Stewart Beats Elway at Comeback Game

Kordell Stewart didn’t have his customary bad first half, and John Elway didn’t lead a customary fourth-quarter comeback.

Stewart threw three touchdown passes to Yancey Thigpen in the first half, then ran for two scores as the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied for a 35-24 victory Sunday that might cost Denver home-field advantage in the postseason.

“Usually, teams don’t respect Kordell as a passer and they want him to have the ball in his hands to try to win the game,” said Jerome Bettis, who outgained AFC rushing leader Terrell Davis, 125-75. “But we knew they were going to make a concerted effort to stop the run, and we’d have to throw the ball.”

By squandering a 21-7 lead, the Broncos (11-3) fell into a first-place tie in the AFC West with Kansas City, which has the tiebreaker advantage.

“The type of football we played today won’t get us far,” said Denver Coach Mike Shanahan, whose team plays at San Francisco next Monday night.

Pittsburgh (10-4), trying for its fifth AFC Central title in six years, has sole possession of first place because Jacksonville (9-5) lost at home to New England, 26-20.

Until this game, Stewart played so poorly before halftime he had joked that backup Mike Tomczak should play the first half. Not this time, as Stewart led a Steeler comeback of 10 or more points for the fourth time this season.

Stewart completed 18 of 29 passes for 303 yards and ran for 49 yards to outperform Elway, whom he admittedly tried to emulate while playing at the University of Colorado.

Elway, so hoarse from a cold he could barely check off at the line of scrimmage, completed 17 of 42 for 248 yards and two touchdowns to Rod Smith. His receivers dropped eight passes.

With the Broncos trailing, 28-24, late in the fourth quarter, Elway drove them to the Steeler 27 for what could have been the 44th game-winning drive of his career. But he was sacked on third down and Jason Elam missed a 53-yard field-goal try. Denver’s victory hopes were dashed when Stewart ran nine yards for a touchdown with 2:16 left.

Pittsburgh outgained the AFC’s total offense leader, 476 yards to 320.