By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

For much of this season, Corey Dillon and Jerome Bettis were all but forgotten in their team's offenses.

But both of the former Pro Bowl tailbacks rebounded to post their best games last week and figure to play key roles Sunday when the Bengals visit Pittsburgh.

Dillon, who suffered a strained groin the last time the two teams played, Sept. 21, ran for 108 yards on 18 attempts in the Bengals' victory at San Diego.

In the Steelers' win at Cleveland, Bettis ran for a season-high 93 yards on 24 attempts.

This late-season Bengals-Steelers meeting finds Dillon and Bettis less beat up than in previous seasons.

Dillon has six starts and 93 attempts for 337 yards. The abdominal injury was more serious than previously believed, and Dillon has been inactive three times.

Bettis has five starts with 128 carries for 406 yards. He did not recapture the starting job from Amos Zereoue until Game 7.

At this time of the season, Dillon and Bettis normally have had twice as many carries as they do now.

"It's going to be a physical game," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said Monday when asked about the renewal of the Dillon-Bettis matchup. "There isn't going to be a place to hide."

On Tuesday, Steelers coach Bill Cowher was asked if he thought Bettis is fresher because he did not take his usual pounding early in the season.

"He is holding up well," Cowher said. "Jerome is a pretty special guy. He has had a bad shoulder and he has been playing with that the last couple of weeks and he only practiced on Friday. He is running well. He had a run (season-long 21-yarder) the other day where he made a couple of guys miss. It is good to have him down the stretch."

Letting a healthy Dillon loose on tired defenses in November and December is Lewis' plan, too. In Dillon's absence, the Bengals have been far more successful in the run game than the Steelers without Bettis. Rudi Johnson started five games and rushed for a Bengals team-high 672 yards.

The Bengals are ranked 11th in rush offense at 122.7 yards a game. And they've gone for at least 200 yards in the past three games. The Steelers are No. 31 at 85.4. They've run for more than 100 yards as a team three times and are on pace for their worst rushing total in 34 years.

In Game 3, the Steelers' 17-10 victory at Cincinnati on Sept. 21, they rushed for 138 yards and one touchdown. Bettis went for 59 yards on 16 carries.

"We had a commitment there (to the run game)," Bettis told Steelers reporters Monday. "We wanted to run the football and, more importantly, we had the lead. In most games we've played so far, we haven't had a lead, and that made it very difficult for us to run the football.

"The Cleveland game. we had a lead and we were able to run the football. And when you run the football, you give yourself a better chance to win the game because you shorten the game."

There is talk in Pittsburgh that the Steelers tried to evolve too quickly into a pass-oriented offense and forgot the run. The Bengals have one of the league's most balanced offenses, pulling in at No. 11 in both the run and pass. The Bengals have 19 touchdown passes to 13 for the Steelers.

"When you are running the football and handling the line of scrimmage, that's a good thing," Lewis said. "We just have to keep it going."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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