Monday, October 29, 2001
Monday Night Football
Steelers seeking Three Rivers aura
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — A familiar sight will be missing when the Pittsburgh Steelers play their first Monday night home game in two years. The only question is whether the Steelers or the Tennessee Titans will miss it more.
Three Rivers Stadium opened in 1970, the same year ABC began telecasting weekly NFL games in prime time, and it was among the most inhospitable of venues for visiting teams during much of its 31 seasons.
The Steelers won their last eight Monday games there and were 18-7 overall on Mondays, while going 182-73 in Three Rivers, which was imploded in February as construction on adjacent Heinz Field neared completion.
But count the Titans among the few teams that would have preferred to see the Steelers hang around Three Rivers a couple more seasons. The Titans (2-3) won their last three games there and have won seven in a row over Pittsburgh since 1997.
This uncharacteristic loss of their homefield advantage is one reason the Steelers are eager to make Heinz Field into what Three Rivers was until a few years ago — loud and unfriendly, a stadium in which opposing teams find it difficult just to hear, much less to win.
“I expect it to be out of control Monday night, incredibly loud,” Jerome Bettis said. “We've given them a reason to cheer and to be excited.”
The Steelers (4-1) are off to their best start since they were 5-1 in 1996 and have done it almost exclusively on the road, winning three of four. The terrorist attacks postponed their scheduled Sept. 16 game against Cleveland, so their only home game was a 16-7 victory over Cincinnati on Oct. 7.
To mark the occasion of their first prime-time game in Heinz Field, the Steelers will unveil two huge ketchup bottle signs that will light up and tilt as if they were pouring when the Steelers move the ball inside the 20 (the red zone, get it?).
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