BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Bengals quarterback Neil O'Donnell avoided the war of words for two weeks, but on Sunday he had the final say against the Pittsburgh franchise he led to a Super Bowl three seasons ago.
With 72 seconds left, the Bengals were dead and buried at their own 15.
Then O'Donnell beat the Steelers' vaunted zone blitz on a 50-yard bomb to Carl Pickens. Then he outfoxed them: when the Steelers expected O'Donnell to spike the ball, he instead threw the winning 25-yard touchdown pass to Carl Pickens with 14 seconds left.
Then O'Donnell outmaneuvered the media and downplayed the hugest of wins.
"You guys, you guys," said O'Donnell, shaking his head as he left the locker room. "'The people there are quality people. I'm going home and think about next week."
"You know it meant something to him and I do, too," said Bengals coach Bruce Coslet. "I didn't want to put any pressure on him. It's happening more and more every week because of the free-agency thing."
When O'Donnell came on the field for warmups, Steelers coach Bill Cowher was the first to shake his hand. His old center, Dermontti Dawson, put his arm around him. Quarterback Kordell Stewart, the kid who made it possible for the Steelers to let O'Donnell leave as a free agent, hugged him.
And Stewart was one of the first to hug him in the postgame maze. "Big win," Stewart told him.
"Stay healthy," O'Donnell said.
Then Levon Kirkland and Jason Gildon stuck their heads into the media crowd following O'Donnell, and he broke away for hugs.
"I have a lot of friends there," O'Donnell said. "We had a lot of success in Pittsburgh and I'll never forget that."
But O'Donnell, who led the Steelers to the 1995 AFC title, ruffled some feathers in that locker room when he bolted to the Jets in free agency a few weeks after throwing three interceptions in the Super Bowl loss to the Cowboys.
"I think he should have talked to us first, or apologized, or something," Steelers safety Lethon Flowers said last week. "Just let us know that you were apologetic about it. Don't just get up and leave and go to the Jets."
O'Donnell said he felt that was just a minority opinion, and to maybe prove he had no idea who Flowers was, O'Donnell helped him up after Flowers fell on a blitz.
"I stuck my hand out. "Are you for real, Neil man?, " Flowers said. "I didn't want him to stick it out and draw it back. There are no hard feelings. I just told him the comments were blown out of proportion a little bit."
O'Donnell fried the highly regarded Steeler defense for 298 yards and three touchdown passes on 20-of-26 passing.
"I think we have a lot of respect for Neil. Neil is not a bad quarterback," Henry said. "We just felt bad about the Super Bowl."
If there are some bad feelings, O'Donnell made them worse by making the Steelers pay for not going to a prevent defense on fourth-and-12 from the Bengals 15 with 1:12 left.
Instead, the Steelers blitzed two linebackers, who got picked up by right guard Ken Blackman and a running back. The blitz put undersized corner Dewayne Washington on Pickens one-on-one.
"I know 81 has some hops," O'Donnell said of Pickens. "He can go up there and get it. I'll take my chance with him. He made a great play on the ball."
Pickens admitted he had no idea how he got open. He also acknowledged that he, receiver Darnay Scott and O'Donnell are still feeling their way around each other in the two short months since the quarterback arrived.
"When plays like that happen, that's when Neil and I and Darnay feel comfortable," Pickens said. "We're still trying to get a feel for exactly what Neil is going to do when things break down. He's trying to feel us out when plays break down. We'll get there. If we continue to make plays like that, I think it will continue to run smooth."
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Game statistics