No Bus stops at Cinergy Field Bettis always tough on Bengals Thursday, October 8, 1998
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Like Michael Jordan with a baseball glove on his hand, Jerome Bettis of the Pittsburgh Steelers likes to think he has talents no one recognizes. "You can't make a living running over people. Not in this league. I try to run to daylight."
Jerome Bettis rushed for 135 yards in last October's game at Cinergy Field.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
| ZOOM |Jerome Bettis, scatback.
"He said that?" said Bengals safety Sam Shade. "Oh, man, I don't believe that."
The Bengals, who will play the Steelers in an AFC Central Division game at Cinergy Field Sunday at 1 p.m., understand how painful it can be trying to stop Bettis.
He is known as the Bus, a powerful, punishing, 250-pound running back who would just as soon plow through an opposing defender as squeeze around him. If it were that simple, though, there would have been no problems when his offensive line struggled to open holes for Bettis in the first three games. He simply would have made his own.
Instead, Bettis averaged 3.9 yards per carry and 73 yards per game and quickly grew frustrated with the direction the Steelers' offense was taking.
MAGIC BUS Jerome Bettis has never rushed for fewer than 100 yards against the Bengals. His game-by-game numbers: Date Att Yds TDs Nov. 97 25 101 0 Oct. 97 34 135 1 Nov. 96 21 111 2 Oct. 96 28 109 0 Dec. 93 24 124 0All games with Pittsburgh except Dec. '93 with Los Angeles RamsHe carried only 13 times for 48 yards as Pittsburgh was shut out in a rainstorm at Miami, and the crisis of confidence was such that first-year offensive coordinator Ray Lewis went to Bettis and apologized for not making him a greater part of the offense.
At least, that's how the story went.
"It wasn't really an apology," Bettis said. "It wasn't, "I'm sorry for not getting you the football.' We weren't running the football. We got back to it, and we've been effective."
In the Steelers' fourth game, a 13-10 win over Seattle, Bettis got the ball 28 times and ran for 138 yards, consistently slipping through substantial holes for double-digit gains.
This is the sort of game Bettis twice had against the Bengals last season: 34 carries for 135 yards as the Steelers won by 16 points at Cinergy, 25-for-101 in a 17-point Pittsburgh win at Three Rivers Stadium.
Bettis was pleased with the running game's production on early downs against Seattle, which kept the Steelers from too often being placed in third-and-long situations.
"We've got to keep grinding away at it, not overreact or panic," coach Bill Cowher said. "He's been running hard, running good. He feels comfortable in the offense, and we've got to try to get him into the game earlier."
In those early games this season, Lewis appeared to be running Bettis more toward the corners of the defense, trying to get him away from the heart of the eight-man fronts employed by Baltimore and Chicago.
Most of Bettis' yardage against Seattle appeared to be generated by runs between the tackles -- and over a few tackles, as well.
This is another perception Bettis disputes.
"I don't think it was a situation of me running inside or running outside," Bettis said. "I don't think it was a matter of where I was running. It was a matter of me not running."
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