Kordell Stewart (File photo) | ZOOM |

        The new Kordell Stewart, the Steelers quarterback and MVP candidate, was born late last season.

        In Pittsburgh's Dec.3, 2000 game against Oakland, Stewart returned from a leg injury and led the Steelers to a 21-20 victory. He is 15-3 as a starter since, including a 12-2 record this season.

        “He won back a lot of people on this team, won back a lot of people in this city,” Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher said Wednesday. “The way he finished last season was a positive for him. He came into this season as the starting quarterback. He's just gotten better with each game.”

        In his seventh season, Stewart has resurrected his career. He climbed from the team's No.2 quarterback behind Kent Graham at the start of last season and has the Steelers, who play the Bengals Sunday, one victory from home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

        He came into the league as “Slash,” a triple-threat runner, passer and receiver who often lined up at wide receiver. After signing a big contract, he slumped and was a target for Steelers fans frustrated with the team's three-year playoff drought.

        But this season, with 2,786 passing yards, 499 rushing yards and 16 total touchdowns, Stewart's at the helm of an offense averaging 21.5 points and is being mentioned with the Rams' Kurt Warner as a top MVP candidate.

        “It's an overwhelming thing,” Stewart said. “It lets you know that your peers are watching and they're respecting what you're doing.”

        Bengals middle linebacker Brian Simmons has noticed: “He's playing as good of ball as any quarterback in the league.”

        But Stewarts's goal is a title. The personal awards will come if the team wins, he said. Stewart credits part of the charge to the Steelers' new offensive coordinator, Mike Mularkey, who fit an offense around Stewart to maximize his diverse talents.

        “Just coming in and not being on pins and needles and wondering, "If I throw a pick or if I make a mistake, (am I) going to sit on the side,'” Stewart said. “Besides that, having a coordinator going to come in and utilize my talents to the fullest, not put me in a position to where I'm doing something that I'm not comfortable doing, using my talents to the extreme and letting me be the leader of this team.”

        Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski, a friend of Mularkey's and a former Steelers wide receivers coach who interviewed for the coordinator's job in Pittsburgh, often has compared the potential of Bengals quarterback Akili Smith to the talent Stewart has realized.

        Smith, who's out for the season because of a torn hamstring, which was operated on Wednesday, has said he was forced into an offense during his first two seasons with the Bengals that didn't match his ability. He was not a pocket passer.

        Stewart understands.

        “We haven't seen the best of Akili Smith yet because he's been thrust into a position where he had to go play early and he didn't have success and the team in general didn't have success,” Stewart said. “I've been that guy who's been there before, so he just has to be poised and be patient, and when his time comes, he needs to seize the moment.”

        Stewart has had several big games, but the one in which he seized the national stage came Dec.16 in a Sunday night game at Baltimore. The Steelers entered that game 10-2, the Ravens 8-4. The Steelers won 26-21, with Stewart throwing for a career-high 333 yards.

        He's having his best season since 1997, when he threw for 21 touchdowns and ran for 11. It was his third season but first as a starter, and he went 11-5.

        “Mike came in this year, and we've kind of reverted back to some of the 1997 thoughts and ideas, when Kordell was successful,” Cowher said. “He is comfortable and playing well; it rubs off on the other players.”

        Steelers wide receivers Hines Ward (87 receptions) and Plaxico Burress have set a franchise record for receptions by a duo with 144 this season, bettering the previous best of 134 by John Stallworth and Louis Lipps in 1985. With Stewart throwing to them, Ward and Burress are also in position to become the first pair of Pittsburgh receivers to have 1,000 yards each in the same season.

        Stewart picked up the slack when Pro Bowl running back Jerome Bettis went out three games ago with a groin injury. The Steelers are averaging 31.3 points without Bettis, who is questionable for Sunday's game against the Bengals.

        Stewart is up for the challenge, pass or run.

        “I'm just a quarterback that has a whole bunch of talent; I just have to be honest with you,” he said. “God's blessed me with it, and I'm not shy to say it. To minimize the way I play the game is going to do nothing but minimize our offense.”

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