NFL Steelers look to Bettis again for rushing aid

Jerome Bettis will be in the Steelers' lineup for the first time since last year.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jerome Bettis, back in the Pittsburgh Steelers' lineup for the first time since last year, isn't just trying to help save their season.
He also wants to show that there's something left in his career.
Bettis is the 10th-leading rusher in NFL history but has spent most of the season standing on the sidelines, an unwilling observer as the Steelers have struggled to do what they traditionally do best: Run the ball.
So, with the Steelers (2-4) fourth from the bottom in rushing only two years after easily leading the league, they're going back to basics -- and back to Bettis for Sunday's important game against the St. Louis Rams (4-2).
"Not picking sides or anything, but it's good to see him back there," lineman Alan Faneca said Wednesday. "You feel good for him that he's getting his opportunity to prove himself again because people have kind of been talking about how he's at the end of his career."
Streak ended
Bettis ran for 1,000 or more yards in each of his first six Steelers seasons after being traded by the Rams in 1996, but that streak ended as he was held to 666 yards in 2002.
With the 31-year-old Bettis' durability in question following 10 years of constant pounding and injury-interrupted seasons in 2001 and 2002, the Steelers handed his starting job to the faster, quicker Amos Zereoue three weeks before the season began.
The demotion rankled Bettis, who needs 643 yards to pass Jim Brown and become the No. 6 rusher in NFL history, but he refused to criticize it.
What even Bettis doesn't know is how many runs he's got left in him, long or short. He's had only one 100-yard game since Nov. 12, 2001, against the Bengals early last season, and he's rushed for more than 80 yards only once in his last 16 games.