burress got 3 yards into his route.

	Titans cornerback Samari Rolle returns an interception just short of the goal line before being pushed out of bounds by Steelers running back Amos Zereoue near the end of the first half yesterday. Tennessee scored two plays later to take the lead for good. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette)

It was a problem because the play was designed for Burress to run 6 yards, push into Rolle, then cut across the field.

"It's one of those things where [Rolle] knows it before I know it," Burress said. "His eyes get big, my eyes get big and you just try to cut him off."

Burress never had a chance. And, after Rolle stepped in front of Tommy Maddox for the first of two costly interception returns, neither did the Steelers.

Just like that, the Steelers lost more than the 10-point lead they had built in the first half. They lost the momentum, too, spending the rest of the game looking for something, anything, to reignite the spark they had for the first 27 minutes.

Rolle jumped in front of Burress and ran 49 yards with the interception, getting knocked out of bounds by Amos Zereoue at the Steelers' 1 with 50 seconds remaining in the first half. Instead of trying to pad their 13-9 lead before halftime, the Steelers found themselves having to defend the margin they carefully crafted with impressive ball control in the first quarter.

They couldn't, and the Titans used the momentum change to coast to a 30-13 victory yesterday at Heinz Field, turning what looked to be a good food fight into a cakewalk.

"That killed our momentum, coming out into the second half," said wide receiver Hines Ward.

"We are up by four, we get the ball back, and we called a timeout at the end of the first half," Coach Bill Cowher said. "Instead of going in with at least a four-point lead, we are going in down by three."

It only took two plays for the Titans to capitalize on Rolle's interception return. Steve McNair, whose only incompletion at Heinz Field came on a play in which cornerback Chad Scott should have been called for pass interference, threw a deft 1-yard pass to tight end Erron Kinney on second down that allowed the Titans to take a 16-13 lead into the locker room.

Sure, Titans safety Tank Williams partially blocked Jeff Reed's 30-yard field goal at the start of the second half, robbing the Steelers of a chance to turn the momentum. And linebacker Rocky Boiman intercepted a pass that Maddox said he was trying to throw away and returned it 60 yards for the Titans' final touchdown.

But the Steelers watched their fortunes turn as quickly as Rolle had jumped Burress' route and started running the other way.

"I was supposed to push him up to 6 or 7 yards and break under, but when he jumps inside of you when the ball is hiked it makes it tough on you right away," Burress said. "You can't even think about going upfield. You got to cut him off.

"Something just told me he was going to jump it inside because it was the same defense they played the play before. I couldn't push him outside. They tell us to pick those guys off, but sometimes you can't do it."

It wasn't supposed to work that way.

The Steelers were leading, 13-9, and called timeout after linebacker Jason Gildon sacked McNair at the Titans' 25 with 1:44 remaining in the first half -- the Steelers' only sack of the game.

On second down, Maddox completed a 13-yard pass to wide receiver Chris Doering on a play in which Doering and cornerback Andre Dyson were ruled to have simultaneous possession, giving the Steelers a first down at the Steelers' 45. The Titans argued that Dyson should have been awarded an interception.

One came on the next play.

And the game changed like a fall afternoon.

"I thought Plex was going to get inside him," Maddox said of Rolle. "Looking back, it's a throw I wish I wouldn't have made. I thought Plex was going to get inside of it and catch it. In that situation, you have a couple completions, we're at least in field-goal range, if not move the ball downfield to score a touchdown. It's a bang-bang play and they made a good play."

Burress finished with four catches for 64 yards, including a diving 38-yard reception on the team's first series in the second half. Ward had nine catches for 76 yards. And Maddox had another 300-yard passing game, his second this season.

But he also had 109 yards in return yardage, and those were the catches that hurt the most.

"It kind of summed up the whole game because we thought we had an interception on the play before and we didn't," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. "But we just had to come back and just be patient and not let some of those big plays affect you. We didn't get the interception and came back and made a big play."

How big?

"Right before the half, 50-some seconds left, that really hurts us," Ward said. "When they took the lead on the interception, that just demoralized the offense."

And everybody else.

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