Monday, September 29, 2003

By Ed Bouchette and Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writers

Steelers vs. Browns, 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Heinz Field. TV: ESPN. Radio: WDVE-FM (102.5), WBGG-AM (970) and Steelers Radio Network.

Hines Ward, Steelers WR, left the game in the fourth quarter with a mild concussion and did not return. Coach Bill Cowher said none of the Steelers' injuries was serious.

Jerame Tuman, Steelers TE, has a mild concussion.

Plaxico Burress, Steelers WR, has a hip pointer.

Peter Sirmon, Titans LB, left during the first series with a major back injury after being knocked backward by Steelers FB Dan Kreider. Titans coach Jeff Fisher said Sirmon was taken to a hospital, where early tests showed "several fractures in the lower back" but no damage to the spinal cord. Sirmon was to remain in Pittsburgh overnight for observation.

Already in the bottom half of the AFC in red-zone conversion, the Steelers' offense sunk even lower when it managed just one touchdown on five trips inside Tennessee's 20. That gives them five in 15 trips for the season, a 33.3 percent success rate that coach Bill Cowher deemed unacceptable. "That," Cowher said, "is the truth." On several occasions, the Steelers removed WR Plaxico Burress when they got close to the goal line in favor of a conservative run offense. With the score at 10-9 in the second quarter, the Steelers had a first down at the Titans' 14. They took Burress out of the game for first and second down and lined up in an I-formation with one wide receiver. RB Jerome Bettis ran twice for 5 yards. On-third-and-five, WR Hines Ward caught a 4-yard pass and the Steelers settled for a 23-yard field goal. Burress was at a loss for words when asked why he was on the sideline: "I don't call the plays. All I do is try to make the best of the opportunities they give me. I would like to be on the field more and get more balls thrown at me in the red zone, but teams are doubling me in the red zone."

QB Tommy Maddox threw mostly short passes that made the Steelers' offense look like 4 yards and a cloud of rust. His average gain per pass was only 6.1 compared to Tennessee's 9.3, and Burress couldn't understand it. He said Tennessee's cornerbacks sat on the short routes all game, one reason CB Samari Rolle intercepted a pass just before halftime and returned it to the 1. "He was sitting on everything," Burress said. "One time, I ran up and just ran right into him and got pass interference. I tried to tell the coaches what guys were doing, to make adjustments. But when guys are feeling good about themselves and they keep playing aggressive, if you don't do nothing about it, people are just going to keep doing it. It doesn't matter how good you are, who you have or whatever. If a guy's feeling good about himself and what he's playing, he's basically telling you throw the ball deep. They were sitting on their routes today and it kind of hurt us. We had one deep ball called all day, and that was the one I dived and caught. We really didn't turn it loose up and down the field. It was more a short dink-and-dunk kind of day. We just didn't get it done."

WR Antwaan Randle El fielded three of Tennessee's seven punts for just 17 yards, a 5.7 average. He lined up deep on several punt returns and watched as Titans P Craig Hentrich got off poor, short kicks that rolled. "It kind of threw me off little bit," Randle El said. "But in pregame, he was booming them like crazy, and then he had the wind to his back sometimes. Then, he shortened them, I move up, and he kicks them deep."

OT Marvel Smith did not dress because of the shoulder problem that caused Cowher to make him questionable for the game on Friday. Oliver Ross started in his place at left tackled. "He dinged it in practice Thursday, and we were hopeful that it would be better by today, but it was not," Cowher said. "We have done all the tests, and it is nothing more than inflammation of the back of his shoulder. He was touch-and-go, and we decided to hold him today, and we are hopeful he can go next week."

Although Tennessee received a near-perfect showing from QB Steve McNair, it also had help from unexpected sources. The most prominent surprise was LB Rocky Boiman, a second-year professional out of Notre Dame who had a half-sack and no interceptions on his resume entering the game but yesterday sacked Maddox for a safety in the second quarter and returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown in the fourth. He stepped in when LB Peter Sirmon left on the first drive. "I just wanted to do my job," Boiman said. "I missed some tackles early on, but I got more comfortable." The Titans also benefited from five catches by WR Justin McCareins and WR Drew Bennett, both of whom usually take a back seat to WR Derrick Mason. McCareins had five catches and Bennett two to offset Mason's one. "That's what it takes to win sometimes, backups making plays like that," coach Jeff Fisher said.

Steelers LB Joey Porter was not nearly as pleased as Fisher that the Titans found production from lesser lights. "I never come into the game thinking that McCareins or Bennett was a guy we had to worry about, plain and simple," Porter said. "Not to disrespect them at all, but that's not how we had the focus of our defense. We don't go into a game like, 'Oh ,you have to stop Bennett and McCareins.' That's the way I looked at it."

Titans PK Gary Anderson was 4 for 4 in extra-point attempts in his second game at Heinz Field, and he offered praise for the new turf. "The surface seemed a lot better than I remember it," he said. "It's certainly not like Three Rivers was."

Titans WR Jake Schifino, of Penn Hills High School, had two kick returns for an average 16 yards but had to leave the game because of a concussion.

Country music star Tanya Tucker sang the national anthem, perhaps making the visitors from Nashville feel right at home.

Steelers: LT Marvel Smith (shoulder), RB Dante Brown, TE Matt Cushing, WR Freddie Milons, G Keydrick Vincent, DT Chris Hoke and LB Alonzo Jackson.

*Titans: TE Frank Wycheck (concussion), DT Albert Haynesworth (elbow), RB Dwone Hicks, WR Darrell Hill, OT Matt Martin and CB Mike Echols. TE Erron Kinney started for Wycheck. OT James Atkins started in place of Haynesworth.

WR Hines Ward passed Louis Lipps for second place on the Steelers' all-time receptions list with his seventh catch yesterday and the 359th of this career. Lipps had 358 in 1984-91. Ward finished with nine catches for 76 yards and has 361 catches, still well behind the leader, John Stallworth, at 537. "It's a big honor, but right now I'm still hurting," Ward said. "I'll have to reflect on it later in the week."

LB Jason Gildon had his first sack of the season, moving him closer to the team's all-time lead. He has 72 sacks, second to L.C. Greenwood's 73 1/2.

Steelers RB Amos Zereoue had 10 carries for 51 yards at the half. He had 18 carries for 51 yards by game's end.

RB Jerome Bettis, virtually ignored after helping the Steelers win in Cincinnati the previous week, had three carries for 6 yards. For the season he has 27 carries for 86 yards.

Tennessee's Jeff Fisher improved to 11-6 against Bill Cowher, by far the best record of any AFC coach.

The Titans are 10-2 against the Steelers in the past dozen meetings, including the playoff game in January.

The crowd of 63,244 was the fourth-largest at Heinz Field, second-largest for a regular-season game.

Tennessee's safety was the first against the Steelers in two seasons.

Tommy Maddox threw for more than 300 yards for the second time in three games, both losses.

The Steelers have six turnovers in their two losses, two in the wins.

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