NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The worst things a player can see on a football field are not fumbles, interceptions or big plays against his team.
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Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck delivers the hit that leaves Tommy Maddox with a spinal cord contusion and a concussion. (George Walker IV, The Tennessean via AP) |
Players see those all the time. What they fear most is seeing an ambulance drive onto the field.
One rolled into The Coliseum yesterday to take Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox to the trauma center at Baptist Hospital. Maddox dropped to the grass, facedown and did not move after Tennessee linebacker Keith Bulluck hit him after a short pass completion on the final play of the third quarter of the Steelers' 31-23 loss to the Titans.
Maddox had no feeling in his extremities as they took him off the field. He had a spinal cord contusion and concussion and was kept overnight for further observation, but all the tests last night looked fine according to his agent at the hospital.
"It's the best possible situation that could happen," agent Vann McElroy said. "There's no swelling. It's a miracle. I think he's going to be fine."
"I was scared to death," said tight end Mark Bruener, Maddox's roommate on the road. "I've never seen anything like that. I saw my friend down on a football field in a serious situation; it's something I've never dreamed of. I was scared, still am. I was praying on the field while he was laying on the ground."
Although there was relief as word spread that Maddox was improving, the Steelers find themselves trying to regroup again for several reasons. They have not won in the past two games, their defense has turned into the Big Nasty Sieve, their kicker failed them again, and now they've lost -- for an undetermined duration -- the quarterback who had the offense playing at record-setting levels.
And, yes, those are the Cleveland Browns still hanging around, at 5-5, half a game behind the first-place Steelers, who slipped to 5-4-1 in the AFC North Division.
"We made it hard for ourselves once again," safety Lee Flowers said. "The leaders on this team need to step up. This is crunch time. We need to keep the guys together, especially after something like this."
One of those leaders is a familiar face. Kordell Stewart stepped up when Maddox was hurt and, with the Steelers trailing, 31-7, led them to two touchdown drives and two 2-point conversions.
Stewart completed 13 of 17 passes for 124 yards, two 4-yard touchdown passes to Terance Mathis and Hines Ward and a near-perfect 135.4 passer rating. But, with 1:28 left, Todd Peterson's onside kick was recovered by the Titans, ending any thoughts of another Music City Miracle.
"Kordell's been with this before," said Ward, who leads the league with 10 touchdown receptions. "He's taken the good with the bad. He's going to come out and respond. I see him coming out and having a productive week next week."
It all seemed so good at the start. Maddox, who set a team record when he passed for 473 yards in a 34-34 tie against Atlanta last week, came out winging on the first play of the game. He hit Ward, who beat cornerback Andre Dyson, on an out and up for a 72-yard touchdown.
The Steelers' defense then stopped the Titans on their first series when safety Mike Logan swooped in on third down and batted Steve McNair's pass away.
It would turn out to be the high point for a defense that spent the rest of the game treating third downs as if it was running with the bulls at Pamplona.
Maddox threw an interception on his second series from the Steelers' 10 and linebacker Peter Sirmon returned it to the 1. From there, McNair threw a scoring pass to Kevin Dyson to tie the score.
Peterson missed a 31-yard field goal wide right that would have given the Steelers the lead (he would miss another from 37 yards), and Tennessee drove 92 yards to take a 14-7 lead on Eddie George's 4-yard draw up the middle with 2:55 left in the half.
Appropriately, George's touchdown came on third down against the Steelers' dime defense, which had another rough game.
Already the worst in the AFC in allowing third-down conversions, the Steelers could hardly stop them yesterday. The Titans faced 19 third downs and converted 12.
"A lot of things out there could have stopped the bleeding," linebacker Joey Porter said. "Third down is one of them. We started out 7-0 and come up three-and-out, you start feeling pretty good about yourself. Then, all of a sudden, you just start letting them go up and down the field on us and the next thing you know, it's 31-7 and you start questioning yourself."
The first half ended when Peterson missed his 37-yard field goal, and nothing much good happened in the third quarter for the Steelers.
To go with their collapsing defense, they could not run and could not pass.
Amos Zereoue started and ran nine times for 16 yards. Jerome Bettis ran four times for 6 yards. As a team, the Steelers gained 45 yards rushing.
Maddox, who had risen to No. 2 in the AFC with a 97.9 passer rating, wasn't doing much better. He completed 14 of 28 passes for 194 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions and a 44.9 passer rating. It was by far his worst game as a quarterback with the Steelers and came as the Titans blitzed him hard.
"They did a lot of blitzing," said Ward, who caught 10 passes for 168 yards. "I think the whole game plan was just to get to Tommy as fast as they could, maybe give up a big play here or there. But if they get to Tommy and knock him out, they did their job."
Mission accomplished.
They sacked Maddox only once but he was constantly under pressure, and it caused him to either throw the ball away, inaccurately or to the Titans.
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Place-kicker Todd Peterson and holder Tommy Maddox react after Peterson fails to connect on a 37-yard field-goal attempt - his second miss of the game. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) | |
Plaxico Burress reached for a pass on a slant that was thrown behind him. It glanced off his hands and cornerback Donald Mitchell intercepted for Tennessee at the Steelers' 42.
After a big third-down conversion, Dyson caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from McNair to make it 21-7.
McNair came back on the next series on third-and-9 and completed a 55-yard pass to Justin McCareins, who beat cornerback Chad Scott deep. George ran it in from 5 yards for his second touchdown on the next play and a runaway was on at 28-7.
Joe Nedney kicked a 43-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to give Tennessee a 31-7 lead.
Stewart, operating against Tennessee's dime defense in the fourth quarter, was nearly perfect on his two drives. But it was too little, too late to save the Steelers, who have scored 57 points in their past two games without a victory.
But they did win something more important when they learned later in the evening that Maddox would apparently be all right.
"When we see a guy in a tragic situation like that, it puts things in perspective for you," Stewart said, "and makes you understand it's not as serious as we or some people may make it.
"It's just a game."
Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3878.
Tennessee scares Steelers by knocking out Maddox, exposing weaknesses on defense, special teams 
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