Steelers Put Themselves in Good Position

PITTSBURGH —  Only a week after their season seemed in jeopardy, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in familiar late-season position: in first place, and in control.

The Steelers (8-5-1) -- doomed by turnovers in last week’s humiliating loss to Houston -- turned two Carolina fumbles into Jerome Bettis touchdown runs to beat Carolina, 30-14, Sunday and seize control of the AFC North.

The victory, only their third in six games, boosted the Steelers’ division lead to 1 1/2 games over Cleveland, a 28-23 loser to Indianapolis. The Steelers can lose the division only if they drop their final two and either the Browns (7-7) or Baltimore (7-7) win two in a row.

“We went into it thinking we can’t lose another game, we can’t afford it,” linebacker Kendrell Bell said. “We need a three-game winning streak to carry us into the playoffs.”

The Steelers forced four turnovers -- Carolina (5-9) has two or more turnovers in seven consecutive games -- to give a big lift to the offense.

“You can’t do that against a playoff caliber team in their place,” Panther Coach John Fox said.

Pittsburgh didn’t score a touchdown without help after its opening possession, when Tommy Maddox led a 77-yard drive ended by his 11-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress. Burress made six catches for 120 yards after dropping a half-dozen passes against Houston.

Said Burress: “I know people were looking to me and how I would respond, so I said, ‘Don’t go out and try to do anything special, just be me and let the game come to me.’ ”

Maddox, aware he might be benched if his turnover problems persisted, threw an interception that led to Rodney Peete’s six-yard touchdown pass to running back Dee Brown. But he was effective otherwise, completing 20 of 33 passes for 209 yards.

“They got turnovers and gave their offense a short field,” Panther cornerback Terry Cousin said.