Dec 2, 2002 By Mike Ciarochi 6 min read

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Steelers ailing defense got well and Kordell Stewart ran a very efficient offense, as Pittsurgh held off Jacksonville, 25-23, Sunday at ALLTEL Stadium. Oh, by the way, Jeff Reed tied a team record with six field goals for the Steelers. After leading the NFL in total defense a year ago, the Steelers had struggled through the first 11 games, particularly on third downs. But the defense got better against a struggling Jacksonville offense, limiting the Jaguars to two conversions in 10 attempts.

Stewart, meanwhile, directed an offense that pounded out 403 yards, but the real star of this game was Reed. He tied a team record set by Lou Michaels in 1962 and tied by Gary Anderson in 1988. In only his second game with the team, Reed connected from 25, 29, 30, 46, 33 and 50 yards, as the Steelers struggled in the red zone, but still got on the scoreboard. Josh Miller punted only once.

“It’s nice to have a very dependable kicker,” Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. Asked if he had any second thoughts about allowing Reed to try a 50-yarder, which he made, Cowher said, “Not the way he was kicking. As long as we’re inside the 35-yard line, that’s what I’ve been looking at.”

Reed was humbled to have cracked the team’s record book already, but knows better than to think he can start resting on his laurels.

“Whether you kick one or have a day like I had today, it’s my job to kick,” he said. “All through all the tryouts I had leading up to getting this job, I knew I could do this job and I have to keep working hard to keep it.”

The win improved Pittsburgh to 7-4-1, while the Jaguars fell to 5-7. The Steelers also separated themselves from Cleveland, which lost to Carolina, 13-7. Pittsburgh hosts expansion Houston next Sunday, while the Jaguars host Cleveland. The Steelers lead Cleveland and Baltimore by a game and a half in the AFC North Division.

Stewart, in his second start in place of Tommy Maddox, was sharp again, which could muddy Cowher’s decision on whether to go back to Maddox next week. Stewart passed for 202 yards and ran for 84 more. He also scored Pittsburgh’s only touchdown on a 28-yard run.

“He made some big plays,” Cowher said. “He left some third downs out there (the Steelers converted only 2 of 11), but overall he played very well.”

As for next week’s decision, Cowher said he would let it wait a while.

“I’m not going to get into that right now,” he said. “We’ll enjoy this win tonight, then move on from there.”

Stewart led the Steelers to scores on their first three possessions. He passed to Plaxico Burress for 54 yards to set up Jeff Reed’s 25-yard field goal on the opening possession.

The Steelers then marched 55 yards on 12 plays to Reed’s second field goal, a 29-yarder to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 6-0.

Jacksonville came back to take the lead, 7-6, when Fred Taylor capped a 46-yard, 5-play drive with an 18-yard touchdown run up the middle.

Stewart made it 13-7 with a 28-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. He converted a third down with a 5-yard run on the last play of the first quarter and passed to Hines Ward for 12 before Jerome Bettis ran for 11 before Stewart’s TD run.

A strange turn of events got the Jaguars on the board again. The Steelers ran a fake punt that featured Josh Miller lined up in the slot. The direct snap went to Verron Haynes, who gained 16 yards on fourth-and-3.

On the next play, Stewart’s pass bounced off Burress and into the arms of Marlon McCree, who returned the interception 53 yards. From there, Jacksonville marched 22 yards on 5 plays to Richie Cunningham’s 23-yard field to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to a field goal, 13-10.

Stewart ran for 28 yards, leading to a 30-yard Reed field goal that stretched Pittsburgh’s lead to 16-10 1:43 before halftime. The drive gained 45 yards on 7 plays.

Stewart’s halftime statistics were impressive. Not only did he complete 8 of 15 passes for 108 yards, he also led the team in rushing with 68 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. The Steelers offense cranked out 270 first-half yards, while the defense limited Jacksonville to 100.

Pittsburgh marched 24 yards on five plays, leading to Reed’s fourth field goal, a 46-yarder that extended the Steelers’ lead to 19-10 with 11:12 remaining in the third quarter.

“If you can get a bad kick to go through from 46 yards out, you’re having a pretty good day,” Reed said.

Reed’s fifth field goal, a 33-yarder extended Pittsburgh’s lead to 22-10 with 11:37 remaining in the game.

Brunell got the Jaguars back into the game with a 43-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Brady on a fourth-and-3 play. That cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 22-17 with 8:51 remaining.

“That was my fault,” strong safety Lee Flowers said. “I bit on the run and he went right past me. I gambled and lost. But we played a pretty good game overall. We pretty much dominated in this game. After all the flack we’ve taken in the secondary, it was good to see us step up and play this well.”

After Reed’s 50-yarder capped an 8-play, 43-yard drive, Brunell brought the Jaguars to within a two-point conversion of a tie. He drove Jacksonville 65 yards in nine plays and capped the march with a 7-yard scoring pass to Jimmy Smith.

Smith beat Chad Scott for the touchdown, but couldn’t beat Dewayne Washington for the two-point conversion and the Steelers held on for the win.

“I knew the ball was coming to Jimmy,” Washington said. “He was either coming in or going out and I guessed right. He came in and I broke up the play. Once he gave me a few of those choppy steps, I knew he was coming in, so I reacted.”

Nobody was really surprised that this game between two old AFC Central Division rivals would come down to virtually the last play, least of all Washington.

“That’s how this game goes,” Washington said. “You play it for 60 minutes and nobody’s going to take any of that time off. You’ve got to grind it out and play the whole thing.”

Running back Jerome Bettis passed for Redskins great John Riggins on the NFL all-time rushing list, as he ran 20 times for 86 yards.

Climbing such charts doesn’t mean much to Bettis, but passing Riggins did.

“It means a lot because Riggins was a big back, like me,” Bettis said. “He was a powerful guy and it meant a lot to me to be able to pass him.”

Bettis is now the league’s leading rusher among so-called big backs and should be even more proud of his feat, since he accomplished it with a broken nose suffered early in the game.