Weathering the storm
PITTSBURGH — Monsoon rains, snowstorms, high winds, the muck and mire, even the remnants of two hurricanes — the elements simply don't stop the Steelers, who always seem to play well enough to win in the worst of weather.
Confronted with wind gusts of more than 50 mph, rain that fell sideways and a hostile Cleveland Browns crowd, the Steelers accomplished Sunday night what they almost always do in foul-weather situations.
They fed the ball to their running back, asked Ben Roethlisberger to make enough plays to keep drives going and relied on their defense to control the tempo in a 10-6 victory that began shaping the AFC North race only two games into the season.
The reigning division champion Steelers (2-0) already lead the Browns (0-2) and Bengals (0-2) by two games, and idle Baltimore by a half-game. The Browns are winless despite playing their first two games at home, and the Bengals so far have been ... well, the Bengals.
"They have to catch up to us," wide receiver Hines Ward said. "Everybody picked Cleveland as the team to beat. ... We are the division champs from last year."
That the elements proved to be as much an opponent as the Browns probably shouldn't be a surprise — the Steelers have played tons of bad-weather games on the shores of Lake Erie over the years. Even if none before was played as the remnants of a hurricane whipped the area, Sunday's wind gusts resulting from what was left of Hurricane Ike.
"We weathered the storm," Ward said after making his third TD catch in two weeks.
n Don't they always?
In recent seasons, the Steelers have played a number of such poor-weather games, and all seemed to prove pivotal in those respective seasons.
n In 2004, their Sept. 26 game at Miami was pushed back by 7Z\x hours so Hurricane Jeanne could blow through South Florida. If the Steelers were a bit nervous with rookie Roethlisberger making his first NFL start, they didn't show it. Playing in torrential rain, Roethlisberger threaded a pass to Ward — who else? — in the corner of the end zone for the only TD in a 13-3 victory that started the Steelers on a 15-game regular season winning streak.
n A year later, their run to the Super Bowl began on a postcard-like wintry day as a snowstorm blew through Heinz Field. The Steelers slapped some snow tires on the Bus, Jerome Bettis, and he ran for 101 yards and two TDs in his final career 100-yard game, leading a 21-9 victory over the Bears. The Steelers halted Chicago's eight-game winning streak and started their own eight-game run that carried them through their first Super Bowl win in 26 years.
n The Steelers won one of the NFL's weirdest awful-weather games last year, defeating the Dolphins 3-0 in Pittsburgh on Nov. 26 as lightning crashed and tropics-like torrential rain — in November! — left Heinz Field's bad turf so mushy that a punt plugged nose-up. Jeff Reed's short field goal with 17 seconds remaining decided the first NFL game in 64 seasons to reach the final minute without any scoring.
This time, the Steelers won as Willie Parker ran for 105 yards and Roethlisberger put on a glove to throw for 186 yards. Now, they hope their last win in nasty weather gives them another momentum lift.
They may need it heading to Philadelphia on Sunday. The Steelers beat the Browns for the 10th consecutive time, but they haven't won in Philadelphia during the season since 1965, when the Eagles played in Franklin Field.
Pittsburgh is 0-7 in Philadelphia since then and has lost 11 of its last 15 to the Eagles, though the Steelers defeated the then-unbeaten Eagles in Pittsburgh the last time the teams played in 2004.
The Steelers are likely to be without defensive end Brett Keisel, who has a right calf injury and is expected to be sidelined indefinitely. Last season, the Steelers lost their other starting defensive end, Aaron Smith, for their final four games because of a biceps injury.
