STEELERS Bettis closing in on Jim Brown's mark

The Pittsburgh running back needs only 14 yards to pass the Hall of Famer.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jerome Bettis is making a late push for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award.
All but discarded from the Steelers' offense when the season began, Bettis ran for 115 yards and a touchdown in Pittsburgh's 40-24 rout of San Diego on Sunday -- his second 100-yard game in three weeks.
With a late surge of 444 yards in five games, Bettis needs 14 yards Sunday in Baltimore to move past Jim Brown into sixth place in NFL career rushing. Bettis has 12,299 yards in 11 seasons. Brown had 12,312 in nine seasons when the NFL played fewer games than it does now.
Still considered best
Brown is considered by some historians and former players as the best runner in NFL history. When Bettis was backing up Amos Zereoue earlier in the season, barely getting off the bench some weeks, it didn't seem as though he'd get the chance to catch Brown this year.
Instead, Bettis seems to be proving there are still some yards left in a running back even though his own team apparently thought he was past his prime.
"I don't think I need to say, 'I told you so,' because they just didn't believe it was still there," the 31-year-old Bettis said Monday. "I knew it was still there. So, I'm not going to be spiteful and say I told you so because I knew it all the time."
Coach Bill Cowher and coordinator Mike Mularkey went with Zereoue as the starter not just because the offense was becoming sleeker and more pass-heavy, but due to growing concerns about Bettis' durability.
Bettis was coming off knee and groin injuries that sidelined him for long stretches and disrupted the Steelers' offense at the end of the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
"It was frustrating for me because I wasn't even getting an opportunity to help," Bettis said of being benched. "It was hard. ... I think it was a different philosophy in terms of how we were going to attack as a football team. There wasn't going to be as much pounding as there was going to be mixing it up in a big-play offense."
Healthy now
Sitting out so many plays early -- he had only 220 yards at midseason -- left Bettis healthy for the closing stretch, even if the Steelers (6-9) have nothing to play for Sunday but to keep the Ravens (9-6) out of the playoffs.
"I still have football left in me," Bettis said. "The feet are still quick. I'm still making moves I need to make. ... Ask the San Diego linebackers if I've lost a step."
His teammates are getting caught up in Bettis' run up the NFL rushing list. In just the last three weeks, Bettis has passed Thurman Thomas, Franco Harris and Marcus Allen.
"He's always been the leader on this team, as far as I'm concerned," wide receiver Hines Ward said. "This has always been his team, if he was starting or not. To see him back in the huddle and going out there and running the way he's running right now, it's exciting."
That he might pass Brown, one of the fabled players in NFL history, surprises even Bettis himself.
"Toward the end there (Sunday), I wanted to break one so I could catch big Jim Brown," he said. "It didn't happen, so I'm going to get it next week."
Might be final with Steelers
If so, it might come in Bettis' final game with Pittsburgh. Unless he is willing to restructure his contract, the Steelers might not bring him back next season, especially with changes expected following their fourth non-playoff season in six years.
"I think he deserves to retire here," Ward said. "He's what the Steelers are all about. I couldn't imagine seeing Jerome in another uniform."
Ward isn't alone in that sentiment.
"Oh, no question, that's what I want to do," Bettis said. "That's important to me. But I have no idea (about next season) and I'm not going to worry about it. It'll work itself out at the end of the season. We can't do anything now but play, and your play is an indication of what you can still do."