Steelers Provide Physical Education

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had no defense for Jerome Bettis.

Pittsburgh’s seven-time 1,000-yard rusher beat the Buccaneers with his arm as well as his legs Sunday, throwing his second career touchdown pass and running for 143 yards and one touchdown in the Steelers’ dominating 17-10 victory.

“They don’t play the Steelers on a regular basis. To look at the film, you might not think we’re as physical as we are,” Bettis said. “When we get on the field, we’re a physical team and they found that out today.”

Bettis staggered the Buccaneers (2-3) with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jerame Tuman, then finished them off by gaining all but 25 of his yards rushing in the second half.

The Steelers’ defense did its part, too, sacking Brad Johnson 10 times and intercepting him in the end zone to kill Tampa Bay’s bid to get back into the game.

“People will say Tampa Bay didn’t show up. We beat Tampa Bay. They showed up,” Steeler safety Lee Flowers said.

“Everyone’s talking about [Warren] Sapp and all these all-pros. I’m mad. Nobody cared about the Steelers. I bet they know about the Steelers’ defense now.”

The Buccaneers scored on Johnson’s five-yard pass to Frank Murphy with 28 seconds remaining, then appeared to recover an on-side kick at their 43 to give themselves another chance to come back.

The officials ruled that Tampa Bay’s Brian Kelly leaped into the air and came down with the ball before it squirted loose when he landed on the ground.

The ruling was reversed after it was reviewed on instant replay and the Steelers (4-1) ran out the clock to stay atop the AFC Central with their fourth consecutive victory.

Bettis gave Pittsburgh a 7-3 halftime lead with his pass, then ran 46 yards untouched to break it open in the third quarter.

On both scoring plays, he took advantage of the aggressiveness of the Buccaneers’ speedy defense.

He lofted his pass over the secondary when Tampa Bay became preoccupied with trying to stop him from sweeping right on third and three. He hesitated at the line before cutting back to find a hole on his touchdown run.

“With that defense aggressive, they overpursue. We cut back and then it was just a foot race,” said Bettis, who also suspected the Buccaneers would overreact on the halfback option play.

“I was a little nervous. The last time I threw that pass, it was intercepted. I threw it short, so I just made sure I threw it long this time. We knew they were expecting us to run. It was a great opportunity.”

Bettis went over 100 yards rushing for the fourth consecutive game with a 29-yard burst that set up Kris Brown’s 35-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

The Steelers rushed for 220 yards.

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Get on the Bus

Led by Jerome Bettis, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the NFL’s top rushing team, averaging 197.6 yards a game. Pittsburgh also leads the NFL with a 5.84 yards-per-rush average, which would be the best all-time if the Steelers continue at this pace. The top rushing averages for a season in AFL-NFL history:

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Season Team Att. Yards Avg. Leading Rusher(s) 2001 Pittsburgh 169 988* 5.84 Jerome Bettis 1963 Cleveland 460 2,639 5.74 Jim Brown 1954 San Francisco 442 2,498 5.65 Joe Perry, John Henry Johnson 1963 San Diego 396 2,203 5.56 Paul Lowe, Keith Lincoln 1997 Detroit 447 2,464 5.51 Barry Sanders

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* The Steelers are on pace to rush for 3,162 yards. The NFL record for most rushing yards in a season is 3,165, held by the 1978 New England Patriots, whose leading rusher was Sam Cunningham.

Roy Jurgens