Bettis Has a Little Thinking to Do

For Steeler running back Jerome Bettis, this was probably the last best chance to get to the Super Bowl. That made Sunday’s 41-27 loss to New England even tougher to swallow, even though the Steelers had an unexpectedly good season.

“Well, 15 and one really isn’t in your head at this point,” Bettis said. “It’s an opportunity for you to win and advance. It’s frustrating. The longer that you play and the more that you’re in, it’s frustrating because I hate to lose. To be in the third [AFC championship game] and to lose it, it is frustrating for me. It’s a very sick feeling.”

Bettis, who turns 33 next month, came into the game having started seven times this season, running for at least 100 yards in all of those starts. He gained 64 yards in 17 carries Sunday, scoring on a five-yard run in the third quarter.

He said he’s unsure whether he’ll try to return to play in his 13th season.

“I haven’t even looked at it that much,” he said. “I’ve got to look physically at myself first. If that’s something I want to do, then I have to look at the whole spectrum. Right now, I just want to take some time away and really give it some thought. Because if that’s the decision for me to come back, I want to come back 100% and totally committed to this football game.”

Bettis fumbled for the second time in two games Sunday after going 265 carries and more than two years without one.

“We made some mistakes at critical times,” he said.

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Everyone thought the missing piece would be Corey Dillon.

Who would have thought that another player who missed the first game between the Steelers and Patriots, receiver Deion Branch, would be a difference in the second game?

“It was just like practice, you know,” Branch said. “Just like practice.”

Then Branch must have had great practices, as he caught four passes for 116 yards and a touchdown, and ran 23 yards for another touchdown.

He was injured the first time the Patriots came to town this season and couldn’t stomach the loss. “Yeah, I turned the TV off,” he said. “Probably in the middle of the fourth quarter.”

This time, he was not only in the house, but sprinting through the living room on his 60-yard touchdown catch midway through the first quarter.

“I think Coach [Bill Belichick] was just trying to get everybody involved, especially all the skill guys who were going to be touching the ball the whole game,” he said.