Reserve running back sparks Rams' win

Monday, October 27, 2003

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

James Farrior stood at his locker in what was a quiet Steelers locker room, trying to find the right words to describe what he had witnessed. It was the same type of reaction the Steelers had trying to defense the St. Louis Rams.

Shock and awe.

"Well, they ran a lot of draws and they put us in situations where we didn't have the linebackers we wanted to have out there," Farrior said. "They put us in the dime, then they run the ball. They did a good job of that with the draw and counters and stuff."

Good?

Downright masterful.

	Rams running back Arlen Harris celebrates with Torry Holt after scoring his third touchdown of the game. Click photo for larger image.

They do not have homecoming in professional football, though the Steelers tried to stage as much by welcoming back former heroes as part of the celebration for their 1,000th game. But Marc Bulger -- Greenfield native, former Central Catholic quarterback -- made the most of his first return as a professional to Western Pennsylvania by throwing for 375 yards and leading the Rams to a 33-21 victory, their fourth in a row.

But what really did in the Steelers, who have lost four in a row, was not their inability to stop Bulger. In the end, they were put out of their misery by a third-team running back who did not play college football last year, an undrafted free agent who was playing only because of injuries to Marshall Faulk and Lamar Gordon.

On this day of remembering former Steelers, Arlen Harris looked more like Franco Harris, scoring three touchdowns and delivering the play that sent the Steelers (2-5) tumbling into the embarrassing abyss known as the basement of the AFC North.

"It makes it hard," said linebacker Joey Porter. "You want to try to take one thing away from them, you try to take the pass away. When they've got both things going, it makes it tough."

The Rams ran 74 plays against the Steelers, possessing the ball for 40 minutes, and they did it by achieving perfect balance -- 37 passing plays, 37 running plays. For most of what was a damp, miserable day at Heinz Field, Rams coach Mike Martz must have looked like Josh Beckett to the Steelers, keeping them off-balance with a variety of pitches and deliveries.

And that was never more evident than in the third quarter, shortly after the Steelers had taken a 21-20 lead on Hines Ward's 22-yard touchdown catch from Tommy Maddox.

The Rams took over the game, doing what they did best.

"That was the biggest thing they did -- keep us off balance," safety Brent Alexander said. "Things we saw coming, formation-wise, things we were able to jump on, once they saw we knew it they'd go to something else."

The Steelers were guessing so much they might as well have been contestants on "The Price is Right."

And they guessed wrong on the most significant touchdown of the game -- Harris' 9-yard run that put the Rams in front for good, 27-21.

The touchdown came after Bulger completed passes of 21 and 30 yards to move to the Steelers' 13. In an attempt to stop Bulger, the Steelers sent their dime defense on the field for first down. The Rams responded by giving the ball to Harris, who gained 4 yards.

The Steelers kept their dime defense on the field for second down.

Harris responded by scoring on a 9-yard run.

It was the same thing the Tennessee Titans did them to last year -- scoring twice on runs of 4 and 5 yards by Eddie George when the Steelers were in the dime defense.

"They got us a couple times when we thought they were going to pass and they ran the ball," Farrior said. "You can't blame that on anybody but us."

"They got us in position where we were playing the pass first," Alexander said.

The Rams made sure the Steelers didn't have a chance to come back. Two series later, Harris scored again, this time on a 9-yard run against the base 3-4 defense, with 7:54 remaining. The drive was kept alive when linebacker Jason Gildon was called for holding on Jeff Wilkins' 38-yard field goal, giving the Rams a first down at the Steelers' 15.

Three plays later, Harris was picking his way into the end zone.

The Steelers were left to pick themselves up from the wreckage of a season going sour.

"When you get put on the field as long as we were out there, you're rolling the dice," coach Bill Cowher said. "When we did have some opportunities, we have to find a way to get off the field, particularly in the third quarter. It was a six-point game and we can't let them go down and score the touchdown. That was a big drive."

There were a lot of those against the Rams. And the Steelers never figured out how to stop them.

They're shocked.

And not very awesome.

E-mail this story   Print this story