Smile Steelers, Same Old Vinny

Take away Greg Lloyd at linebacker, and it still looks like the Pittsburgh Steeler defense. Keep Vinny Testaverde at quarterback, and the Baltimore Ravens look like . . . the Cleveland Browns.

They switched their colors and their name, not their game. The Ravens changed towns but not their luck against Pittsburgh as two Testaverde turnovers led to scores and a 31-17 Steeler victory Sunday.

Rod Woodson, enjoying his first big game since severely injuring a knee in the 1995 opener, intercepted Testaverde’s first pass for a 43-yard touchdown return 43 seconds into the game. He also recovered a Testaverde fumble that led to another touchdown as Pittsburgh (1-1) rebounded from a 24-9 loss in Jacksonville last week.

“It’s not like we’ve got Vinny’s number or anything,” said Woodson, who still isn’t 100 percent healed from reconstructive surgery. “We just play the Browns, uhh, I mean the Ravens. It’s the same personnel with different uniforms.”

Unlike at Jacksonville, the Steeler offense showed up, and with a newly anointed quarterback.

Mike Tomczak (18 for 25, 198 yards) threw two touchdown passes--one more than last season--and completed 14 consecutive passes at one point as Pittsburgh got a succession of big plays from fill-ins for injured regulars.

Chad Brown, making a hasty adjustment from inside linebacker to Lloyd’s outside position, stopped a fourth-quarter Raven drive with a goal-line fumble recovery. Rookie linebacker Carlos Emmons, playing in Brown’s old spot, forced the fumble Woodson recovered. And Charles Johnson, replacing the injured Yancey Thigpen, made a five-yard touchdown catch to put Pittsburgh up, 21-14.

“When Rod scored, the offense went, ‘Oh, whew, there’s seven points,’ ” said Andre Hastings, who also had a scoring catch. “That took a lot of pressure off.”

Testaverde (13 for 24, 159 yards) ran for his second touchdown in as many games and threw a touchdown pass, but his early errors helped Pittsburgh open a 28-14 first-half lead.

Woodson, beaten badly for a touchdown in Jacksonville, cut in front of Michael Jackson on the Ravens’ second play from scrimmage and sailed unimpeded down the Steeler sideline to score.

“I was expecting the ball on the outside,” Jackson said. “I don’t know if my route was short or if it [the pass] should have been on the inside, but Woodson was on the page we should have been on.”

Tomczak, who had one touchdown pass and 10 interceptions over the last two seasons until Sunday, later found Hastings for a 20-yard scoring catch that put Pittsburgh up, 28-14, with 3:13 remaining in the first half.

“There’s no quarterback controversy. It’s over and done with,” said quarterback-receiver Kordell Stewart, who ran a touchdown-producing goal-line series. “Mike’s the starting quarterback.”