NFL Recap (Pittsburgh-Tampa Bay)
Posted: Sun December 13, 1998 at 6:48 p.m. EST
TAMPA BAY 16, PITTSBURGH 3
TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
continued their late playoff push with a strong defensive effort and
notched their first-ever victory against the stumbling Pittsburgh Steelers,
16-3.
Mike Alstott
rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown and Michael Husted booted
three field goals while Tampa Bay's defense forced five turnovers and held
the Steelers to just 168 total yards.
"Our defense stepped it up," said Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy.
"Overall, our effort on defense was where it needed to be. We entered the
game with five interceptions and got four today, that was nice to see."
Since losing three in a row to seemingly drop out of the playoff
picture, the Buccaneers (7-7) have won three straight to climb back to
.500. They currently are tied with the Arizona Cardinals for
the final wild card spot.
In their first meeting since 1989, the Bucs beat the Steelers for the
first time in five tries.
Attempting a late comeback, Kordell Stewart capped a
miserable day by throwing interceptions on Pittsburgh's final two drives.
Stewart, who was benched briefly in the third quarter, completed 9-of-21
passes for just 88 yards and three interceptions as the Steelers lost their
third in a row and saw their postseason hopes take a serious hit.
"I tried to take one guy out and put another guy in to get a spark and
he wasn't effective," said Steelers coach Bill Cowher. "My obligation is
not to Kordell Stewart but to this football team."
The downfall started with the infamous coin toss on Thangskiving, when
the Steelers suffered a 19-16 loss to Detroit in overtime. Their troubles
continued last week with a 23-9 loss to the New England Patriots and
now Pittsburgh has fallen one game behind the Patriots (8-6) and Tennessee Oilers (8-6) for
the last AFC wild card berth.
"We gave up the opportunity to control our own destiny. Now we just
have to win and if we get to the playoffs, that's great," running back Jerome Bettis said.
The Steelers have no touchdowns in their last 10 quarters.
Linebacker Derrick
Brooks led the Bucs defense with 15 tackles and defensive end Steve White had both of
Tampa Bay's sacks, the first two of his three-year NFL career. Safety John Lynch helped shut
down Stewart, becoming the first Buccaneer to pick off two passes in a game
since Martin Mayhew in 1995.
After being intercepted by Lynch with seven minutes left in the third
quarter, Stewart was benched in favor of Mike Tomczak with Pittsburgh
trailing, 6-3. Stewart appeared quite upset on the sidelines, vehemently
expressing his displeasure to Cowher.
"It's just being a competitor out there," Stewart explained. "Working
hard, you are told to sit down. I hate sitting down. I don't want to sit.
My thing is, if I'm out there working my butt off and things don't go too
well, it almost made me feel like I'm a loser if I'm told to sit down.
That's not my style."
"He's a very competitive guy, I have no problem with that. He wasn't
happy about getting benched," Cowher said. "What I did was try to give
this team a spark. He'll make a good quarterback in this league, no
question about it. But right now, I'm going to do what's best for this
team."
On his third play of the game, Tomczak fumbled as he was sacked by
White and defensive tackle Warren Sapp recovered at
the Pittsburgh 7-yard line.
Alstott, who had 24 carries, followed with a four-yard gain before
pushing his way into the end zone for a 13-3 lead with 4:28 left in the
third.
"Tomczak felt me coming and tried to put the ball over me, but I was
just able to get it out of his hands," White said. "It's been a running
joke all season that I've been setting up sacks for everybody else. This
feels great."
Pittsburgh's next possession produced another turnover, with Tomczak
getting picked off by Lynch. Tomczak did not return to the field following
his first interception of the season.
"They asked Mike to go in and some things happened. I came back in
and more crazy things happened," Stewart said. "It sort of pushed me to
ask who's fault is it. It's not one person or one individual's fault."
Stewart took the Steelers just 12 yards on their next possession and
Tampa Bay took more than seven minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter
with its ensuing drive. But Pittsburgh kept the deficit at 10 points as
cornerback Dewayne
Washington blocked Husted's 33-yard field goal attempt.
The Bucs defense helped seal the win, with White sacking Stewart on
first down before rookie cornerback Brian Kelly came up with
an interception. Tampa Bay then chewed up nearly 4 1/2 minutes by going
just 16 yards, resulting in Husted's 21-yard field goal with 1:57 to play.
The Steelers had the ball for only four plays on their next drive
before cornerback Donnie
Abraham picked off Stewart, capping Pittsburgh's fifth loss in its last
seven games.
Bettis rushed for 63 yards on 17 carries but his nine-yard run was the
longest allowed by the Bucs. Bettis has gained just 284 yards in the last
five games and has been held out of the end zone in eight straight
contests.
"It's frustrating to go out and have the offense not get it done,"
Bettis added. "We started running the ball well, but we made a lot of
mistakes and couldn't finish drives. We just couldn't capitalize on their
mistakes."
Trent Dilfer was
just 9-of-18 for 111 yards but helped engineer a pair of scoring drives in
the first half that put Tampa Bay ahead for good. He threw for two scores
and ran for the game-winner late in the fourth quarter of Monday's 24-22
triumph over Green Bay.
"The Green Bay, Monday night win was great, but to back it up with a
win today is even more special," Dilfer said. "It was ugly, one of those
garbage games offensively."
Pittsburgh took its only lead on Norm Johnson's 27-yard
field goal six minutes into the game.
But Tampa Bay tied it on the ensuing possession as Dilfer led a
54-yard march that covered 15 plays in nine minutes. A 16-yard scamper by
Alstott sparked the drive, on which Dilfer threw for 25 yards and ran for
12 to set up Husted's 39-yard field goal.
"We always want to win and secure the clock," Alstott said. We knew we
were going to run the ball and they could not stop us, that was a plus."
Jacquez Green then
had a 46-yard punt return that led to a 37-yard effort by Husted, giving
Tampa Bay a 6-3 lead with 12:03 left before halftime.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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