Another new series we’re adding to Steelers Depot throughout the offseason. One that’s been on my mind for a little while. These won’t mean too much but these articles will just be cool plays in Pittsburgh Steelers’ history throughout their history. Not all-time great moments, not ones that show up on a season-end highlight reel, the outcome of the game doesn’t matter. Just fun little moments that made me smile watching them back.
Breakout game, thy name is Kordell Stewart. After the Steelers’ 1995 rematch win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Slash was all the town could talk about.
The most memorable play from Pittsburgh’s comeback 49-31 Week 12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, a game in which they trailed 21-3 at one point, was Stewart’s 71-yard touchdown catch down the left seam that caught the Bengals completely off-guard. One that gave Pittsburgh a lead they wouldn’t give back.
But earlier in the half, in the buildup to the comeback before its completion, Stewart had the coolest play of the game. After Neil O’Donnell drilled Andre Hastings downfield for a 15-yard score to make things 31-26, Bill Cowher and OC Ron Erhardt wanted to make it a field goal game.
Doing that required some creativity. They lined up in the Strong I, O’Donnell under center, but with a twist. Rookie Kordell Stewart aligned as the fullback here, taking the handoff from O’Donnell who booted the other way and got in the way of the crashing, unblocked and now backside defender.
At first, it seemed like the Bengals had it figured one. The EMOL to Stewart’s side was unblocked, he’s the read-man on the option play, but the blocking to the right side failed and another Bengals was free. 2v2 for an option leaves an offense with little.
But the defense had their eyes glued on Stewart. And a quarterback in college, he knew how to sell the play, how to hold onto the ball long enough to suck the defense in but not long enough so that he couldn’t execute the pitch, and at the last second, he flipped the ball to RB Erric Pegram.
The Bengals didn’t have anyone accounting for him. The two closest defenders to Stewart tackled him and safety #27 Bracy Walker charged to the sideline, grabbing Pegram at the one-yard line but just unable to drag him down before he crossed the goal line’s plane. With the side judge right on top of things, it was a conversion.
Take a look at the play and the replay.
Stewart would add his 71-yard touchdown later in the game, busting out of a tackle and racing into the end zone to cap the comeback. Bam Morris would score two more short touchdowns to salt the game away.
After the game, Erhardt praised all the possibilities with Stewart.
“We got a kid who can do some things,” Ehardt told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac after the game. “It’s not just the arm. He ran the option, we put him up on the line of scrimmage. They know he’s in there. He’s making plays, and they have to put someone on him.”
Stewart would rush, catch, and throw the rest of the season as the Steelers made a Super Bowl run before falling to the Dallas Cowboys. With a versatile athlete like Stewart, a player ahead of his time, and in an offense willing to have fun with him, it led to some really cool results.
