Mike Prisuta: For the sake of the game

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Mike Prisuta
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, December 8, 2006

You had to want it at Heinz Field on a bone-chilling Thursday night with seemingly nothing at stake.

The Steelers responded with a passion normally reserved for an AFC Championship Game.
The result was a 27-7 bludgeoning of the Cleveland Browns that kept the Steelers out of last place in the AFC North Division, kept alive the Steelers' faint-but-still-flickering playoff hopes and rewarded the 55,246 fans who braved wretched weather and gridlock just to be a part of it.

It was still bumper-to-bumper brake lights outside the Steelers' frigid domain when Jeff Reed booted a 23-yard field goal that gave the home team a 10-0 lead with 9:15 left in the second quarter.

Those still stuck in traffic had missed plenty.

They'd missed a 49-yard, double-move touchdown pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to wide receiver Nate Washington that broke the ice on the Steelers' second possession. The hookup provided for Washington one more scoring reception than he has dropped TD passes this season (4-3) and justified the faith coach Bill Cowher had expressed in the still-developing, second-year wide receiver Monday.

That was the extent of the highlight-reel athleticism that would be on display.

The rest was bash and smash.

The Steelers spent most of the night adhering to Cowher's plea to play the game for the sake of the game and to not worry about any circumstances that might result from the eventual outcome.

It was evident that Mike Logan had taken his coach's advice to heart when the veteran safety blew up dangerous return man Dennis Northcutt and planted him for no gain on the punt that ended the Steelers' first possession.

Northcutt spent the rest of the night not catching and not making much of an attempt to catch sideways passes.

The Browns' second possession opened with free safety Anthony Smith, a fill-in starter in place of injured Ryan Clark, blasting Braylon Edwards, Cleveland's mouthy wide receiver.

As if to prove it wasn't a fluke, Smith lit up tight end Darnell Dinkins in the second quarter, forcing yet another incompletion.

The offensive line was just as physical, as evidenced by running back Willie Parker surpassing 100 yards rushing with just under five minutes left in the second quarter, topping 200 with just over two minutes remaining in the third, and besting Frenchy Fuqua's franchise record of 218 rushing yards in a game on the first snap of the fourth.

Parker had already become the first player in Steelers' history to record two 200-yard games in a career.

He exited after one more carry, his 32nd of the game, and was greeted upon reaching the sideline with a bear hug from Cowher.

The embrace appeared warm enough to make the 7-degree wind chill worth enduring.

All-Pro guard Alan Faneca was especially impressive among those who escorted Parker into history, repeatedly knocking Browns defenders on their backsides, as linebackers Willie McGinest and D'Qwell Jackson can attest. The rest of the unit followed suit in opening holes for Parker and keeping Roethlisberger upright and comfortable in the pocket.

It didn't matter who was out for the Steelers.

The guys who were in never gave the Browns any breathing room.

What's more, the Steelers appeared to enjoy doing it, from the defense dancing in the huddle between series to rookie Santonio Holmes celebrating first-down receptions with exaggerated first-down gestures to linebacker James Harrison blasting Dinkins into kickoff returner Joshua Cribbs on another going-nowhere kickoff return.

The Steelers have three more chances to recapture such magic.

Embracing the opportunity appears to be the least of their concerns.

Mike Prisuta is a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.