Nov 26, 2002 4 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t get Monday off, yet that hardly bothered linebacker Mike Jones and kicker Jeff Reed. After all, they were getting tired of days off. A couple of years ago, coach Bill Cowher began giving his players Mondays off when they won the day before, not just as a reward for winning but to give their bodies an extra day to rest.

But it was a business-as-usual workday at the Steelers’ practice complex Monday, despite the 29-21 victory Sunday over Cincinnati that kept them atop the AFC North by one-half game over Cleveland.

Maybe it was because Cowher is growing tired of watching his team constantly blowing 17-point leads at home. Or because his defense can’t seem to stop anyone on third down, not even the Bengals (1-10). The Bengals converted 7-of-15 against the NFL’s worst third-down defense.

Or maybe it was because it was a win that felt like a loss, as the Steelers (6-4-1) watched a 17-0 lead against a one-win team evaporate into a 21-20 deficit that required a late rally to overcome.

“It wasn’t easy, but we won the game,” Cowher said.

And they likely wouldn’t have won if it hadn’t been for Jones and Reed, who didn’t practice the previous Monday, and not because of their own choosing.

Jones, released by Oakland three weeks ago, went from being unemployed early last week to calling the Steelers’ defensive signals in the second half after linebacker John Fiala (knee) was hurt. Fiala started only because linebacker James Farrior was already out with an injury.

“He (Jones) was thrown in full-blast,” Cowher said. “He was calling all the third-down defenses – and those were Raiders defenses, which is why they weren’t working.”

Cowher was joking, but Jones wasn’t. He sometimes mixed up the Raiders’ terminology with that of the Steelers, drawing blank stares and shouts of protests from his teammates in the huddle.

Still, Jones made a contribution by recovering a fumbled punt that led to Reed’s go-ahead field goal with less than five minutes remaining. Reed, a former University of North Carolina kicker, was 3-of-4 in his NFL debut after outkicking three others during an early week tryout.

That was a turnaround from the previous two weeks, when Todd Peterson missed 4-of-6 attempts, including two in a 34-34 tie with Atlanta on Nov. 10 in which the Steelers also squandered a 17-point lead.

Reed drew loud cheers when he made his first attempt, a 33-yarder, mostly because the home crowd has grown so accustomed to watching Steelers kickers miss at Heinz Field. Kris Brown missed 14 attempts last season, the most by any NFL kicker in 10 years, and Peterson had a league-high nine misses before going on the injured reserve list with a broken rib.

Reed was warned beforehand that Heinz Field was fast becoming the league’s worst stadium for kickers. But while his job likely won’t be an easy one, especially now that the weather is getting bad, it beat his last job.

Only last week, Reed was making $10 an hour by helping a friend remove rocks and cut grass on a North Carolina farm. It wasn’t a long-term job but, for Reed, the Steelers’ call couldn’t have come at a better time. Even if he missed an extra point following Jerome Bettis’ touchdown run with 21/2 minutes remaining, setting up the possibility that Cincinnati could tie it with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion.

“To make 3-of-4 and win the game, I’m totally happy,” Reed said. “You feel like a hero for a week.”

Even if it was a week that didn’t include Monday off.