Monday, September 29, 2003

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The Steelers crushed Tennessee yesterday, threw the ball up and down the field on the Titans, gouged them in virtually every statistic imaginable except the only one that counts.

	Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse sacks Tommy Maddox yesterday. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette)

The Titans did what they almost always seem to do against the Steelers, they beat them, 30-13, at Heinz Field despite nearly 200 fewer yards in offense and an early 10-point deficit.

How much offense was necessary, though, when Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox threw two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown and another taken to the 1? Maddox threw for 332 yards but those interceptions were killers. Tennessee's Steve McNair threw for less than half that, but he completed all but one of his 16 passes for 161 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a near-perfect passer rating of 148.2 as he ran his personal record to 10-3 against the Steelers.

"It is typical of Steve," Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher said. "He did not have 450 yards. He just threw three touchdown passes and quietly went down the way to win the game."

The Steelers (2-2) gathered most of their yards between the 20s. They traveled at the speed of light until they punctured the Titans' 20, where they continued to flow like ketchup out of a fresh bottle.

"Getting down there is not a problem, but we have to put up more touchdowns than field goals," said receiver Hines Ward, who caught nine passes for 76 yards before a mild concussion knocked him out of the game in the fourth quarter. "When they keep us out of the end zone, it just demoralizes our offense."

	More Steelers Coverage: Play of the Game The first interception When push came to shove, Titans won McNair almost picture perfect Steelers Report: 9/29/03 Report Card Steelers vs. Titans Photo journal Game Four: Sept. 28 Steelers vs. Tennessee Titans

The Steelers made it past Tennessee's 20 on five occasions and came out of it with just one touchdown and two field goals, giving them only five touchdowns on 15 trips in the red zone this season. The final indignity occurred at the end of the game when the Titans stopped them on four consecutive plays from the 1.

"We're not coming up with points, that's the whole problem," said wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who caught four passes for 64 yards and exited with a hip pointer. "Somehow we have to find a way to get the ball to the right people and let those guys play."

Maddox threw two to the wrong people, and they led to two touchdowns.

The Steelers led, 10-0, on Jeff Reed's 26-yard field goal and Amos Zereoue's 5-yard run before Maddox was sacked in the end zone by linebacker Rocky Boiman.

McNair and receiver Drew Bennett then picked on Steelers cornerbacks, a popular theme, to close to within a point. Bennett beat Chad Scott on a 42-yard reception and then beat Dewayne Washington for a 10-yard touchdown catch.

The Steelers went back up, 13-9, when its offense again bogged down inside the 10 and Reed kicked his second field goal, from 23 yards.

With a minute left in the half and on his 45, Maddox threw a quick slant toward Burress on the left. Cornerback Samari Rolle fought off Burress and cut in front of the route, intercepted the pass and ran it to the 1 before Zereoue knocked him out of bounds. McNair took over and threw a 1-yard pass to tight end Erron Kinney to give the Titans their first lead, 16-13.

They never trailed again.

"When they kept scoring and took the lead after the interception, it just demoralized our offense," Ward said.

The Steelers would go on to pile up 376 yards in offense to Tennessee's 198, gather 25 first downs to the Titans' 9 and hold the ball for 35 minutes, 50 seconds -- nearly 12 minutes more. But they scored too little and gave up the ball too much.

Trailing by four in the third quarter, they wasted a diving Burress catch of 38 yards to Tennessee's 12 when they moved no farther in the next three downs and Reed's 30-yard kick was tipped by safety Tank Williams and plunked off the crossbar.

McNair followed by picking on Scott again, this time completing a 29-yard touchdown pass to Justin McCareins for a 23-13 Tennessee lead.

It became 30-13 when Maddox, spun around by Tank Williams outside the pocket, tried to throw the ball away. Instead, he threw it to Boiman, who returned 60 yards for a touchdown.

"You're looking up from having the lead and then you're down 30-13, you say what happened?" linebacker Joey Porter said.

Too many turnovers, not enough oomph in the red zone, coach Bill Cowher said.

"I think it was pretty evident. We gave up 16 points on offense and we can't do that."

Cowher and coordinator Mike Mularkey had been pressing Maddox to cut back on his interceptions this season -- he threw 16 last year and 20 touchdowns in 2002. He has six interceptions and five touchdowns in four games this season.

"Interceptions are a problem, no matter how you want to look at it," Cowher said. "But certainly when they are being returned for touchdowns. The second one he was trying to throw it away, but when he got spun he did not know where he was. It was still an ill-advised pass."

The Steelers tried to run on the Titans' top-ranked run defense with mild success early by using draws and sending Zereoue around end. Zereoue had 51 yards rushing on 10 carries at halftime -- and ran eight times for 0 yards in the second half. They finished with 69 yards total and a 2.8-yard average. Tennessee had even less success against the Steelers with 40 yards and a 1.8-yard average.

"It's frustrating," said Maddox, who is 0 for 3 against the Titans since taking over as starting quarterback last year. "Two out of three times, I felt that we should have beaten them."

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