No Central Drop-Off for Bettis’ Bus

These Jaguar-Steeler games keep going down to the last play. All that changes is the winner--and which team leads the AFC Central.

Jerome Bettis, who had a fumble that nearly cost Pittsburgh the game, took Kordell Stewart’s shovel pass to score a 17-yard touchdown at 9:13 of overtime and the Steelers seized sole possession of the division lead, defeating Jacksonville, 23-17, on Sunday.

The visiting team hasn’t won in six games of a fast-developing rivalry that has succeeded Browns-Steelers as the AFC Central’s most intense.

Bettis’ fumble at the Steeler 16 led to Mark Brunell’s three-yard, go-ahead scoring pass play to Pete Mitchell with 8:13 left, but Pittsburgh’s Norm Johnson tied the score at 17-17 with 2:21 remaining with a 19-yard field goal.

Johnson put this kick right down the middle--unlike Sept. 22, when his game-winning try was blocked and returned for a touchdown by Chris Hudson to wrap up the Jaguars’ 30-21 victory.

“Once we got it into overtime, I knew we’d win it, in our house,” Bettis said of the Steelers’ fifth consecutive victory. “I’ve never heard fans that loud. The fans were going crazy. We were going crazy. That was incredible.”

The Jaguars (5-3) not only dropped their second game in a row, but also lost Brunell because of a dislocated knuckle on his throwing hand late in the fourth quarter. He will have X-rays today. Coach Tom Coughlin said Brunell probably couldn’t have played if the Jaguars had gotten the ball in overtime.

They didn’t. The Steelers (6-2) drove 77 yards after the kickoff to score, with Stewart--four of four for 50 yards on the drive--connecting with Yancey Thigpen for key gains of nine and 17 yards.

“They played man-to-man on me all day. Bad move,” said Thigpen, who had 11 catches for 198 yards.

Stewart went 25 of 42 for 317 yards and two touchdowns, including a 28-yarder to Courtney Hawkins after the Jaguars surprisingly opened a 10-0 lead on a cool, rainy day. Bettis had 99 yards--only the second time in six games he hasn’t rushed for 100.