ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- Kordell Stewart, not the most popular guy in Pittsburgh right now, doesn't really care. He's just trying to win football games.

Trying with a struggling offensive line and no running game. And butter-fingered receivers. In front of fans whose favorite four-letter word is "booo."

On second thought, running for mayor might be easier than trying to run away from Bruce Smith.

One place Stewart will be popular is Buffalo, where the Steelers somehow must score some points against one tough Bills defense.

The Buffalo `D' is one of the best in the league right now. Just check out Monday's win in Miami. There's Dan Marino dropping to pass. There's Dan Marino dropping. There goes the ball. There goes the game.

Stewart can do one thing Marino couldn't; he can run. He might have to.

But if the protection is there and Stewart can rediscover the touch that took the Steelers (2-2) to the AFC title game in 1997 -- and if Pittsburgh's tough defense can corral Doug Flutie and the Bills (3-1) -- Stewart might experience a boost in the polls and Pittsburgh's fans might let their team come home again.

"It's a different offense and you have different things going on," Stewart said. "It's just a matter of grasping what we're trying to get done. The sooner I grasp what needs to get done, and the sooner we realize that we need to stick together, the sooner we'll get this thing done."

Star defensive end Smith has sacked 59 quarterbacks in his 15-year career, but has yet to get to Stewart.

Smith, second only to Reggie White on the league's career sacks list, but with only two so far this season, is hungry. And Stewart looks ripe.

Standing in harm's way is tackle Wayne Gandy, who is paid well not only to protect Stewart, but also to pave a lane for Jerome Bettis. Gandy's main job this week is Smith.

"He still makes plays, and you have to keep fighting him," said Gandy, who did not allow a sack when he faced Smith two years ago when Gandy played for the Rams.

"It went well," Gandy said. "He made maybe two tackles. It was down in St. Louis. It was a different time. Now we're going up in his house, where he has the crowd noise. And they're playing well on defense right now."

Gandy gave up back-to-back sacks and a safety in the team's 17-3 loss to Jacksonville last week.

"Everybody jumped on my back for those two plays late in the game," Gandy said. "We had 71 snaps before that. That's the thing about playing the offensive line. A guy gets a sack, they forget the other 65, 70 or 80 plays."

Gandy knows Smith will be jumping on him, too, and hopes to wear out the 36-year-old Smith and defuse the Buffalo pass rush, which recorded the season's first two sacks of Marino and gave the Bills a touchdown off a fumble.

"There's a lot of guys in the league playing like Bruce Smith now, the defensive end who really plays like a linebacker," Gandy said. "He doesn't engage the blocks, he likes to play on the edge and take advantage of his athletic ability. He uses has hands well. It's a good challenge."

Another challenge is probably the last thing Pittsburgh needs right now. A 43-0 win over the Cleveland Browns on opening day was followed by a 23-20 squeaker at Baltimore. Then the Steelers lost two at home, including a 29-10 clunker to Seattle.

"Until we get that deep ball threat, until we start knocking people off the ball, it's hard to keep playing from behind," Gandy said.

The Bills are concerned primarily with Stewart and Bettis, the second-leading rusher in Steelers history.

"You have to worry about Kordell because he can run the ball, and Bettis is a force," said Kurt Schulz, a safety on a defense that has allowed just one touchdown in the last 13 quarters.

Bettis has yet to rush for 100 yards in a game this season; Stewart has one touchdown pass and 11 interceptions in his last eight starts. Buffalo has the third-best defense in the AFC.

It figures to add up to a third straight loss for Pittsburgh unless the Steelers can turn everything around.

"Confidence is a fragile thing," said Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher. "You can get it back as quickly as you can lose it."

PITTSBURGH Season schedule and results

BUFFALO Season schedule and results

September 12 @Cleveland W 43-0 September 19 @Baltimore W 23-20 September 26 Seattle L 10-29 October 3 Jacksonville L 3-17 October 10 @Buffalo 1:00pm ET October 17 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET October 25 Atlanta 9:00pm ET November 7 @San Francisco 4:15pm ET November 14 Cleveland 1:00pm ET November 21 @Tennessee 1:00pm ET November 28 Cincinnati 1:00pm ET December 2 @Jacksonville 8:20pm ET December 12 Baltimore 1:00pm ET December 18 @Kansas City 12:40pm ET December 26 Carolina 1:00pm ET January 2 Tennessee 4:15pm ET

September 12 @Indianapolis L 14-31 September 19 NY Jets W 17-3 September 26 Philadelphia W 26-0 October 4 @Miami W 23-18 October 10 Pittsburgh 1:00pm ET October 17 Oakland 1:00pm ET October 24 @Seattle 4:15pm ET October 31 @Baltimore 1:00pm ET November 7 @Washington 1:00pm ET November 14 Miami 1:00pm ET November 21 @NY Jets 1:00pm ET November 28 New England 1:00pm ET December 12 NY Giants 1:00pm ET December 19 @Arizona 8:20pm ET December 26 @New England 1:00pm ET January 2 Indianapolis 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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