Jul 31, 2002 By Jim Wexell For The 4 min read

LATROBE – Kordell Stewart has a pat answer as to why he pushed for the Pittsburgh Steelers to sign wide receiver Terance Mathis last month. “I just remember back in ’99 when he played against us,” the Steelers’ quarterback said. “He gave us complete hell.”

Mathis caught 12 passes for 166 yards against the Steelers on a Monday night at Three Rivers Stadium. It tied Carl Pickens’ record for the most passes ever caught against the Steelers and it left a mark in Stewart’s memory. But Mathis believes there’s more to it.

“A lot of people say I can coach when I’m done,” said Mathis. “There are a lot of things I can see and a lot of ways I try to make other guys better. Kordell and I just had a conversation about football one day. After we were done, he said, ‘I gotta have you. I gotta have you.’

“My job is to make a quarterback’s job easy and I’m going to tell you how to do it. You’ve just got to trust me. And I hope eventually he’s starting to see it come about, because I’m going to make his job easy. If he’s comfortable with me, we’re going to have fun and we’re going to win a lot of football games.”

Mathis hasn’t been part of a winner since the 1998 season. His performance against the Steelers was one of the rare highlights he or any of the Falcons have had since they played in Super Bowl XXXIII.

“It was one of those days when I was in a zone,” Mathis said. “That’s like a basketball player who makes everything he throws up. You don’t know who it was against or how you did it, but that day it was just flowing. Chris Chandler and I were just flowing. After that, the next big games were far and few between. That’s how it’s been for me the last two seasons.”

Even though the Steelers won the game, the 12 catches moved Mathis moved ahead of Andre Rison as the all-time reception leader in Falcons history. He went on to catch 81 passes that season, the second highest number in his 12-year NFL career. But the next year he caught only 57 passes, and last year he caught 51. The Falcons released Mathis following the season and the 35-year-old signed with the Steelers last month in the hope of making it back to the Super Bowl. He likes what he sees in camp already.

“This organization here talks about the Super Bowl,” Mathis said. “In Atlanta, we just talked about the opportunity to win the division, and that’s big. But this team plans on winning the division, getting to the playoffs and going to the Super Bowl. Where I was, it was like, ‘Hope we win games.’

“It’s the mindset. If you expect to win on Sundays and you prepare to win on Sundays, you’re going to go out and win, but if you hope you’re going to win and wish you’re going to win and it’s all good when you win, you’re not going to win.”

Mathis, so far, has impressed the Steelers. He’s expected to start the season as the team’s slot receiver and at the same time tutor rookie Antwaan Randle El, the Steelers’ second-round draft pick, on the nuances of the position. And as for those 35-year-old legs, the Steelers haven’t seen much in the way of wear and tear.

“He doesn’t seem 35 to me,” said receivers coach Kenny Jackson. “He’s smooth, talented, comfortable.”

With 666 receptions, Mathis is 17th on the NFL’s all-time list. Another 34 catches will push him past Gary Clark and into 14th place. But how much does he have left?

“I may look 35 when you get up close to me,” he said. “But I don’t feel that old on the field. I ache like everyone else, no more than anyone else. The advantage I have is, over the last six years, the way I’ve taken care of my body and the way I’ve trained and my diet and everything. I think that’s what’s helped me a lot.”

After Monday’s practice, Mathis felt lethargic, so he went to the grocery store for fruits and vegetables and mixed himself an elixir in a juicer.

“I had the juice last night and this morning and today I felt good,” he said. “I hadn’t been doing it the first four days here but I’ve got to get back to that.”

It’s just one of the tricks he uses to remain on the youthful side of the business.

“I can’t tell you any more,” he said. “I don’t want all of my tricks getting out.”